Nick Spitzer

Spitzer was born in New York City and raised in rural Connecticut. He became interested in radio at a young age after listening to broadcasts of baseball games. He entered the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, later graduating in 1972 with a degree in anthropology. He earned a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1976. His dissertation focused on zydeco music.'''' == Career ==

Spitzer was hired by the Smithsonian to help plan the 1976 United States Bicentennial Festival. Radio While a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Spitzer joined the staff of WXPN in Philadelphia in 1969. He was introduced to Louisiana music while working at the radio station. and as a host and producer at NPR affiliate KUT-FM.'''' In 1997, Spitzer became the host of American Routes. Folklore and academia Spitzer moved to Baton Rouge in 1978.'''' He served as Louisiana State Folklorist from 1978 to 1985. He founded the Louisiana Folklife Program and helped develop the Baton Rouge Blues Festival. He also produced a five-LP recording series on Louisiana folklife. In 1984, he organized the Louisiana Folklife Pavilion at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans and directed the documentary ZYDECO: Creole Music and Culture in Rural Louisiana. Spitzer left Louisiana in 1985 after he was hired by the Smithsonian Institution as a senior folklife specialist. From 1990 to 1997, he served as artistic director for the "Folk Masters" concert and broadcast series from Carnegie Hall and Wolf Trap; from 1992 to 2001, he produced the NPR broadcasts of Independence Day concerts on the National Mall. Spitzer accepted a position at the University of New Orleans in 1997,'''' and was hired by Tulane University in 2008. == Personal life ==

Spitzer was diagnosed with cancer in 1979, and underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy and stays at Baton Rouge General Hospital; he entered remission in 1980.'' As of 2023, Spitzer lives in New Orleans with his wife and son. == Awards and recognition ==

He was named the Louisiana Humanist of the Year in 2006 for his work towards cultural recovery after Hurricane Katrina. In 2014, Spitzer received the James Williams Rivers Prize in Louisiana Studies from the University of Louisiana for his contribution to Louisiana folklore. == Publications ==

• The Mississippi Delta Ethnographic Overview (1979) • Louisiana Folklife: A Guide to the State (1985) • • == References ==