When Barbara was a kid growing up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, she'd always race to claim the front seat of the car so she could she could control the radio. Little did the Dacey family know that they had a young programmer riding shotgun. The first time she was actually on the air, she sang "Both Sides Now" on WGBH in Boston. Barbara had won a Junior High talent show and that was the prize. She and her sister Susan were on the TV show 'Bozo the Clown' during these early days. When they got to the taping, Susan was picked to do some contest with a spoon and Barbara thought she should be the one to play because she was older. Susan got to do it but she lost. They wore matching dresses.

Barbara lived in Harvard Square in Cambridge from 1978 through 1986. During this time she played music in local bars and coffeehouses, and for modern dancers. For a while she had a trio, with a percussionist named Mauricio and a bass player named Enzo. They were both Italian and didn’t know English very well so they didn’t know what Barbara was singing about. They would make up there own words in Italian. The best gig they ever had was playing on top of the kiosk in Harvard Square during a music festival. They felt like the Beatles playing on the roof of Abbey Road Studios in London in 1969. She did a lot of wild vocal pieces for dance. One of her favorite music-for-dance performances had her scat singing to the beat of running dancers with microphones on their sneakers.

The first time Barbara caught sight of Martha’s Vineyard was at age 14 from the deck of a SSA boat when it stopped in Oak Bluffs on the way to a family vacation on Nantucket. The first time she actually made landfall was in 1970. One day in 1986, BD came a knockin’ on the blue front door at mvy. She did some commercials for free just to get behind a microphone. She listened to a few of them recently and realized why they didn’t pay her. Her first several times on the air were memorable only because she sounded scared to death (which she was), but eventually she got the hang of it.

Barbara started working part-time at mvy in 1985, hosting the 6 hour Sunday Afternoon request show and various fill-in shifts. She took the 6-10 p.m. DJ and Music Director duties in 1988, the 10a.m.-2 p.m. mid-day slot in 1991 and became Program Director in May on 1993. Since 2005, Barbara has been mvyradio Director of Worldwide Programming. Barbara hosts mvyradio's New Music show, Uncharted Waters Fridays at 9 p.m. (re-broadcast Sundays at 9 p.m. and archived in our Program Archives Uncharted Waters. She writes about new music in her Famous Blue Blog.

From 1997 until 2005, Barbara's faithful and beloved canine companion Carmen came to work with her every day and provided many laughs and much joy to the mvy staff and listeners. He had his own e-mail address and he got greetings from around the world. Carmen died in June of 2005 and is missed by all who new him. See Carmen's memorial page here.

For twenty-six years Barbara has been a constant at mvy, a most familiar and distinctive voice, whose contributions of talent and guidance to mvyradio continue to this day.

Favorite concerts
The Supremes, The Temptations and Little Stevie Wonder at the Framingham Music Tent, circa 1965
The Beatles at Boston Garden, 1964
Laura Nyro at the Music Hall in Boston circa, 1969
Carly Simon and Cat Stevens at The Music Hall, circa 1970
Traffic in NYC, circa 1971
Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal at Skidmore College, 1972
The Allman Brothers at Skidmore College, 1972
Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Review, 1975
Sarah Vaughn at Symphony Hall, circa 1988
Sinead O’Connor at The Orpheum, in 1991
Carmen McRae at The Blue Note, in NYC 1991
Shawn Colvin in a conference room in San Francisco, in 1992
Joni Mitchell in a conference room New Orleans, 1994
Lou Reed at the Hot Tin Roof Martha’s Vineyard, 1995
Jamie Cullum at the Hot Tin Roof, 2004
Los Lobos at Rhythm & Roots, 2006
Sharon Jones at Newport Folk, 2010
Robert Plant at House Of Blues, 2011
Adele and The Civil Wars at House Of Blues, 2011

Favorite quote
"Religion is a lot like radio -- you never know who’s listening."
Father Guido Sarducci (aka Don Novello) with BD on mvy

Favorite interviews
Father Guido Sarducci
Lou Reed
Billy Joel, Christie Brinkley, and Danny Kortchmar
John Mayer

Book I’m reading now
"Working with the Emotions" by Lama Jigme Rinpoche

Top songs of all time
"Summertime" sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
"Songbird" by Fleetwood Mac
"For the Roses" by Joni Mitchell
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" by Talking Heads
"Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen
"Secret of Life" by James Taylor
"Over the Rainbow" sung by Eva Cassidy
"Last Goodbye" by Jeff Buckley