More From Jack Allen and KBPS in Portland

Yesterday I promised you more about Jack Allen who is moving from KMFA in Austin to KBPS in Portland, OR. I asked him a bunch of questions about his plans for KBPS, and I’ll just quote his answers verbatim.

What is your overall vision for KBPS?

Vitality, service, reach, value, preeminence, prosperity, flexibility, and whimsy.

Do you think the station should be all local, or should it have a mix of the best from the rest of the country and local?

Local is important, critical in fact, but a mix is desirable. If folks come to rely on KBPS as their link and gateway to all things classical, the mix must include carefully selected programs and insights into events and ideas from around the region, US and globe.

How do you feel about airing live local concerts?

I believe in order to truly be local and relevant, we must seek out strategic partnerships and find those special events that put our regional and global audience in the front row of live & local performances. KBPS will be a unique ticket to all things, great things, local and regional, and sometimes global. The gal tuning in online from Berlin doesn’t want to hear musical selections (necessarily) from the Berlin Philharmonic. What’s the point? She may stay tuned if Robert McBride says, “…sit back and relax, sink your ears into this…performed here in the shadow of Mt. Hood, steps away from the Willamette River, at the juncture of the Oregon Trail…a new recording of the Portland Symphony Orchestra bringing to life the very American, the very adventurous and noble Symphony No. 9 by Antonin Dvorak, known as the ‘New World’ …enjoy.”

What is your vision for integrating “new media” into your product? Can you envision producing unique pieces for non-radio listeners?

New media is the future and our frontier. I think our vision for new content must span multiple platforms and in some cases live solely in ancillary avenues to our on-air work.

How do you feel about produced pieces and having the voices of artists on the air (in addition to your hosts)?

I think our audience expects us to have our ear to the ground and bring them the latest from the old and new voices in our field. The art is to do it succinctly and elegantly, and to weave it sensibly into the overall tapestry of our programming. The gatekeepers and overall best companion for our content will always be the folks living right in Portland.

How do you feel about HD radio? Does it have legs?

The whole notion of “high definition” radio is somewhat spurious, yet compelling. Even though our audience is not really getting “CD quality” radio, we eliminate some of the reception anomalies inherent within FM broadcasting. “HD” also seems to be a federally subsidized attempt to keep the satellite wolf from the door. Terrestrial bandwidth increases marginally (channels HD2 & HD3) while the world of media choices around us multiplies exponentially. We in ‘public radio’ choose to do this passively not proactively. HD seems like a stop-gap measure, the little Dutch boy’s finger in the dike. Eventually, we’ll need to reconcile our programming choices and presentation style with the end user’s needs – once and for all. That is to say, we must allow folks to play along with us and stop being so rigid in our approach.

Portland is a wildly supportive, enthusiastic, inclusive, musically diverse community. Do you plan to reflect that on the air?

Of course! A cab driver on a recent junket to the city of roses said to me, “Portland is classical music!” I would say that KBPS must also be Portland. In order to reflect the city and region, the people of the region must embrace this marvelous station. My goal is to build multiple bridges to the people of the region and to create content across all platforms that deeply resonates with them.