Please, Mark Wait! No more "stick around" when you want listeners of KBYU-FM to stay with you during breaks.
You may talk this way with your buddies or at home. But "stick around" is not acceptable on air when talking to listeners of classical music.
Have some class. "Stick around" is not appropriate when you address sophisticated listeners to classical music.
Where is KBYU's management on this? Why haven't Eric Glissmeyer and Marcus Smith already put an end to this inappropriate expression.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
KBYU-FM NEEDS TO STOP "STICK AROUND" OF MARK WAIT
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Tuesday, May 29, 2012
NO BBC NEWS TONIGHT AT SIX: WHY CAN'T KBYU-FM GIVE ADVANCE WARNING?
Tonight KBYU-FM once again preempted BBC News for a special Carnegie Hall Live broadcast. I think Carnegie Hall Live is a good program but why is it necessary to do away with KBYU's broadcast of BBC News at six? Why can't KBYU's managers, Eric Glissmeyer and Marcus Smith, give advance warning to listeners that KBYU will not be airing BBC News at various times?
Moreover, why can't we have both? Why can't Carnegie Hall Live start at 6:06 when BBC News finishes? And the same goes for Highway 89, a production of KBYU. KBYU's managers surely knew that Highway 89 would preempt BBC News. But why must it? There is no cogent reason why Highway 89 can't begin at 6:06 on Saturday evenings.
It seems that KBYU-FM preempts BBC News every chance it gets. Do Eric Glissmeyer and Marcus Smith believe BBC News somehow is not appropriate for KBYU's listeners?
If so, Glissmeyer and Smith are wrong and overly parochial. Instead of cutting BBC News, I suggest they axe local news on weekday mornings and afternoons. KBYU as Classical 89 surely does not need to broadcast robberies, murders, police actions, and other inappropriate news stories.
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Labels: BBC RADIO NEWS, CARNEGIE HALL LIVE, ERIC GLISSMEYER, HIGHWAY 89, KBYU-FM, LOCAL NEWS STORIES, MARCUS SMITH
Sunday, May 27, 2012
REAL PURPOSE OF KBYU-FM'S FUND DRIVES
A week ago, I read an obituary for Herbert Brelin in The New York Times. Breslin was business manager for Luciano Pavarotti, and wrote a book on his sometimes-stormy relationship with the great tenor.
Daniel Wakin describes Breslin's business philosophy in dealing with Pavarotti and other classical singers:
"He put his philosophy this way: “Marketing an artist is basically like marketing a bar of soap,” adding that publicity is a waste “if it doesn’t mean higher fees, if it doesn’t mean more money in your pocket.” At its bottom, he said, classical music is a business. “Everyone is in it for the money,” he said."
I thought of this rough realism in connection with KBYU-FM's frequent over-the-air fund drives. Of course KBYU's managers, such as Marcus Smith and Eric Glissmeyer, would like listeners to believe that contributing monies to KBYU is the highest and purest form of altruism possible. What could be more demonstrative of a listener's love of classical music than giving cash to KBYU?
But Breslin's words ring true, no matter what KBYU's Marcus Smith would like everyone to believe. KBYU is just in it for the money. Classical music is just the bait.
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Labels: CLASSICAL MUSIC, DANIEL WAKIN, ERIC GLISSMEYER, HERBERT BRESLIN, KBYU-FM, KBYU-FM FUND DRIVES, LUCIANO PAVAROTTI, MARCUS SMITH
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
STOP FUND RAISING ON AIR AT KBYU-FM UNTIL PUBLIC RECEIVES FULL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, is plodding along this whole week with another tedious fund drive. Marcus Smith, general manager of BYU broadcasting, is even taking duties at the mike to spur on listeners to send in those checks and pledges.
Hey, Marcus, when was the last fund drive? One year ago, six months ago? No, of course not. The last drive was less than three months ago in February 2012. See my post here complaining of the drive back then.
First. There are too many fund drives on KBYU-FM, at least four times a year, sometimes more, each for a whole week. Second. KBYU is quick to ask listeners over public airwaves for monies, but it stonewalls when it comes to making full disclosure of its finances.
What happens to all the listener donations? Does any of it go to management salaries or other perks? No one outside of KBYU knows.
So I say, stop all fund raising at KBYU on air until Marcus Smith and station manager Eric Glissmeyer make full disclosure of all income, expenses, amounts paid for salaries, pensions and perks.
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Labels: BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY, ERIC GLISSMEYER, KBYU-FM, KBYU-FM FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES, KBYU-FM FUND DRIVES, MARCUS SMITH
Monday, May 14, 2012
KBYU-FM CONDUCTS ANOTHER FUND DRIVE, YET STILL NO FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
KBYU-FM is conducting yet another fund drive this week over public airwaves. It calls this one its "Spring Drive."
Yet KBYU and its management, Marcus Smith and Eric Glissmeyer, still refuse to divulge KBYU's finances, including how much it takes in from donors and contributors, and how much it spends on management salaries and perks.
Until KBYU and Smith and Glissmeyer come clean with KBYU's financial position, KBYU should cease and desist from any fund drives. The public has a right to know what a "public" radio station does with its finances.
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Labels: ERIC GLISSMEYER, FULL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE, KBYU-FM, KBYU-FM FUND DRIVES, KBYU-FM SSPRING FUND DRIVE, MARCUS SMITH
Sunday, March 25, 2012
BACH'S ST. JOHN PASSION - WHEN WILL IT END?
Today, KBYU-FM aired Carnegie Hall Live's production of Bach's St. John Passion.
Listening to this "sacred" work, I had the same feeling when I was a boy at Sunday Mass and the choir insisted on singing some 12-stanza hymn which just went on and on. What would be fine in five minutes becomes tedious and boring at 15. The St. John Passion takes over two-and-a-half hours. Boring and tedious, it was! Perhaps Bach was paid commensurate with the length of the piece commissioned. The longer the work, the more the stipend!
It was interesting to see that KBYU cancelled Music and The Spoken Word at its normal time to allow for the Bach work. Wow! Someone high up in the LDS Church must consider the St. John Passion, even though sung in German, religiously significant and as important as its live-from-Salt Lake City regular Sunday morning program.
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Labels: J.S. BACH, LDS CHURCH, LIVE FROM CARNEGIE HALL, MUSIC AND THE SPOKEN WORD, ST. JOHN PASION
Friday, March 23, 2012
STOP FUND DRIVES ON KCPW-FM TILL PUBLIC RECEIVES TIMELY FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES
KCPW-FM is engaged in another fund drive over public airwaves. It seems like KCPW has its announcers and volunteers ask for money and pledges every three minutes if not more frequently.
I object to "public" stations using public airwaves to solicit monies. But I especially object to KCPW doing it. Why? Because Wasatch Public Media and its president, Ed Sweeney, who purchased KCPW several years ago thanks to donations by listeners, fail to make timely disclosure of the station's financials.
IRS requires KCPW to publicly disclose its Form 990 every year. But KCPW seemingly drags this out for as long as possible. An example. For KCPW's tax year ending June 30, 2011, a date almost nine months ago, the public still has no information about KCPW's financial results. See KPCW's last disclosure on its web page. It is for tax year ending June 30, 2010.
Why does KCPW drag out release of its financial statements, sometimes for up to a year after its fiscal-year end? A suspicious mind might get the impression that KCPW's management really does not want the public to see what KCPW does with its money, or how much it pays Ed Sweeney or other management personnel.
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Labels: ED SWEENEY, KCPW 2011 FORM 990, KCPW FUND DRIVES, KCPW-FM, TIMELY FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES, WASATCH PUBLIC MEDIA
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
ROSIE STEVENSON OF KBYU-FM - OUTSTANDING CLASSICAL ANNOUNCER OF 2012
I would like to nominate Rosie Stevenson of KBYU-FM as Outstanding Classical Music Announcer of 2012.
It's not often that I can unreservedly praise a classical music announcer. Some I find provincial and banal in their comments and seemingly disinterested in classical music, like Mark Wait, also on KBYU. Others I fault for their pronunciation and sloppy diction, like Fred Child of Performance Today who thinks "live from Lincoln Cener" is acceptable.
But with Rosie Stevenson, aficionados of classical music have someone who has an encyclopedic knowledge and familiarity with the classical genre; someone whose life experience has touched on many contemporary musicians and composers; someone whose comments about classical music are always insightful and meaningful.
In thinking about nominating Rosie Stevenson, I considered other classical announcers who also do a wonderful job. I think of Jim Cunningham of WQED, the voice of the Pittsburgh Symphony Radio. Also Carl Grapentine and Kerry Frumkin of WFMT in Chicago come to mind. But apart from these, Rosie Stevenson has little competition as the outstanding classical announcer currently on American radio.
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Labels: CARL GRAPENTINE, CLASSICAL MUSIC ANNNOUNCER OF 2012, FRED CHILD, JIM CUNNINGHAM, KBYU-FM, KERRY FRUMKIN, MARK WAIT, PERFORMANCE TODAY, ROSIE STEVENSON, WNYT-FM, WQED-FM, WQXR-FM
Monday, March 19, 2012
KBYU-FM'S JOB REQUIREMENTS FOR CLASSICAL ANNOUNCERS - HOW DID IT EVER HIRE MARK WAIT?
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Labels: BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY, KBYU-FM, MARK WAIT, STANDARDS FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC ANNOUNCER
Friday, March 16, 2012
WOULD WE LIKE MUSIC IN "YELLOWSTONE: CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA" JUST AS MUCH IF CALLED "NEW JERSEY LANDFILL CONCERTO"?
KBYU-FM aired Jeff Hitt's "Yellowstone: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra" today on Friday Favorites. When I first heard the piece, I was taken by its lyricism and melody, which I wrote about in this blog. See link here.
But today, hearing the work for a second time, it struck me that perhaps Yellowstone 's popular appeal comes as much from visions conjured up by its name as from its musical composition.
So I pose this question. How much would we like Jeff Hitt's work if he had called it "New Jersey Landfill Concerto"?
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Labels: JEFF HITT, KBYU-FM, NEW JERSEY LANDFILL CONCERTO, YELLOWSTONE: CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA
