A week ago Old First Concerts in San Francisco sponsored a sold out performance of the music of Julius Eastman. Hybrid Highbrow has discussed Eastman’s history and significance before. I wish that I could have attended this event, but my friend Sherry Gendelman, who hosts the Piano program on KPFA, went and sent me her notes:

“There were four grand pianos on stage,  three of which were lent to the church for the performance by R. Kassman Pianos of Berkeley. Julius Eastman’s music is not traditionally melodic, though it is infused with many classical influences. It is atonal, assaultive, percussive and mind boggling. The first three, short pieces, were religious in theme. ‘Touch Him When,’ ‘Our Father,’ and ‘Hail Mary.’ They were unique in their conception, particularly ‘Hail Mary,’ which consisted of a performer speaking the Hail Mary prayer over and over through a megaphone, accompanied by piano. I can only imagine what Eastman suffered at the hands of organized religion.

After intermission there was performance of his piece ‘Crazy Nigger,’ composed 1979. It involved all four pianos. It began with just four pianists. The program indicated that there would be additional players at some point in the piece. I listened with my eyes closed. I heard in the beginning the brilliance and classical training that Eastman had. The music also spoke of what it feels like to be called “crazy”  and “nigger” for your entire life. I was so lost in the music that when I opened my eyes was startled to see at least two or four more people surrounding each piano and banging out their parts and hearts. I was startled by the number of people onstage and the cacophony of noise and music that they made, all from Eastman’s score. When the piece was over the audience erupted with applause and cheers. I’m really happy that I attended.”

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Variety has a wonderful profile of Los Angeles radio pioneer Saul Levine, age 92, who launched his first classical music station KBCA-FM almost 60 years ago. Author Roy Trakin obviously had fun writing the piece:

Like Daniel-Day Lewis in “There Must Be Blood,” Levine bulldozed the land atop Mt. Wilson –which he leased from the U.S. Forest Service for $350 a year — driving the tractor himself. He acquired a transmitter from a defunct Michigan station for $1,500, had an antenna crafted out of a lead pipe, and bartered commercial time on the yet-to-air station for a $300 flag pole so they could broadcast. He even built a makeshift studio on the site itself, where an eccentric Seven-Day Adventist-turned-engineer who literally lived off the land kept the station on for as close to around the clock as humanly possible.

Since then Levine has operated classical, jazz, and even country music stations. I am most familiar with his K-MOZART outlet, available at FM 105.1, via HD, and online. He predicts that terrestrial radio will last another “15 to 20 years.”

“It’s free, it’s local, it’s live,” Levine told Variety, “and it’s the only medium that deals with your community.”

Levine’s Mt. Wilson Broadcasters company is a not infrequent correspondent with the Federal Communications Commission. In this 2017 broadside, he urged the FCC not to accept proposals that would lead to further consolidation on the AM/FM bands, referring specifically to recommendations coming from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).

Levine writes:

“Separate and apart from failing to provide documentation in support of the alleged adverse impact on competition, the NAB filings ignore the multiple ‘downsides’ resulting from group owner consolidation,

1. less diversity of viewpoint ownership (evidenced by substantially fewer radio owners- the 39% decline in radio ownership between 1996 and 2006), which will be further reduced if caps are eliminated, increased or maintained at the existing limits;

2. less meaningful localism (evidenced by out-of-market centrally located studios serving distant designated areas, Appendix III, Mt. Wilson Addendum);

3. less competition between group owners and independent radio owners (evidenced by the decline in radio ownership). While the number of stations remain relatively constant, the number of radio owners consistently is reduced – the ultimate result, less competition, less diversity;

4. additional layoffs resulting from consolidation.”

When not giving the FCC a piece of his mind, Levine has been dating via match.com, according to the Variety article. “There was one I liked, but she turned out to be a little meshugge,” he told Trakin. “She was attractive and intelligent, but she’s converted to Hinduism and wanted me to also. Then I found out she was spiking my meals with herbs. She kept telling me Big Pharma’s killing us, but if it weren’t for Big Pharma, we wouldn’t be here at all.” Whatever is keeping Saul here, it deserves our thanks.

The post Saul Levine, radio pioneer, still advocating for independent media appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What killed smooth jazz radio? Why aren’t there any commercial classical stations any longer? And, why do radio stations have a “format” to begin with? Matthew Lasar joins us to explore these questions about the fundamental organizing principle of most music radio.

Matthew is a co-founder of Radio Survivor and the author of three important books on radio, including Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network and Radio 2.0.

Show Notes:

• Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music, by Eric Weisbard
• Matthew likes: KKUP, KZSC, Second Inversion Radio, WQXR New Sounds (formerly Q2)
• Hybrid Highbrow: New music for Paddle to the Sea + nobody told me that smooth jazz died
• Hybrid Highbrow: Somebody stop killing jazz radio please
• OMG a radio station actually keeps its classical format after protests

The post Podcast #150 – Sympathy for Kenny G appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Some of our perennially most popular posts are about smooth jazz radio in Chicago (and there’s a lot of different kinds of jazz on Chicago radio). After being bumped around the dial for the last five years, the format has emerged on a new station once again, this time broadcasting from a new translator station high atop the John Hancock Center.

It’s been quite a ride. Smooth jazz was bumped from its two-decade home station WNUA-FM in 2009, moved to a TV channel 6 back-door to the FM dial, was axed again in 2012, only to migrate to an HD2 channel this past January. Then, once again, earlier this month the smooth jazz format came to an end on WTMX-HD2, replaced by an all-Jazz Christmas format for the holidays.

However, all is not lost for smooth jazz fans. On December 26 WTMX-HD2 began airing a new–but similar–urban jazz format called “The Groove.” The new station is headed up by veteran Chicago broadcaster Rick O’Dell, who was at the helm for the all the format’s incarnations. The smooth jazz format that aired on WTMX-HD2 from January to December was simulcast from O’Dell’s SmoothJazzChicago.net internet radio stream.

The station is also heard on analog radios via a new translator at 103.9 FM located right on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. “The Groove” is owned by Windy City Broadcasting, which leases the HD2 channel and owns the translator, which it purchased this past summer for a cool million bucks. That’s a lot of money for a 15-watt station, though Windy City has applied to boost power to 99 watts. Still a low-powered station, but being positioned up high in the heart of the city makes it accessible to a lot of listeners.

The channel 6 / 87.7 FM signal that first caught my attention five years ago is still on the air. The alternative rock format left the station in January when it returned to its former and storied q1home at 101.1 FM, where it was previously known as Q101 (the rights to the Q101 name are now owned by a web radio station).

Since January 87.7 has been leased by Tribune Broadcasting to air a sports talk station called The Game. However, that too is coming to an end tonight at midnight, when Tribune pulls the plug. In a November incident that went viral in sports and broadcast circles, the station’s two afternoon hosts learned about the shut down on Twitter live on the air, before they had been notified by management. The whole broadcast was caught on video by the live station cameras. Oops.

Chicago media writer Robert Feder reports that the signal will be taken over by the company behind the Me TV network–Weigel Broadcasting–which syndicates nostalgic old re-runs to digital television sub channels throughout the country. Feder says the new station will start February 1, and that 87.7 FM will simulcast its WGN-AM signal in the interim.

The post In Chicago Smooth Jazz Radio Moves Again appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As of today, 1468 new low power FM (LPFM) construction permits have been issued as a result of the fall 2013 application window. As 2014 draws to a close, we’re hearing more and more about the plans for many of these new stations. In case you missed our other LPFM coverage this week, be sure to check out Paul’s piece about a new book about LPFM called Low Power to the People: Pirates, Protest and Politics in FM Radio Activism and Matthew’s post about a LPFM station in a former ghost town in New Mexico.

Latest Call Signs for New LPFMs include KZIT, WSAX, and More

On Friday, the FCC released its latest list of call sign actions. Plenty of LPFM stations are represented, giving us a glimpse of some of the chosen call signs for new stations. Some call signs of interest include WIWI-LP (Academy of Excellence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), KZIT-LP (SAM-SNO Educational Media in Olympia, Washington), WSHT-LP (Sabbath Inc in Indianapolis, IN), WUSS-LP (Salem Radio Inc. in Salem, South Carolina), KDOH-LP (Teshuvah International Ministries, Inc. in Golden, Colorado), WXOX-LP (Art x FM, Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky) and WSAX-LP (Semm Foundation, Columbus, OH) for a jazz music station.

Dismissals This Week

Some of the dismissed applications this week include LIBERTAD EN CRISTO (Huntington Station, NY) , AMERICAN CENTER FOR CIVIL JUSTICE, INC. (Rockaway Beach, NY), CURRENT RIVER BROADCASTING, INC. (Doniphan, MO), IPSWICH BAY BROADCASTING CORP. (Ipswich, MA), EVOLVEMENT MEDIA GROUP (Newburyport, MA), RADIO ELIZABETH, INC. (Elizabeth, NJ), NORTHERN NEW JERSEY CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING, INC. (Parsippany, NJ), CARILLON COMMUNICATIONS (Lorain, OH), ROOTSRADIO (Bakersfield, CA), and SALISBURY COMMUNITY BROADCASTING (Salisbury, NC),

New Construction Permits this Week to Churches, College, and other Community Groups

This week construction permits were granted to 10 groups, including:

Churches/Religious Groups:

Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church (Lorain, OH)

Calvary Chapel Morris Hills (Dover, NJ)

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn (Queens, NY): This group is in a time-share with the Global Service Center for Quitting Chinese Community Party, Inc. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn will broadcast on weekdays from 5am to 2pm, on Saturdays from midnight to 8am and from 4pm to midnight, and all day on Sundays.

Christopher Center Corporation (Fostoria, OH): This non-profit was formed by “local members of the Knights of Columbus.” It plans to air a Catholic talk format, airing mostly syndicated programming from the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network.

Other community Groups:

Current River Community Radio Foundation (Doniphan, MO): According to its application, this station will air locally programmed music, news, talk, sports, and public affairs programming. Some specific programs will include a “river report…hunting report…Sunday morning and evening gospel readings with local religious leaders…community round table…and a…local artist spotlight…” I was also interested to see that the station plans to air a “radio swap meet” during which “listeners can call in and announce their events…or list any items they have for sale.” I’m a big fan of these local swap meet shows (I LOVE listening to Trading Time on KZYX in Philo, California).

Newburyport Community Media Center (Newburyport, MA): This group already runs community access cable television channels under the name PortMedia. Additionally, it has an Internet radio station and with the LPFM station it plans to continue with a range of community programming. The station plans to air “…updates about the Council on Aging, specific art and cultural reviews and offerings specifically for seniors or low income, programming recapping the School Committee meetings and City Council meetings as well as other important meetings in the city…” Additionally, high school and middle school students will produce radio programs and hope to host “alternative music shows.”

Educational Lab Inc. (Brooklyn, NY): This group plans to air a variety of community programs, including broadcasts of school board meetings, health-themed shows, programs on crime reduction, and information about jobs in the area.

Rhythm Foundation, Inc. (Yuba City, CA): This non-profit is focused on “providing leadership in exploring and attempting to resolve social and cultural differences in society.” Its proposed programming “will be directed to listeners of all backgrounds and ages in an effort to instill a sense of harmony and cooperation among all members of the community” and will include “family development, child rearing, education, health information, and the social relationships of groups in society,” according to its application.

The Global Service Center for Quitting Chinese Communist Party, Inc. (Flushing, NY): This group piqued our interest because it was also an applicant for a license in Los Angeles, but asked for that application to be dismissed earlier this year. This week the non-profit was successfully granted a time-share license in New York (it will be sharing the frequency with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn). The group is focused on “multicultural diversity” and it hopes to “bring significant programming to under-represented groups in the Chinatown district of Flushing” in order to promote “the interests and needs of the Chinese language population,” according to its application. According to the FCC authorization, the Global Service Center for Quitting Chinese Communist Party will broadcast Monday-Friday from midnight to 5:00 am and from 2:00 pm to 12:00 midnight. On Saturdays it will broadcast from 8am to 4pm and it will not broadcast on Sundays. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn will broadcast at all other times, including all day Sunday.

Colleges:

Livingstone College (Salisbury, NC): According to its application, Livingstone College plans to “integrate the station into its curriculum” and “anticipates that the station will be used to teach its students communication, management, and technical skills.” The small liberal arts college has been in existence since 1879 and “is a private historically black institution” in a “Christian-based environment,” according to its website.

Radio Survivor reports on LPFM news every Thursday in our LPFM Watch feature.

The post LPFM Watch: 10 More LPFMs + Get Ready for KZIT, WSAX and WXOX appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Rough notes post here: some brainy podcasts that come to mind . . .

The New Yorker podcast: Listen to John Cheever fiction read out loud, a reflection on the life of Nina Simone, a summary of the faceoff between feminism and transgenderism, and ongoing meditations about Ferguson, Iraq, and Gaza.

The MIT courseware podcast. Stem cell concepts. The Early Universe. Finance Theory. Origami and Geometric Folding Basics. You name it (or have never heard of it), MIT has it.

The Jazz Corner podcast. Interviews with the world’s top jazz musicians. Oscar Hernandez on Latin jazz. Rudresh Mahanthappa on India influenced saxophone jazz. Gregory Porter on socially conscious jazz lyrics. Cutting edge stuff on a perenially cutting edge genre.

The China in Africa podcast. Yes, you read that correctly. China and Ethiopia. China and South Africa. Does Al Jazeera get China in Africa right? You’ll never think the same way about China or Africa again.

The Classical-Music.com podcast. Classical recordings circa 1917. Handel’s favorite charitable cause: helping abandoned children. The personal life of Gesualdo. Awesome stuff and tons of it.

The New York Museum of Modern Art podcast. Doesn’t seem like MOMA has kept up with these since last October, but still an awesome list of talks on everyone from Motherwell to Oldenburg.

These are some highbrow podcasts. Feel free to suggest yours below . . .

The post Highbrow podcasts: a short list appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In the course of this work, a continuous wave of music legends have come through Bennett’s studio door. These include Astor Piazzola, Gary Burton, Woody Shaw, Art Pepper, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Tom Waits, Pat Metheny, Pharoah Sanders, Jan Garbarek, The Neville Brothers, Robert Cray, Santana, Tower Of Power, Jon Hendricks, John Santos, Joe Pass, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, and Nina Simone. His latest In the Moment live concert spotlighted Myra Melford at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland.

Bennett’s Indiegogo campaign will help raise the cash for a two CD set of In the Moment live performances. The CDs will be produced at no cost to KCSM. The station will be able to use them during fundraising periods. And these contributions will, perhaps most importantly, allow Bennett to train and mentor students at a total of six non-profits: KCSM, The Jazzschool in Berkeley, Musically Minded Academy in Oakland, The Sound Room in Oakland, The Oaktown Jazz Workshop, and The Bird and Beckett Cultural Legacy Project in San Francisco.

The campaign will also allow Bennett to keep his show going. “I believe strongly in recording live music as a way of promoting musicians and strengthening music community,” Bennett’s statement notes. “It means a lot to me to support local musicians and to insure that there are younger engineers who get the opportunity to document the music.”

The In The Moment KCSM fundraising campaign has a little less than two weeks to go. More details about it on Bennett’s Indiegogo page.

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