Spring Fundraising – Guilt, Dread, oh yeah, and Gratitude

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It’s that time for many stations.  Spring fundraising time.  There’s a tongue-in-cheek, somewhat uncomfortable op-ed on Chron.com from the Houston Chronicle.  History Professor and KUHF listener Robert Zaretsky writes about his dread of fundraising and guilt for not donating regularly. I confess a sense of guilt plays a role in my reaction. Though I regularly listen to KUHF, I have been an irregular member. Like the rest of us, I suspect, I have a number of strategies for dealing with this form of guilt. There is the “that will show ’em” gambit, … Continue Reading

Steve Brown New PD in Roanoke

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WVTF in Roanoke has named Steve Brown its new Program Director.  He does the octopus act  — a little bit of everything — like all local station peeps do. Since October 2011, Brown has hosted the weekday “Morning” and “Afternoon Classics” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., “a lengthy announcing schedule by any broadcasting standards,” said WVTF Program Director Rick Mattioni. In his role, Brown now programs all the classical music for the weekdays and Saturday afternoons. In addition, Brown updates the playlists that appear on the WVTF website and maintains the music library. … Continue Reading

Good Idea at MPR

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A friend asked me earlier this week if I’ve heard anything creative lately on classical radio, and I had to answer “not really.”  In my experience, classical stations are risk averse and I don’t just mean averse to playing new music or vocal music.  Not to disparage anyone, but except for KUSC and WQXR, I rarely hear about stations trying new ideas or being bold about stretching their audiences. I just ran across one today that I didn’t know about.  Minnesota Public Radio sponsors what they call an “artist-in-residence,” but instead of being “in-residence” on the … Continue Reading

Radio My Way – Ron Della Chiesa

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Veteran Boston broadcaster Ron Della Chiesa has a new memoir out called Radio My Way: Featuring Celebrity Profiles from Jazz, Opera, the American Songbook and More.  You can read a profile of Ron on the WBUR blog here.  The book has a foreword by Brian Bell, Ron’s partner-in-crime at Tanglewood and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  You can read about the two of them and sound engineer Jim Donahue in this article about Tanglewood’s 20th anniversary. For the last two decades, Boston radio personality Ron Della Chiesa has been the “voice of Tanglewood,” hosting Friday and … Continue Reading

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