Southern Maine Losing its Classical Station

The PressHerald.com is reporting that WBQW — known as WBACH — in Portland is going off the air next week.

The station — WBQW, heard in the Portland area on 104.7 FM — was sold in a bankruptcy auction earlier this year to a company identified as Mainestream Media.

The new owner will take over that station at 5 p.m. on Sept. 13, which will end the playing of classical music on the station. The new owner has not made its plan for the station public.

WBACH’s classical music will continue to be heard on 106.9 FM in the midcoast and on 107.7 FM in the Ellsworth area, said Pat Collins, vice president of operations for the WBACH stations.

Apparently southern Mainers will still be able to hear classical online at wbachradio.com, although as I’ve said before, if you’re going to be listening online anyway, you have lots of great choices.

Boo hoo.  We feel your pain, Maine.

About Marty Ronish

Marty Ronish is an independent producer of classical music radio programs. She currently produces the Chicago Symphony Orchestra broadcasts that air 52 weeks a year on more than 400 stations and online at www.cso.org. She also produces a radio series called "America's Music Festivals," which presents live music from some of the country's most dynamic festivals. She is a former Fulbright scholar and co-author of a catalogue of Handel's autograph manuscripts.

Subscribe Via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Scanning the Dial and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

Leave a Comment

Send this to a friend