New show on K-Mozart
There are rumblings in town that Saul Levine has something up his sleeve regarding his classical music station K-Mozart, which can be heard via digital HD Radio (105.1 HD4) — which requires a special HD radio tuner — or online at kmozart.com. You can also hear the station using numerous apps on your smart phone, including TuneIn.
For his part, Levine is being mum. But I know he is a fan of the format, and he’s been alluding to increasing the station’s visibility for some time now.
What is driving the latest rumblings in part is a new weekend show, Sundays with Segovia. It airs every Sunday afternoon at 3:00, with host Rodney Williamson presenting an hour of classical guitar music sponsored by GSI, or Guitar Salon International. In addition, according to GSI, the program will feature “luthiers whose guitars we have in our GSI catalogue.”
Well, I had to look that up … At the risk of sounding even more un-cultured than I am, I have never heard of a luthier. According to career explorer.com, however, “a luthier is an artisan who makes or repairs stringed instruments such as cellos, violins, guitars, mandolins, dulcimers and banjos. The word luthier comes from the French word luth, which means lute, and the art of making and repairing instruments is a centuries-old tradition.”
Guitar Salon International is a store in Santa Monica that sells guitars via their showroom and online (guitarsalon.com); they call themselves “the premier online community, showroom and shop for classical guitars, flamenco guitars and guitar accessories.”
Now I know it’s just one show, and it seems to be a sponsored show at that, one in which the sponsor pays to have the program air. But it’s still a new show — it debuted just February 2nd — and it means someone is paying attention to the station. Add to that a revamped station website and some rumors coming my way and I think something big may be coming to the classical music scene in town.
More B-100
Last week’s mention of B-100 — the on-air identity of KFMB-FM/San Diego (100.7) during the 1970s and ‘80s — brought an email from John Fox, who was working there during the time as a board operator while he attended college.
“Thanks for the great shout out to B100 – best job I ever had!
“Here are a couple of early staff detail tweaks – the original full time 1975 air staff in order of appearance starting with mornings was Rob Landry along with Teri Lynn doing news, Dave Conley, Willie B Goode, Jimi Fox, Rocketman (Scott Wright), and Billy Martin.
“Part timers were a little hard to nail down. Dr. Boogie (Bobby Rich) did occasional shifts. Beaver Cleaver was right there in the first year. Gary Kelley came a little later and Kevin Anderson wasn’t until ’77. Glen McCartney replaced Rocketman in late ’75.
“Willie and Dave left to begin TenQ in LA with Jimi as the Program Director in the Spring of 1976. Gene Knight replaced Jimi in evenings; Shotgun Tom replaced Rob, and Uncle Fred replaced Teri. Glen moved to middays to replace Dave. Gary Kelley took Glen’s night shift. Phil Flowers replaced Billy. Danny Wilde replaced Willie. Jimmy Rogers and Chris Lance were the weekenders.
“All of these changes came in fairly quick succession in 1976. Kevin arrived in ’77 to replace Gary and Cherie replaced Phil, completing the staff that took B100 to #1. I could be wrong, but I think I’m pretty clear on the timeline.”
That’s good, because I can’t keep track of all those changes and I’m just reading them!
Fox, in case you were trying to remember, was heard later on B-100 and later locally on such stations as the late, great KEZY (now KFSH, 95.9 FM). He is currently the general manager of low-powered KPRI (91.3 FM), owned by the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
No Baseball?
The Oakland As have abandoned radio as one source for fans to hear their baseball games. In radio’s place will be streaming via TuneIn and I assume satellite radio service SiriusXM.
While the As are the first — and so far only — team to leave radio, will others follow suit? I’m going to guess no. Radio is still far too easy to use compared with almost every other source, and leaving radio most certainly does take leave a huge chunk of your fans without a way to follow the team. Not everyone wants to use a smartphone or pay to hear games.
But it will be an interesting story to follow. If sports teams do start leaving radio, the single largest revenue source for many stations will be gone. What then?
Perhaps the corporate radio apologists will have an answer …
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