Marty Wimmer

Mid Day and Weekend Host

Marty Wimmer always wanted to be a classical music radio announcer. He applied to WNED Classical just out of college in 1989, but didn’t get the job. He applied again in 1992, and again, didn’t get the job. But the third time was the charm. When he applied in 1995, he got it! As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Persistence conquers all things.”

A graduate of the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University, Marty has a degree in Music Education. He retired in 2020 after more than thirty years as a band director, choral conductor, and general music teacher in the public schools. Along the way, he earned a master’s degree in Music History at SUNY Buffalo. His middle school and high school bands earned high ratings at NYSSMA Majors and other competitions. For a time, he was even an adjunct faculty member at SUNY Canton where he created the college’s first music appreciation course. Students gave it rave reviews. 

His original musical compositions are published by Imagine Music Publishing. He won First Prize in the 2010 Unitarian-Universalist Choral Competition for Peace, a work based on an ancient Chinese proverb. Peace was also a finalist in the Ithaca College Choral Composition Competition and has been performed around the world. Recently, his choral work Through Music was chosen for inclusion in the new NYSSMA Manual as a standard competition piece.

Marty loves his job at WNED Classical and is honored to be part of Buffalo Toronto Public Media where he also appears occasionally on WNED PBS and WBFO. He lives in Buffalo and is the proud Dad of an active teenage boy who keeps him on his toes . . . and somewhat exhausted.