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When my brother was visiting here from Seattle he remarked about how much better our classical station is than the one in Seattle. I was amazed; the station here is so bad that I rarely listen to it. It seems that all it plays is baroque and pre-baroque string music with harpsichord, with the very occasional something else. That interspersed with hourly verbal reports on all the mayhem in the world; I can't turn on the radio, it seems, without hearing one or the other. They also have a new habit of saying, "We'll be hearing the XYZ piece BUT FIRST here is this ABC piece." What the hell? Why not just announce what is going to be played and play it?

So no, I don't give this station money, because almost invariably when I turn it on it is playing something that I find annoying. (I find the sound of a harpsichord annoying, like fingernails on a blackboard, and I find the music generally played uninteresting, stuff I played in grade school or high school.) If someone's only exposure to classical music is this station, no wonder they don't go to the symphony.

To counter my own statements: ten(?) years ago someone gave me tickets to a baroque orchestra concert that was coming through town. Since the ticket was free, I went. I was flabbergasted to find the hall packed, standing room only, the audience eager. The orchestra was "good" but not "outstanding." They played the music that I described above....not interesting to me other than watching technique. One can only hear so many I-IV-V chord sequences and whiny string sounds before one tires of them.

Perhaps these people are the ones supporting the radio station? We occasionally have brass choir concerts and it is difficult to get anyone who is not a brass player to come, while the brass players in the audience are loving it.

I don't get it. When I was younger and a violinist, I (obviously) loved the sound of the violin, but now I find strings strident and don't particularly want to listen to them. Same with I-IV-V chord music. Is this "growth" or is it "hardening of the categories?" Have I been utterly corrupted by brass playing?

MA

Check out tunein.com, you can listen to classical radio stations from all around the world.

My biggest problems with classical radio stations are:
-- split duty with NPR
-- esoteric music (like you mentioned)
-- playing only 1 movement of a symphony

There are lots of good stations out there, and streaming audio has rescued us from listening only to what is local. Actually, I can't think of a single local radio station I listen to outside of 1010 WINS.

Hmmm, interesting topic. I have worked for 2 Classical Radio stations, 1 small market, and 1 large market. I left the last one when management felt it was better to dump all their money into the news side and go with Classical 24/7 which is a beamed in program from Minnesota. SUPPOSEDLY, there was a study done that said classical stations should never play more than one movement from a symphony and should play lots of baroque music and guitar music. I have stopped listening to classical radio in Vegas because, IMHO, there is nothing owrth listening to "on the beam" with the exception of John Zeck and Bob Christianson. Most of my listening is done on line, inparticular WHRO out of Norfolk, Va, which, again IMHO, is the BEST classical radio station PERIOD.

As a side bar, when I got digital cable, it came with all kinds of music stations. Cox Channel 940 is probably the best classical station I have run into. In the past 48 hours I have heard everything from Bruckner 8 to Messian's "Quartet for the End of Time". As the TV is hooked up to the stereo and all the music is digital, let's just say my house is ROCKING whenever I am home.

Good luck and search the web!!!


Chuck

Growing up in Baltimore, I always liked (and still like) WBJC. It was a little surprising (and oddly comforting) to hear the SAME host on the air that I remember listening to when I was a kid... at least 20 (and closer to 25) years ago. Yes, I listened to classical music as a kid... to the point that I had very little clue about popular music.

Chuck Jackson wrote:SUPPOSEDLY, there was a study done

The beginning of the end for many an institution. The studies are pushed by someone in management, they always end up recommending more formulaic, outsourced cookie-cutter stuff, plus a hefty wad of administrivia, along with a re-org that happens to benefit the people who pushed the survey by adding to the management side. (If a survey recommended that management get cut back, think that outfit would ever get hired to do another survey?) It's a racket.

bort wrote:Growing up in Baltimore, I always liked (and still like) WBJC. It was a little surprising (and oddly comforting) to hear the SAME host on the air that I remember listening to when I was a kid... at least 20 (and closer to 25) years ago. Yes, I listened to classical music as a kid... to the point that I had very little clue about popular music.

I hear you! I was similarly afflicted with a distaste for the bland 'popular' music of my day (40's-60's) and much preferred the complexity and range of classical music. In the 1950's I had a console AM radio beside my bed on which I listened to WBBM's 'Classics All Night' which would fade in and out unless the atmospheric conditions were just right. In 1960 when I moved from small town Nebraska to Lincoln for college, FM radio was fairly new. I got an 'Arvin' AM/FM table radio for my dorm room on which I listened to the only FM station in town, KFMQ, which was classical. That radio was stolen in Baltimore from a friend's apartment in 1967 when I was in medical school. I slowly acquired an appreciation for some popular music over the years, but classical is my longstanding preference. I don't really listen to music here at home because I have so many other things I want to do, but when I do listen to broadcast music it's often to DirecTV's Sonic TAP. Their offerings are 'Symphonic' and 'Light Classical' .

My listening is mainly on the go. I have had Sirius/XM in my car for the last couple of years, and at least the reception is usually excellent. They have the same problem that Mary Ann perceives with her local classical station, i.e. a predominance of hammering and sawing via piano and strings. On the 'Classical Pops' channel you hear things like flute or bassoon concertos with lots of Mozart, Haydn, Bach, etc. I'm curious as to why they consider these offerings popular classical works. The only other classical channel, 'Symphony Hall', is graced most of the time with anything BUT symphonies. 'Chamber Music Chamber' would be a more apt name. I am astounded when non-baroque symphony or even something by the Canadian Brass is aired. In self-defense I have 2.5 GB of ripped music, mostly tuba stuff, on a CF card that my car stereo can read and a 6 CD changer there as well loaded with tuba and symphonic music for quick switching to when I can't stand the current OTA offerings.

I'm not sure with the internet streams and portable music systems available today that the local airways HAVE much of a role in catering to our musical tastes any more. Around here the stations are in a seemingly constant state of flux, changing 'personalities', formats, and even call letters on a fairly regular basis as they search for an audience to whom they can advertise. AM has become 'talk radio', the bane of rational discussion anytime, anywhere, along with sports, again with an unhealthy dose of 'talk'. Local FM is all popular stuff except for NPR, and I again agree with Mary Ann about their political bias--their 'news' verges on propaganda from what I can recall (it has been a long time since I've not switched immediately to something else.)

Donn wrote:

Chuck Jackson wrote:SUPPOSEDLY, there was a study done

The beginning of the end for many an institution. The studies are pushed by someone in management, they always end up recommending more formulaic, outsourced cookie-cutter stuff, plus a hefty wad of administrivia, along with a re-org that happens to benefit the people who pushed the survey by adding to the management side. (If a survey recommended that management get cut back, think that outfit would ever get hired to do another survey?) It's a racket.

Consultants are MANAGED, and therefore usually become lying SOB's doing management's dirty work. You know the old bromide about statistics never lying, but liars using statistics.

bloke wrote:I wonder if stations are attracted to those baroque pieces because of shorter length (listener attention span? / listener time-interaction with the station?)

ex: They virtually never broadcast 40-minute symphonies or 30-minute tone poems unless live broadcasts.

I wouldn't attribute this phenomenon to the listener's attention span. Rather it is the need for a plethora of station breaks to peddle something.

Also, many of the announcers are very good at conveying the attitude that they are better than their listeners.

I have listened to WFMT online and was very impressed with the programming. About two years ago, they had a full hour with Big Gene and the CSO York. He put it through its paces and it was wonderful/

I grew up listening to 96.3 FM WQXR out of New York City. I even subscribed to Ovation magazine for a few years in Junior High, where they published the full listings a month ahead. I loved the regular broadcasts of the Detroit and Boston symphonies, and would often setup a tape deck with a timer to record Karl Haas while I was in school. There was also WNCN at 104 something for a number of years, I seem to remember them as being a little more "pop classical" than the more staid WQXR and they died off much sooner.
Last I heard, WQXR changed format or frequency, and is a shadow of its former self.

Note that WQXR was one of the oldest radio stations in the country and was originally called W2XR - the last three digits meaning 2nd experimental radio station.

Until fairly recently I would have agreed with MA. South Florida just split off the classical music last year from a lot of the news and "chit-chat". Now there are two stations... one with classical music — the other with news and chit chat. It's "Classical South Florida" 90.7 FM in Palm Beach County and 89.7 FM in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami-Dade. The programming is pretty good. Sometimes there is baroque stuff, but not too often. They were just playing Haydn and now it's Johann Strauss Jr. I've even heard some band music (Dallas Wind Symphony) playing Holst First Suite in Eb. http://classicalsouthflorida.publicradi ... /schedule/

When I was growing up, Chicago supported three full time classical radio stations, WFMT, WNIB, and WEFM. In addition, a number of other stations devoted substantial time to broadcasting classical programs, among them the previously mentioned WBBM-AM (now an all news station).

WEFM was started by the Zenith Radio Company as a means of promoting the "new" FM band post WWII. It was sold, re-named and reformatted about 1981 or so. WNIB was always a shoe-string operation owned by the Florian family. The station always operated with a small staff which included a golden retriever who could be heard to bark, from time to time, during station announcements. When the family sold the station in 2001, they received $167.1 million for it. It is now a soft rock station.

What is left is the classical powerhouse WFMT. Today, this station is owned by WTTW, one of the Chicago PBS stations. From time to time, it has shifted from being for-profit to non=profit, the current status. On the whole it has great, eclectic programming, which includes a broad range of classical, folk, jazz and even some spoken word. The station has gone through some bumps along the way. This was particularly the case when the original founders and program directors aged, retired, and/or died. WFMT is a Chicago treasure. Nonetheless, I still miss the rather quirky simplicity of WNIB

BTW, anybody down in San Antonio listening to my good friend John Clare on the local Classical Station?

KWAX in Eugene is pure music. No politics. Which is amazing, in Eugene...I have heard full symphonies on the local component, which covers about 10 hours a day (it is 24 hour programming)

Rick F wrote:South Florida just split off the classical music last year from a lot of the news and "chit-chat". Now there are two stations... one with classical music — the other with news and chit chat.

There's a good move! Even the "chit-chat" wouldn't be so bad if they could reduce the "chit-to-chat ratio" ...

I don't really listen to the radio much and I don't know what classifies as baroque, but I like what I hear here in Atlanta area. WABE 90.1, the noon hour show almost always plays a brass piece during the hour. When I occasionally listen sometime during the day, they sometimes play whole symphonies. I'm guessing this must not be the same experience some of you get out of your speakers.

And no one has mentioned opera on Saturday afternoons?

One person's propaganda is another person's objective reporting. As I have told my brother, the world would look a lot different if you got your news from NPR instead of Glen Beck. But we are not having a political discussion here. I didn't get anywhere with my brother either.

alfredr: amateur and rank all rolled into one And I support both WABE (Atlanta Public Broadcasting ) and Georgia Public Broadcasting, two separate entities.

Oh yeah, opera on Saturday afternoons. I don't even bother hitting the "on" button on Saturday afternoons.

I know my opinion is not shared by many, but my feeling about singers in general (except low male voices, i.e., in the tuba range) is that if those people are in so much pain that they have to make those noises, they should see a doctor for some relief.

MA

alfredr wrote:... I don't know what classifies as baroque ...

This may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_music

MaryAnn wrote:Oh yeah, opera on Saturday afternoons. I don't even bother hitting the "on" button on Saturday afternoons.

I know my opinion is not shared by many, but my feeling about singers in general (except low male voices, i.e., in the tuba range) is that if those people are in so much pain that they have to make those noises, they should see a doctor for some relief.

MA

I am with you! Don't like opera, or much choral singing at all. KWAX also does a good Sunday show called "The Organ Loft". Not much into sacred/ church music, but I do enjoy the organ.