KBYU'S ROSIE STEVENSON RECALLS GREAT ANNOUNCERS OF WFMT-FM CHICAGO

I remember listening to WFMT-FM every time I was in Chicago on business, which was about one week every month.  WFMT broadcasts mostly classical music with some folk and jazz, and having an emphasis on fine arts.  Often I listened to its music long into the night, only to wake the next morning and finding it was still tuned in.

I remember many of WFMT's announcers back then in the years between 1970 and 1995, including the late Norm Pellegrini, Mel Zellman, Don Tait, Jim Unrath, Kerry Frumkin and Carl Grapentine.

One of WFMT's hallmarks was its operating procedure of having its announcers wait a short period of time after the end of each classical piece for the purpose of giving listeners time to absorb what they just heard.  The pause was powerful.  It underlined the emotional impact of the music.  It magnified the effect of the music on the listener.

I remember back some 30 years ago reading in the Wall Street Journal about WFMT and about its extraordinary practice of purposely allowing two or three seconds of "dead air time" after the end of each piece  This was unique to WFMT as far as I know with the possible exception of WNIB-FM, also out of Chicago, but sadly now off the air since 2001.  The concept of "avoid dead air at all costs" somehow becomes ingrained in TV and radio announcers as soon as they speak into the mike.  For an ordinary local TV or radio station, it is the worst sin that an announcer or disc jockey can commit.  But for classical music, WFMT pioneered its use and made it one of its identifying and most pleasing characteristics.

I as a listener was swept up by the powerful force of its impact.  The music became so much more emotionally powerful, the announcers so much more interesting, the station so above the ordinary.

So it was that I was delighted to hear Rosie Stevenson today on KBYU-FM incorporate this practice into her classical announcing.  As every good teacher and public speaker knows, a bit of dead air or silence can work wonders in conveying ideas and emotions.  Rosie Stevenson brought back memories of those great classical announcers playing wonderful music that I heard many years ago in Chicago.  For which I am grateful.