Catching Up

Hello to all.  I’ve been away for a while.  Many of you know that I lost my husband of 40 years suddenly and unexpectedly at the end of July.  Thank you for your notes and condolences.

In Boston, longtime classical broadcaster David MacNeill has passed away at age 80.  MacNeill worked at classical WCRB for 57 years, including many years as the voice of the Boston Pops from Boston and from Tanglewood.  There’s more from the Framingham MA paper here, and an obituary here.

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A cautionary tale about maintaining your records: WBNI in Indiana got behind on its program listings and now is paying the price.  From rbr.com:

Classical WBNI-FM Roanoke IN made a classic mistake – it failed to keep its issues/programs lists up to date, and was forced to report the omission to the FCC when applying for a license renewal.

In all, nine quarters worth of the lists were missing. The station’s licensee, Northeast Indiana Public Radio, said the failure was the result of a “substantial management turnover” coupled with a thinly-stretched professional staff. It said it was working to reconstruct the lists.

The FCC found no reason to excuse the oversight, however, particularly since its duration lasted more than a year. It is hitting the station with the full $10K that it can attach to a public file violation.

However, the FCC found no pattern of abuse, and granted a new license.

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WUWM in Milwaukee did a good interview with Anthony Tommasini about the state of classical music.  You can hear it here.

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From San Luis Obispo.com: KCBX in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and south Monterey county is losing its classical music director, Andy Harp.  Harp (what a great name!) is retiring at the end of December, having worked at KCBX since his first volunteer air shift in 1981.  Does this mean a job opening in gorgeous Santa Barbara??  Tempting, eh?

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Pianist Van Cliburn, 78, has been diagnosed with advanced bone cancer.  As in the rest of his life, he is requesting privacy.  You can read more here.

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Some must-hear auditions from radiosurvivor.com: Our creative friends at KDFC in San Francisco have started a contest that has overwhelmed their good intentions — and is absolutely hilarious.  Well worth your time.

… the old saying “be careful for what you ask for” is clearly in play here. The station has launched a contest for the best rendition of [sigh] the Star Spangled Banner. No less than 70 contestants have submitted videos of themselves singing our famously unsingable National Anthem, most of whose stanzas are unknown to the vast majority of Americans.

The winner of this “Star Spangled Sing Off” will perform the piece at an event dubbed “Opera at the Ballpark” — a free simulcast of Verdi’s Rigoletto.