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.

Catching Up On the News

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Classical radio is not quite ready to bite the dust just yet! Two brand new 24-hour classical services in three markets are gearing up to go live this fall:

In Columbus, Ohio a new 24 hour classical station is about to start up.  Ohio State University’s WOSU is acquiring an adult alternative rock station and relaunching the frequency in the fall as Classical 101.  WOSU at 89.7, now dual format, will become an all news station carrying mostly NPR programs.  You can read about it here, on the WOSU website.

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Tragedy in Seattle: George Shangrow

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Saturday afternoon, July 31, former KING-FM radio host and beloved Seattle conductor George Shangrow was killed in an automobile crash on his way to give a pre-concert lecture in Methow Valley.  The accident occurred during a thunderstorm when a 16 year old boy driving in the opposite direction crossed the centerline and hit Shangrow’s vehicle head-on. Shangrow was a popular lecturer, performer (harpsichord), and conductor in Seattle.  His radio program “Live by George” on KING-FM had a huge following before he was laid off in a controversial firing some years ago.  Shangrow directed Orchestra Seattle and the Seattle … Continue Reading

Good News in Portland

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All Classical FM at 89.9 in Portland, Oregon is having another spectacular year.  My co-blogger Jack Allen would never toot his own horn, but the station is up 58% in listenership over two years.  They have a 3.6 share, according to Arbitron, and have broken into the top ten stations in the city.   In addition to new audience, All Classical’s revenues are at an all-time high, and they have a balanced budget.

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What’s the Vector, Victor? Or Whose 4th was it, anyway?

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These lazy days of summer are turning out to be anything but lazy for me.  One of the problems with writing a blog is keeping it up, and I’m so buried in the new American Music Festivals series that the blog has languished.  I did promise you some comments that were running on the AMPPR Listserv but they petered out and frankly were not very substantial, so I decided not to bother.

Thanks to Jeff Skibbe of KXMS in Missouri for writing a guest post on programming.   With apologies to the movie Airplane! here it is:

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