As is WFCC, the flagship of the World Classical Network, on Cape Cod. Apparently, CCB Media is paying its bills. Could someone provide further details?
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Favorite Classical Stations
- Thread starter Kemosabe
- Start date
As is WFCC, the flagship of the World Classical Network, on Cape Cod. Apparently, CCB Media is paying its bills. Could someone provide further details?
Their playlists appear to overlap most of the day. Though most of the hosts are particular to a station, Dianne Nicolini is heard concurrently on both KUSC and KDFC. Most of what I heard over the weekend sounded as if it were voice-tracked. How much of the programming is not "live?"
I am delighted to see this long overdue format category.
A bunch of mainstream classical stations have been mentioned and are all OK for general listening,
but I sometimes find myself attracted to more eclectic ones for a change.
WQXR's "New Music" HD-2 channel was formerly called "Q2 Music" and airs all or mostly the music of living composers.
KING, WCRB, and WETA all have specialty channels, either HD subchannels or online only.
The most eclectic FM analogue classical music network used to be and might still be RNZ Concert in New Zealand.
A bunch of mainstream classical stations have been mentioned and are all OK for general listening,
but I sometimes find myself attracted to more eclectic ones for a change.
WQXR's "New Music" HD-2 channel was formerly called "Q2 Music" and airs all or mostly the music of living composers.
KING, WCRB, and WETA all have specialty channels, either HD subchannels or online only.
The most eclectic FM analogue classical music network used to be and might still be RNZ Concert in New Zealand.
One of the main things by which I judge any station is or are the personalities.
They used to run Lauren Rico's syndicated show; she radiates both knowledge and confidence, and I like her.
Tyler Kline has potential but Russell Gant is Boring and Bethany Cagle sounds like a squeaky little mouse.
They carry none of my favorite syndicated shows including Millennium of Music, Exploring Music, Pipedreams, and Reflections from the Keyboard.
WSMR steals me away from SiriusXM Symphony Hall very, very seldom(ly), basically when I am in a car without SatRad.
Also, they are analogue and offer no alternative classical subchannels, though they are on WUSF HD-2.
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Ouch! At least WSMR's playlist is fairly listenable.
I agree that personalities are a distinguishing factor in classical radio. My discrepant opinion of Lauren Rico, however, extends to the point that I tune out whenever she is a substitute host on WQXR. Her puerile manner and egregious mispronunciations are inconsistent with that station's sound.
Is their budget that tight?
I hear her both on SiriusXM weeknights and WSHU Fairfield, CT weekday afternoons. She doesn't grate on my ears and, at least on SXM, her playlists are more to my liking than, say, John Clare's in the mornings, which are full of "light classical," movie music and Bernstein, Gershwin and the like.
I think my favorite announcer on any of the classical stations I listen to is Preston Trombley on SiriusXM. He knows the music and gets the composers over as real people with distinctive personalities with his background stories. He can get silly, but it's not in a low-brow, Morning Zoo kind of way, so it's all good. As for local talent, John Nowacki on WFCR, Amherst, MA, does a nice job with his midday show that's always full of birthday salutes to composers and performers, famous and lesser known, with interesting playlist choices.
I remember Preston Trombly fondly from his WQXR days. His voice and delivery are vaguely reminiscent of the late Lloyd Moss. As for John Nowacki, he was even more local to you when he was on WNPR.
On the matter of SiriusXM, I have never been into vocal classical sounds but I was a fan of Robert Aubrie Davis's VOX channel.
It was certainly more exciting than what they have now. I have not checked WETA's Viva La Voce or KING's Seattle opera channel.
I developed a sincere fondness for Martin Goldsmith after reading his biography of his parents who hooked up during the Third Reich.
As for Preston Trombley, I remember going WHAT? Oh, THAT Joe Green (Giuseppe Verdi)!
It was certainly more exciting than what they have now. I have not checked WETA's Viva La Voce or KING's Seattle opera channel.
I developed a sincere fondness for Martin Goldsmith after reading his biography of his parents who hooked up during the Third Reich.
As for Preston Trombley, I remember going WHAT? Oh, THAT Joe Green (Giuseppe Verdi)!
I’m a sustaining member of WSMR and yes their budget is very tight; they don’t receive any federal funding and they announce that they are 100% listener funded; if it weren’t for some extremely wealthy contributors, who at the drop of a hat will contribute 15 to 30K when necessary; they probably would have never hit the air and even then they are shoehorned in and their signal covers Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, Englewood, North Port, Port Charlotte and Palmetto, notice I did not say Tampa; which is why the translator on 103.9 is a necessity. I listen OTA when I’m in St. Petersburg, but even WSMR’s 89.1 in St. Pete can be spotty north of downtown and by the time one gets north of downtown Tampa; 89.1 WUFT Gainesville will occasionally interfere and by the time you’re 20-25 miles north of downtown Tampa, it’s WUFT-Gainesville all the way.
Rumor is they are working on a solution to have better reception in all of St. Petersburg and Clearwater; although frankly I don’t have a clue as to how they could do that; as the FM band is full. The translator at 103.9 basically covers Tampa and Temple Terrace and reception once out of Tampa can be limited when more than 18-20 miles beyond their transmitter on the main campus of USF. (Startling n.e. Tampa and Temple Terrace).
What I like best about WSMR is that they are not Classical 24!
He can't play Verdi without calling him Joe Green.
Vox was certainly a lot more interesting a channel than Met Opera Radio, for sure, but as we all know the preferred Sirius (and now SiriusXM) M.O. is paid channels, branding, celebrities and New York City, in no particular order, and Met Opera Radio ticks three of the boxes for sure, and the fourth whenever a renowned singer or conductor drops in for a guest gig.
There's an excellent locally-hosted choral hour Sundays at 11 a.m. on the Vermont Public Radio network, too. It follows the syndicated Harmonia and Sunday Baroque programs in a programming block that's just right for a Sunday morning. VPR has three good weekday hosts as well, but uses Classical 24 not only as filler but during its staffers' shifts whenever they're on vacation, sick or snowed in (which, as you might imagine, is very much a thing in Vermont).
Several years ago, I had not heard Elena See on (was it) XM Classics or Symphony Hall for a while and then I was driving along and there she was, but something was not right.
The audio was different and there would be an occasional picket fence (pst, tst, cht), so I looked at my radio and thought OOOOH, she moved to analogue Classical 24.
BTW...Classical South Florida hit the air shortly after WTMI and WCCC in Hartford both went K-LOVE and I was really hoping that CSF would resurrect WTMI in Miami.
I worked there as an engineer shortly before they sold out and they kept a "TMI" article about Three Mile Island hanging in a hallway.
The audio was different and there would be an occasional picket fence (pst, tst, cht), so I looked at my radio and thought OOOOH, she moved to analogue Classical 24.
BTW...Classical South Florida hit the air shortly after WTMI and WCCC in Hartford both went K-LOVE and I was really hoping that CSF would resurrect WTMI in Miami.
I worked there as an engineer shortly before they sold out and they kept a "TMI" article about Three Mile Island hanging in a hallway.
See was on Symphony Hall, post-merger, voicing the evening shift that Lauren Rico handles now.
Always fun to be had when letters or names connected with a radio station popped up in newspaper headlines in totally different context. I remember a fellow student named Miller (can't recall his first name, or where he wound up) who was PD at the campus carrier-current top 40 station WJPZ (later to become a legitimate station) in 1973 or 1974 who had a headline taped to his door. This was during the time that Johnny Miller was playing the best golf of his career, topping leaderboard after leaderboard. Well, after winning one week, he found himself in early contention at the next PGA Tour stop with a 3-under-par opening round, and a copy editor at the Syracuse Post-Standard noted this with the headline that wound up on that door:
"Miller (69) is at it again"
Been listening to WRR online a lot recently. The announcers don't seem as high-brow as other classical stations.
KDFC San Francisco
I'm a sustaining member of KBAQ Phoenix. I like that they mostly run local programming rather than syndicated stuff.
I'm a sustaining member of WSMR Sarasota/St. Petersburg/Tampa; like KBAQ, they run mostly local programming during the day and strictly local programming overnight, rather than the syndicated format. Sister station, WUSF is a nice complement to WSMR, WUSF is talk during the day and overnight, they play jazz.
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