Catching Up on Classical Radio News

Happy Friday.  I hope you’re getting spring weather, wherever you are.  We are looking at low 60s and sunny in Seattle this weekend.

AMPPR/MPC

Registration is now open for the Music Personnel Conference in NYC Apr. 21-23.  You can go to the AMPPR website for information.  Rates have been reduced this year to make it more affordable, and early registration ends March 31st.

 Scott Simon on a Different Mic

NPR weekend host Scott Simon frequently has conductor Marin Alsop on Weekend Edition to talk about classical music.  But turnabout is fairplay.  Marin has invited Scott to doff the headphones and join her and the Baltimore Symphony onstage to narrate Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf this Saturday.  The BSO is doing a series on circus music, and the concert will include John Corigliano’s wild and woolly Circus Maximus.

Radio Chopin From WDAV

If you haven’t heard the Radio Chopin stories online yet, I recommend them.  They’re clever vignettes — 200 stories for the 200 years of Frydryk Chopin — hosted and produced by a whole cadre of talented WDAV staff members.  You can find them online and listen on demand at http://radiochopin.org/episodes/c/radio-chopin-stories.

Classical “W-Bach” WBQK, 107.9 in West Point, VA

Classical WBQK is one of a pair of stations that is spreading its wings by supporting the online newspaper business.  Station owners are using the station to drive listeners to their online newspaper WY Daily, which is gaining business at the expense of local print papers.  It’s another way of super-serving their core.

I applaud WBQK for realizing that classical listeners are whole people who actually read and think.  I’m remembering the old PRPD research that tried to call us “Classical Monks” and pretended that we don’t listen to news.   

Viva la Voce Online

If you’re missing VOX on Sirius/XM since they shut it down, there is a new all-vocal channel you can turn to online.  It’s produced by WETA in Washington DC.  It’s called Viva la Voce and you can find it here.

WQED to Replace Classical with Some News??

Not to panic, but the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that classical WQED is prepared to pick up NPR programming when Duquesne University eventually sells its station WDUQ.  The station has been on the market for a few months. It’s a dual format station — NPR, local news, and jazz — but if it gets sold there’s no guarantee that it will be able to keep its NPR content.  WQED is prepared to pick up the NPR programming if someone buys the station and changes the format, or alternatively, WQED is willing to share services and studio space if WDUQ goes independent. 

If WQED ends up carrying NPR news shows, it would change from a full-time classical station to a dual format station. Let’s hope for a different resolution in Pittsburgh.