Last Friday Nashville Public Radio paid the cash necessary to finalize its ownership of WFCL Classical 91.1 FM, once Vanderbilt University’s vibrant student run radio station. I, a classical music/classical radio lover, decided to tune into the signal today and look the website over. Here’s my review: Zzzzzzzzzz. Yes, just what the world needs, another […]
Tag Archives | Classical Radio
FCC Approves Assignment of Former WRVU License to Nashville Public Radio
In a letter dated today (PDF), the FCC approved the renewal application and assigned the license for WFCL to Nashville Public Radio. The non-commercial FM station was formerly Vanderbilt University’s college radio station WRVU-FM (see my profile of the station from 2010). Back in 2011, students were taken off the air at WRVU and the […]
Beethoven slams NYC radio classical countdown
Remember “Roll Over Beethoven”? It appears that Chuck Berry misunderestimated the Romantic German composer. Classical radio station WQXR-FM in New York City has published the results of its annual listener survey, which consists of one question: “What is your favorite piece of classical music?” The responses were ranked down to the 105th favorite. Looking at […]
Santa Barbara classical radio in peril
Santa Barbara, California’s eight decades old classical radio signal KDB 93.7 FM is up for auction. The Santa Barbara Foundation, which owns the license, has voted to sell it off. The Foundation’s principals say that the operation has run up big deficits that the non-profit cannot afford. “Unfortunately, despite the on-air pleas we made during […]
Classical Radio Station Deals Hint at Consolidation in Public Radio
A lengthy article on The Deal Pipeline outlines some of the recent public radio transactions involving classical music radio stations in particular. For those of us who have monitored the deals mentioned in the piece, it’s a fascinating overview of what seems like increasing consolidation in public radio. Of interest to me, since I have […]
A Sam Vibe classical piano radio station with eight pieces
Intrigued by Spacial’s announcement of a visually impaired/beginner friendly online radio service, I decided to take up the plunge and start a Sam Vibe radio station myself. Here it is: Piano con radio, a classical piano radio station with eight pieces written by Hindemith, Prokofiev, Ginastera, Debussy, and Faure: I’ve got the interface set up […]
Digging into the Spotify classical radio “gold mine”
My colleague Paul Riismandel has been warming up to the Spotify music service, of late, and gave it a pretty decent review in a recent post. Paul also mentioned to me that Spotify has been advertising itself as a “goldmine” for a wide variety of formats, including classical music. This aroused my attention, since I […]
Listener request day: first programming test for KDFC?
Today (Wednesday) is Listener Appreciation Day at San Francisco Bay Area classical music public radio station KDFC. “After the great response to our June Fund Drive, we wanted to do something to say thanks to all our new members so we’ll play your requests all day,” notes an announcement that I received on Tuesday. “We’ve […]
Classical radio’s allergy to the human voice: the case of KDFC
Controversy continues to swirl around San Francisco Bay Area classical radio station KDFC, reinvented as a listener supported outlet. The Federal Communications Commission still hasn’t ruled on its parent organization’s acquisition of an FM frequency from the University of San Francisco. No need to remind Radio Survivor readers about the crude way in which KUSF […]
Delving into WJMF’s Move off FM as College Radio Station Makes Way for WGBH’s 99.5 All Classical
Earlier this summer when I learned that Bryant University’s college radio station was leaving its FM home, I was upset to find out that nobody seemed to be protesting the hand-over of the frequency to a public radio station. Much of the story seemed like deja vu, as a private university announced during summer break […]