More on the CBC

There’s a passionate and well-written article by Janet Danielson in the Vancouver Sun from Monday about the CBC orchestra. Click here to read it. She reiterates the point that the CBC Orchestra plays new music by Canadian composers — content you won’t find anywhere else. Even if other orchestras pick up the baton that the CBC is dropping, it’s hard for them to get new music played on the radio. Program directors have a new-music filter. They always have to keep those ratings up. I suppose new music appeals more to a … Continue Reading

The MSO: an orchestra with a radio station?

The CBC’s decision to shed its radio orchestra has generated plenty of controversy. But across the border in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a story is playing out that is precisely the opposite of the CBC hubbub: an orchestra that wants to start its own radio station.

Last fall, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra took a step toward making history when it applied to the Federal Communications Commission for an FM radio license. If it succeeds, the orchestra will, to my knowledge, be the first in the United States to run a radio station. The orchestra hopes to use the station to air selections from its archive of recorded performances and promote its concerts to the Milwaukee community.

I worked with the MSO on the application process as part of a temporary job with the Future of Music Coalition, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that advocates on behalf of musicians in the realms of technology and public policy. We scoured the country looking for arts and cultural groups that might want to apply for radio stations, taking advantage of a rare opportunity presented by the FCC. It had been more than seven years since the commission accepted applications for noncommercial FM stations, and the demand for new licenses was high. We wanted to make sure that deserving would-be broadcasters didn’t miss out.

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“Live” is Alive and Well in Boston

Making a mistake on a blog is a little like fighting with your spouse. It’s the kissing and making up that’s fun. When I wrote about the CBC earlier, I grouped WGBH in with a bunch of other stations that I thought were doing less live music. I’m delighted to be wrong! Brian Bell writes: I’ve been doing the live Friday afternoon broadcasts of the BSO since 1991, when William Pierce retired and have been doing Sunday afternoons at Tanglewood, all live, and since this past year, we’re doing the Friday night … Continue Reading

WGBH responds

Authormarty72x72 I got it all wrong about WGBH, so I want to set the record straight. Ben Schwarz, the marketing manager for Boston’s legacy public radio station WGBH sent me an email with this information.

Your comments about WGBH Radio, in particular, are not an accurate assessment of us as a radio station. In the past year, we have, if anything, increased the amount of classical production on 89.7, as well as supporting our all-classical HD service and internet stream. Here are some points you should be aware of.

* In a typical week, we produce and air two to three live three live classical music performances from our newly built Fraser Performance Studio (to see more about this space, please see http://www.flickr.com/photos/wgbhradio/collections/72157604184594526). As I’m writing this, Augustin Hadelich is performing in our studios, and we’ve recently aired performances by David Deveau, Irina Muresanu, Heng-Jin Park, Bion Tsang and Anton Nel, and Kim Kashkashian and Robert Levin.

* In the past year, we’ve produced and aired more concerts by the Boston Symphony Orchestra than ever before, building on our live broadcasts of the BSO on Friday afternoons. For example, next month we will be the only radio station to record and broadcast the full five acts of the BSO’s performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens.

* In the past year, we’ve recorded and aired more concerts by local New England ensembles for our Sunday Concert program than ever before. For example, in the past few months we’ve aired our own recordings of Opera Boston, Boston Philharmonic, the Handel & Haydn Society and the Boston Lyric Opera; just to name a few.

I think you’ll agree these are examples of a robust and relevant broadcaster of classical music. While we are thrilled that technology has allowed us to share this effort with online and HD radio listeners, I assure you we’ve taken nothing away from anyone. All of our audiences have benefited, regardless of the platform.

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