KUSC Climbing the Charts

If you read this blog regularly you know I’m a fan of KUSC in L.A., because they don’t shy away from fresh programming and documenting what’s going on in the real classical music world, instead of pretending that the only thing people want to listen to is music they already know.  It’s the same freshness that Esa-Pekka Salonen brought to the L.A. Philharmonic and that gave the orchestra the gumption to hire a talented youngster, Gustavo Dudamel to follow Salonen.

KUSC  even plays some modern music, and not only does nobody die from it but that freshness has helped make KUSC the most-listened to PUBLIC STATION in the country — not just the most listened-to CLASSICAL station — the most listened-to public station.  They topped even the news/talk stations in the latest Arbitron ratings.  You can read about it here.

I interviewed Laura Zucker, the Executive Director of the LA County Arts Commisssion at the recent national convention of Americans for the Arts:

There is such an ingrained commitment in L.A. County to the support of arts and culture.  It’s one of the main economic engines of our region …Arts and culture sector in L.A. County accounts for a lot of jobs and a lot of economic activity, but it’s also what makes the “there there.”  Now, I’ve heard this said from other regions, but we have claimed the title of the creative capital of the world, and we are going to back that up with real resources.

You can hear the whole podcast at the artsusa.org blog.    What’s happening in L.A. is exciting, and it’s the opposite of the trend that’s been dumbing down classical stations for quite a few years.

If keeping it fresh raises the ratings, maybe it’s a good model.  I credit Gail Eichenthal, the Program Director at KUSC, for having the courage of her convictions, trusting the creativity of her staff, keeping it local much of the time but also playing the best of the national shows (e.g., American Public Media’s Performance Today), and especially giving support to the live local music in the region.  A nice happy balance.

I was talking to Gina Gutierrez, Marketing Director of the Ojai Music Festival yesterday and we were opining that radio types often forget how crucial a medium they are between the musicians and the audience.  The musicians desperately need stations to advocate for live music.  And in return, the musicians give stations their content and their audience.  It’s a totally symbiotic relationship, unless stations decide that it’s more important to play soothing CDs as background music while people work.

I have been hearing increasingly that some stations think their mission is to go “global” on the internet with CDs, rather than supporting their live, local music-making.  Sort of  short-sighted in my opinion, because there are thousands and thousands of websites for people to hear classical music, but your station is the only place where people can hear live music from your area.

Anyway, congrats to KUSC.  Great work, you guys.  You’re an inspiration.