Fw: Re: Fairbanks WKLB/WCLB & WCRB

[joe weisse]

Hi,
My less talk stream is wfcr hd-2 from the once called "Beethoven Network." The direct stream is at:
http://nepr.net/player/wfcr-hd/index.html
In my view it has a nice mix of familiar and rare works with choral mixed in. In hour-long blocks it is always challenging.

Joe

An amateur radio operator since 1966.


--- On Thu, 1/19/17, Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> wrote:

> From: Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com>
> Subject: Re: Fairbanks WKLB/WCLB & WCRB
> To: "A Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com>
> Cc: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org
> Date: Thursday, January 19, 2017, 8:03 AM
> 
> Try WSCS
> (http://www.classicalwscs.org/). I think
> I can guarantee you 
> won't hear much
> talk there.
> 
> 
> Rob
> 
> 
> On
> Wed, 18 Jan 2017, A Joseph Ross wrote:
> 
> > I think that classical music listeners
> want music, not talk.  I used to keep 
> >
> WCRB on in my office.  Under Ted Jones, they occasionally
> got into something 
> > where they started
> talking about the music for a lengthy period, and that 
> > occasionally caused me to tune to one of
> the other classical stations that 
> > were
> available then.
> >
> >
> Since the WCRB signal got a bit dicey in 2007, when I moved
> my office from 
> > Government Center to
> State Street, near Aquarium Station.  So I started to 
> > see what I could find online.  WCRB's
> online signal is more difficult to tune 
> > in, since you have to click on several
> links to get it.  I prefer a station 
> >
> that I can get on Screamer Radio, which I can set to come on
> automatically 
> > when I turn on the
> computer.
> >
> > I now
> listen mostly to KUSC, Los Angeles, at the University of
> Southern 
> > California.  But when they
> do fundraising, I find another station to listen 
> > to.  Fundraising is long periods of
> talking, which is not what I want.  A few 
> > commercials and back to the music
> doesn't bother me.  But long periods of 
> > talking do, especially when they repeat
> their pitch over and over.  When my 
> >
> mother used to nag me, I could get her to stop by doing
> whatever it was she 
> > was nagging me to
> do.  But you can't stop the nagging of radio
> fundraisers by 
> > making a pledge.
> >
> >
> >
> On 1/18/2017 3:27 PM, Rob Landry wrote:
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> On Wed, 18
> Jan 2017, Bob DeMattia wrote:
> >> 
> >>> So what did WGBH do that caused
> the drop in share?
> >> 
> >> I have no connection with WGBH, so I
> don't know any more about what they 
> >> did than any other listener. But
> it's clear they wanted a clean break from 
> >> what Nassau was doing, as they asked
> Nassau to sign off before midnight on 
> >> November 30, 2009, and turn the
> station over to them with the transmitter 
> >> shut down. Nassau asked me to do that;
> there were no Nassau employees left 
> >> in town. I was a contract engineer and
> reported to Nassau's VP/Engineering 
> >> in Princeton.
> >>
> 
> >> I went to the site that evening,
> shut down the station as planned, and 
> >> turned over the keys. The WGBH
> engineers who met me clearly had plans for 
> >> changes, but they didn't tell me
> anything.
> >> 
> >>
> Before Mark Edwards, Nassau's program director for WCRB,
> left for the last 
> >> time several
> days earlier, I had him record a sign-off message and added
> 
> >> one last piece of music: the
> movement "Gute Nacht, O Wesen" from Bach's 
> >> motet, "Jesu meine Freude",
> BWV 227. Even so, the automation playlist ended 
> >> well before midnight, so I ended up
> shutting down early. I gave the keys to 
> >> the WGBH guys, went home, and went to
> sleep.
> >> 
> >>
> Some time before 6 AM the station went back on the air.
> Laura Carlo, the 
> >> morning host, was
> the only ex-Nassau announcer to continue with WGBH, 
> >> although they added former WCRB
> announcers Larry King (who had never worked 
> >> for Nassau) and Ray Brown (who had
> left Nassau before the sale) later. I've 
> >> no idea who was choosing the music, or
> how it was done, but I do know they 
> >> went through several managers and
> program directors before hiring the 
> >> fellow who manages WCRB today, whose
> name escapes me.
> >> 
> >> I do know this: while Charles River
> still owned WCRB, we had Coleman 
> >>
> Research do a number of focus groups, one goal of which was
> to ascertain 
> >> the degree to which
> commercials induce tune-out in a classical format. The 
> >> participants told us that while they
> didn't especially care for 
> >>
> commercials, they didn't generally tune out when they
> heard them. However, 
> >> what they
> really didn't like, and what was pretty much guaranteed
> to make 
> >> them tune out, was on-air
> fundraising. Charles River had occasionally done 
> >> some of it for the Boston Symphony,
> but we never did it again once we 
> >>
> learned how obnoxious our listeners found it. We replaced
> the BSO 
> >> fundraisers with an annual
> Classical Cartoon Festival, which I understand 
> >> WGBH's WCRB still does.
> >> 
> >> However,
> WGBH's WCRB does do on-air fundraising. This may, or may
> not, be 
> >> reflected in the
> station's ratings. I wouldn't know.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Rob
> >> 
> >> 
> >
> > -- 
> > A. Joseph Ross,
> J.D. | 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 | Newton, MA 02459
> > 617.367.0468 | Fx:617.507.7856 | http://www.attorneyross.com
> >
>