Trojan Family Magazines profiles KUSC

A magazine published by the University of Southern California features a lengthy profile of KUSC-FM, the classical public radio station licensed to the university, and Los Angeles’ most popular full-time classical station. The whole article is worth reading for its depth and its historical scope, but I’ll highlight here what I found particularly noteworthy about KUSC and the thinking that guides its hosts and programmers. Other classical stations should take note.

• KUSC is aware of the challenges and the opportunities presented by new media. As we’ve reported before, the station and its former partner in the now-defunct Classical Public Radio Network, Colorado Public Radio, are collaborating on a research project focused on classical music and the Internet. Furthermore, hosts quoted in the article show sensitivity to the Internet’s potential, noting that KUSC can use its website to provide more information about the music being played, allowing on-air talk to remain at a minimum. This is a smart approach, especially considering that in focus groups classical listeners have said they dislike excessive talk.

  Brenda Barnes, president of USC Radio, also says that the station could start narrowly formatted Web streams of music. This parallels what Dan DeVany said in my interview with him earlier this year.

• Meanwhile, KUSC pays attention to what makes its FM broadcast uniquely local. Hosts are sensitive to matching their musical selections to the time of day and to Los Angeles, playing film music for the Hollywood tie-in and, during rush hour, soothing selections to calm drivers. This isn’t uncommon in classical radio, but it’s the kind of thinking that will help to give FM radio a lasting edge against Web-based competitors.
• KUSC takes risks. I liked this quote from host Alan Chapman:
  

  If you are going to stay within safe boundaries, you might as well say the whole tradition is dead. It’s like ignoring today’s novels and reading only Dickens or ignoring today’s movies and watching only movies from the 1930s. These are not of our time or our world.”

Read the whole Trojan Family Magazine article about KUSC here.