Tragedy in Seattle: George Shangrow

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

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?

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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Graham Parker – New VP of WQXR

People can have different relationships with WQXR besides broadcast.  Radio isn’t just FM anymore.  Great content will find people wherever they are – we need to open up the definition of what radio is.

Graham Parker, the new VP of Classical WQXR.  Parker is enthusiastic about the variety of platforms and programming coming out of WQXR, both on the air and online.  He comes to WQXR most recently from the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, an organization that has a unique philosophy of what an orchestra is.

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