PUBLIC RADIO AND TV STATIONS IN UTAH

KBYU-FM NEEDS TO EXPAND ITS CLASSICAL HORIZONS TO INCLUDE MORE CONTEMPORARY MUSIC

2012-01-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

For an FM radio station that likes to term itself "Classical 89," KBYU seems to think that "classical music" ends around the year 1900. It would appear that KBYU's management has no taste for contemporary classical music and thus omits to broadcast it on a regular basis. Marcus Smith, KBYU's general manager, admitted that he knew little of contemporary music. Not a good omen for listeners wanting a broader horizon in classical broadcasts.

Consider the piece by Olivier Messiaen, Des Canyons Aux Ètoiles, recently performed by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra led by Jeffrey Tate in a small music performance hall in Brooklyn.

Anthony Tommasini writes in The New York Times:

"Everything about Messiaen’s “Des Canyons aux Étoiles”(“From the Canyons to the Stars”) is vast. This audacious100-minute work is scored for 44 individual instruments, includingall manner of percussion, and features a formidable solo piano part.It was inspired by Messiaen’s 1972 visit to Bryce Canyon and CedarBreaks in Utah, where he looked in awe at craggy rock formations andreddish-orange geological vistas."

Why can't we hear a piece like this on KBYU? Why the animus for contemporary composers and their recent works on Classical 89? Listeners who are interested in classical music deserve being able to hear the Messiaens, the Ligetis, the Ned Rorems, as well as the Bachs, Mozarts, Brahms.

I call on Marcus Smith and his assistant Eric Glissmeyer - loosen up on your play list. As it is, the music played on KBYU appears too conservative, too intolerant of contemporary composers. Classical music is much more, much, much more than your current play list would have it seem.

KBYU-FM ANOTHER KCPW?

2012-01-03T15:41:00.001-07:00

On KBYU-FM, why must Mark Wait and the student announcers insist on adding the words "on Classical 89" after every piece of music played on air. This becomes truly annoying especially when Wait and the students use it to excess. Stop, please.

If it is so important to KBYU's Marcus Smith, general manager, and Eric Glissmeyer, program selection manager, that "Classical 89" be repeated 10 times every hour, perhaps they should consider working for KCPW-FM, another "public" station in Salt Lake City which has its announcers say its call sign about five times every minute.

How serene and so much better it is to listen to Peter Van de Graaff, KBYU's nighttime announcer, who mentions the words "Classical 89" only once at the top of each hour.

MY COMPLAINTS ABOUT "LIVE FROM VIENNA" AND TV BROADCAST OF NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC

2012-01-02T14:23:00.003-07:00

I have several complaints about the production and programming of "Live from Vienna" on New Year's Day.

The broadcasters at WGBH - Boston seem to believe that the music alone will not draw and hold an audience. Therefore they add all the extraneous fluff, like ballet dancing, images of Vienna, silly commentary on the part of some who probably have never attended a symphonic concert live before.

This is not a new problem. It has been going on for years, for decades. But I call for an end to such silliness. It is a gross waste of time for viewers who just want the concert and not all the rest of the fluff.

I also want to take several pokes at the broadcasters/producers of the New York Philharmonic for their New Year's Eve program. Why is it necessary to have the cameras focus now on the flutists, now on the violists, now on the horns, and so on? This is most distracting. Please stop this micro-televising. Just pull all cameras back and let the viewer enjoy the concert much as he/she does in the live concert hall.

Lastly who in management at the New York Philharmonic thought it was a good idea to have Fred Child of Performance Today do the national announcing? Has anyone at the NY Phil ever listened to Fred Child as he talks about "live from Lincoln Cen-ner?" You can imagine what Fred Child does with "internet," "twenty," "international," et al. And don't ask Fred Child to say "sonata," or else you get something like "seh-neh-teh." So whoever thought Fred Child was a proper choice should be made to pronounce these words himself/herself before top brass, with proper articulation a condition of continued employment. Given Fred Child's diction, I just cannot believe that sloppy and lazy pronunciation is now acceptable within the New York arts establishment.

KBYU-FM "CLASSICAL 89" BROADCASTS EXCESSIVE RELIGIOUS CAROLS

2011-12-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

During the whole month of December, KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, has been broadcasting Christmas religious music. And it seems this week, KBYU airs such music non-stop from 6 AM to 6 PM.

KBYU calls itself "Classical 89," but as Christmas approaches, a listener would be taxed to find any classical music among the excesses of Christmas religious carols and church hymns.

I don't object to all Christmas music on KBYU, only to those mushy saccharine religious hymns that promote management's concept of orthodox belief.

For example, I welcome hearing works such as Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, or Saint-Saens Christmas Concerto, or the medieval Play of Herod. But I do object to the constant broadcast of Silent Night, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and the like. I find these hymns excessively broadcast and inappropriate. It almost seems that KBYU's management uses these hymns as a form of proselytization over-the-air.

Officially, not only does KBYU claim it plays classical music, it also promotes itself as a "public" radio station, this during frequent bouts of fund-raising on-air.

If KBYU is indeed a genuine "public" station, it has no business promoting Christmas as a religious holiday or using Christmas carols to foster management's idea of what listeners should believe. A true public station should not promote one religious belief over another or even use its format to bless a particular religion.

Therefore I say to Marcus Smith, KBYU's general manager, and to Eric Glissmeyer, KBYU's program selector, stop the religious Christmas music. It has no place on a public station that defines itself and its format as "classical."

ANTIPATHY OF MANAGEMENT OF KBYU-FM TOWARDS CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS

2011-12-10T14:54:00.001-07:00

Elliott Carter celebrates his 103rd birthday tomorrow, so this past Thursday there was a birthday celebration at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.

Anthony Tommasini reviews the musical fete in today's The New York Times.

Writes Tommasini:

The Elliott Carter whose reputation as a formidably complex modernist was established decades ago still came through in this and the other recent works performed. But, as I have suggested before, Mr. Carter may represent a rare instance in which losing a little edge in old age is not a bad thing. There is a new directness and generosity in his recent works. The textures are lucid, with less layering of busy counterpoint, and Mr. Carter’s lyrical voice emerges more overtly. Yet the spiky, complex Carter is still very present. It is hard to overstate the significance of Mr. Carter’s longevity. Never in the history of music has a major composer still been producing significant pieces at such an age. Verdi was pushing 80 when he finished his final masterpiece, “Falstaff.” Stravinsky completed his last major piece, “Requiem Canticles,” at 84.

Elliott Carter is still prodigiously composing new works. Tommasini reports that all but one of the pieces on Thursday were composed in the last 10 years. Amazing!

My question is, why don't listeners to Utah's only classical FM radio station, KBYU-FM, ever get to hear any of these works? I have been listening to KBYU for more than 30 years and I don't remember one Elliott Carter work ever broadcast. Now perhaps there was one, or maybe two. I don't listen continuously during the day, and I try to tune out during this month of December when KBYU seems to be on a mission to broadcast as many religious Christmas carols as possible (a religious quest?), to which offerings I hardly ever listen.

It would be interesting to check a playlist over the years if only KBYU offered a data base of music aired. But it does not. So I can only offer my impression. Elliott Carter is persona non grata on KBYU.

I argue, a station like KBYU that frequently goes into fund-raising mode during which it likes to call itself "public" has a direct responsibility to its listeners to play all genres of classical music, not just those pieces that are compositions of composers long since dead. The absence of Elliott Carter's compositions on KBYU just underscores how backward and anti-intellectual KBYU's management is towards contemporary works. I specifically blame general manager Marcus Smith and program selection officer Eric Glissmeyer for the station's bias.

STIOP FUND SOLICITATIONS ON AIR FROM KUED-TV, KUER-FM, KBYU-TV, KCPW-FM

2011-12-08T15:45:00.001-07:00

At the very same time this week, we have four public radio and TV stations broadcasting an appeal for donations and contributions to viewers and listeners in Salt Lake City and environs. Here they are: KUED-TV, KBYU-TV, KUER-FM and KCPW-FM.

This is outrageous and should not be allowed to happen.

Consider KUED-TV. Owned and operated by the University of Utah which is itself a state school, KUED seems to conduct perpetual fund drives that never really stop. So KUED has begun its present fund drive more than 13 days ago on Friday, November 25th. And it will continue to at least Saturday, December10. So for the past two weeks KUED has featured programs in the evening specifically designed to reel in those pledges. I mean Andrea Boccelli, those ubiquitous Irish ladies in long gowns, etc. Stop already!

Yet when I examine KUED's lineup of programs, daily international news gets hardly any attention. Furthermore, many of KUED's entertainment programs are stale repeats that are repeated precisely because they cost KUED less. As an example consider New Tricks, a low-key police series from Britain. KUER is now on its second go-around of this series on Friday nights at 9. The same for Antiques Road Show. In other words, KUED is quick to solicit pledges and donations, slow to use viewers' contributions to purchase new programs.

My criticisms of KUED apply verbatim to KBYU-TV. Even more so, KBYU relies on re-runs like I Love Lucy and Perry Mason. Did I also mention that KBYU loves The Lawrence Welk Show?

As to those "public" radio stations, what really does KUER offer its listeners? NPR News? No big deal. Viewers pull in Al Jazeera, France 24 and BBC World News every night over free airwaves provided they have their own antennae. NPR News hardly stands up to the presentation and content of those free TV broadcasts.

As for KCPW-FM, why does it take so long to obtain a copy of KCPW's financials and its financial disclosure Form 990? KCPW's fiscal year ends June 30. It is now almost six months past that date, yet no financial statements for tax year June 30, 2011 from KCPW. Why must the public wait 12 months or more for KCPW's disclosures? Does KCPW's management really want to hide financial results from the public for as long as possible?

KBYU-FM POSES AS "PUBLIC" CLASSICAL MUSIC STATION YET EMPHASIZES SECTARIAN CHRISTMAS CAROLS

2011-12-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

Why must a "public" radio station like KBYU-FM start out on December 1st with Christmas carols?

KBYU takes advantage of its "public" status by appealing for donations and pledges from listeners at least four times a year, maybe even more frequently. A public station should not be sectarian, pushing its own view of religion. It should be a-religious, that is, not espousing any one form of religious faith. Yet by playing Christmas carols, KBYU violates this basic principle.

Furthermore, a station that identifies itself as one with a classical music format has no business straying from its focus and broadcasting religious church hymns. KBYU announcers are quick to refer to their station as "Classical 89." Christmas carols even if sung by erstwhile opera singer Kathleen Battle don't fit the classical genre.

The only reason for this egregious promotion of religious sectarian belief is that management at KBYU, I mean Marcus Smith and Eric Glissmeyer, must believe "every member a missionary" precept. KBYU is owned and operated by Brigham Young University, itself owned by the LDS Church. By broadcasting sectarian Christmas carols, these guys must believe that they are fulfilling an obligation of the LDS Church.

I object to this religious slant by KBYU-FM.

KBYU-TV AND KUED-TV ENGAGE IN "PERPETUAL" FUND DRIVES OVER PUBLIC AIR WAVES

2011-12-02T12:31:00.001-07:00

Can you believe that KBYU-TV owned and operated by Brigham Young University is conducting yet another fund drive? I count four this year, possibly five: one in March, one in June, one in August, and one now currently running in this month of December. It is possible I overlooked one or two at the beginning of 2011.

We see the same desire to rake in viewers' dollars and pledges with the other "public" TV station in Utah: KUED-TV, owned and operated by the University of Utah.

It used to be that "public" stations would conduct two drives, one in the spring, one in the fall. But over the last few years, both KUED and KBYU have not been content with merely two. So they engage in what could be considered perpetual fund drives.

I say, stop this ridiculous waste of air time by asking for donations. There must be a better way. I suggest we do away with all local "public" stations and have only one national station, something akin to BBC or France 24. We could concentrate on quality programs such as world news and high quality artistic presentations, and get away from the habit of management of local TV and radio stations always looking to bring in the dollars.

NOT ANOTHER FUND DRIVE ON KBYU-FM!

2011-12-01T08:22:00.001-07:00

Oh no! Not another fund drive on KBYU-FM. Not counting the Spring and Fall Fund drives on "Classical 89," not mentioning the Valentine Fund Drive, not counting what seems a fund drive every month, KBYU now comes along with a two-drive plea for donations and money gifts the first two days of December.

Funny that this fund drive coincides with the arrival of Christmas carols and songs on KBYU. Just like merchants at the mall cashing in on saccharine Christmas carols playing interminably, KBYU seems to use the Christmas songs as a background for appealing for donations. I blame KBYU's program director Eric Glissmeyer and KBYU's general manager Marcus Smith for this unholy conjunction. Shame, shame!

COMPARE WFMT'S PETER VAN DE GRAAFF WITH KBYU'S MARK WAIT, BRUCE SEELY, ERIC GLISSMEYER

2011-11-28T12:42:00.001-07:00

I wrote the other day of the policy of WFMT-FM based in Chicago of waiting a few seconds at the end of most classical music pieces to allow the emotional impact of the music to die away of its own rather than allowing a classical announcer to terminate it the very second the music ends.

Last night I happened to wake up around 2 AM, and in an effort to go back to sleep I turned on KBYU-FM to hear classical music served up by Peter Van de Graaff, a former announcer at KBYU and now with WFMT the last 23 years or so. I admit, I have not listened to Van de Graaff for many years before last night.

I had often been critical of Peter Van de Graaff when he was a classical announcer with KBYU. He jumped in as soon as the music ended. He allowed not one second, not even one millisecond of dead-air time. His breaking in destroyed my enjoyment of the music and rudely ended any emotional reverie that the piece offered. But Van de Graaff's disruptive tendency while at KBYU was no different than the habit of some classical announcers on KBYU nowadays.

Yet last night, Van de Graaff absolutely amazed me. He had totally changed his manner of announcing. WFMT has certainly changed him. I counted six or seven long seconds of silence after pieces ended and Van de Graaff came back on air. Of course the purpose of his hiatus was to allow time to enjoy and savor the emotional impact of the music. Not just one or two seconds, six or seven! If dear reader, you doubt my estimation of time between pieces, listen for yourself tonight on KBYU. Van de Graaff comes on at 10 PM and goes off at 6 AM.

Other than Rosie Stevenson, who I think is KBYU's best classical announcer, no one at KBYU seems to be aware of the powerful effect of silence on the classical music listener. Everyone else, I mean specifically, Eric Glissmeyer, Mark Wait, Bruce Seely, wants to come back on air the instant the music ends and the last note is heard. It is as if these guys believe that the sound of their own voice is superior to the music itself, that they themselves, not the music, are the sine qua non, without which, KBYU would crumble.

I know that I have not listened to Peter Van de Graaff for quite a long time, but it seems clear to me from their announcing that Wait, Glissmeyer and Seely have never ever heard him on air or analyzed his technique. Too bad for their day-time listeners.

DIANNE NICOLINI OF KDFC-FM SAN FRANCISCO MESSES UP PRONUNCIATION OF WAGNER'S "GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG"

2011-11-26T13:07:00.001-07:00

KBYU-FM carried the San Francisco Opera's recorded performance of Götterdämmerung today on its Saturday Opera program.

I am often critical of sloppy and lazy pronunciations by some of KBYU's classical music announcers. However in this post, I comment on Dianne Nicolini of KDFC-FM in San Francisco who announces the SFO's broadcasts carried on a syndicated nationwide basis.

Specifically, in today's broadcast, Dianne Nicolini transformed Götterdämmerung into something akin to "Gud-der-dammerung."

Here's a person whom listeners reasonably expect should reflect the lofty artistic standards of both KDFC, a classical station in San Francisco, and especially of the San Francisco Opera. I don't think anyone expects a classical announcer to be fluent in spoken German or other foreign language, but I do believe that sophisticated listeners want announcers to do their homework before broadcasts. A little time is all that is needed to see that "Götterdämmerung" has two "t"s and one "d," and not three "d"s and no "t."

If Dianne Nicolini messes up the name of the opera she is presenting on a nationwide broadcast by sloppily substituting "d"s for "t"s, I cannot imagine how she navigates words like "entertainment," "internet," "international," "Rigoletto," "partita," "twenty," and so forth.

GLISSMEYER'S DICTION - WHY THE DUMBING DOWN AT KBYU-FM?

2011-11-20T16:46:00.001-07:00

I heard Eric Glissmeyer announcing today - Sunday afternoon - on KBYU-FM, a mostly classical music station broadcasting in Utah. Glissmeyer happens to be KBYU's program services manager "with the responsibility of selecting and scheduling all of the station's programming." In other words, he selects those pieces of classical music and schedules them for broadcast. Glissmeyer was a vocal performance student at BYU and received a Master of Music from that university.

Why then do we get sloppy and lazy pronunciation from, of all people, Eric Glissmeyer? In reading an ad today over the air for an organization named "Prosperity 20-20," Glissmeyer for the most part pronounced it as "Prosperity twen-ny-twen-ny." Hey Eric, what ever happened to the "t"s? Was such sloppy diction allowed when you were performing, say, a classical oratorio as a vocal student at BYU?

Indeed, this is not the first time. I heard the same laziness when Glissmeyer last hosted KBYU's Highway 89 and was interviewing the guest at the time. "Twenty" came out of his mouth as "twen-ny."

Such lazy and sloppy diction not only reflects poorly on KBYU, it also does no credit to the high intellectual standards at Brigham Young University, which happens to own and operate KBYU.

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

2011-11-13T15:11:00.001-07:00

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.

WHY SLOPPY DICTION FROM MARK WAIT AND BRUCE SEELY ON KBYU-FM?

2011-11-10T09:43:00.001-07:00

KBYU-FM is owned and operated by a great university with a solid intellectual tradition and foundation, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. KBYU also offers mostly classical music, adding some LDS religious programming to the mix.

So why then must listeners to KBYU need to suffer sloppy and lazy diction from some of its announcers?

I refer to the diction of both Bruce Seely and Mark Wait, when they each say "twenty" without the last "t," so that it comes out "twen-ny." This example is only one of many. "Zubin Mehta" comes out "Zubin Meh-da." "Sonata" for Mark Wait becomes "sâ-nâ-tâ," the pure Latin vowels of "o" and "a" being ignored in favor of English diphthongs. For Bruce Seely, "partita" comes out "par-ti-da," the "t" being replaced with a "d."

For a station like KBYU whose signal originates on the BYU campus and whose format is mainly classical serious music, such sloppiness of pronunciation constitutes an offense against listeners who expect and know better.

I could more quickly ignore the offense if it emanated from a country music station or from a sports jock announcer on one the various local TV news programs. But when veteran classical music announcers, like Seely and Wait, seemingly unaware offer up their lazy and sloppy diction, it is incomprehensible and insupportable, given that they represent a renowned university and are not presenting country music.

It is up to Marcus Smith, general manager of KBYU, and Eric Glissmeyer, program director, to correct the situation. So far, they also seem blithely unaware, or worse, unconcerned.

THE BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC ANNOUNCER IN THE U.S. - ROSIE STEVENSON OF KBYU-FM

2011-11-02T14:23:00.000-06:00

Notwithstanding my frequent criticisms of the quality of announcing on KBYU-FM, the sole classical music station in Utah, I want to point out that KBYU has someone I think is the best classical announcer in the whole country.

There are many good announcers of classical music, but only a few great ones. Kerry Frumkin and Carl Grapentine of WFMT-FM broadcasting out of Chicago come to mind.

Rosie Stevenson of KBYU is clearly an announcer who could not only stand toe to toe with the great ones but surpass them in her knowledge, the insights she offers, the experiences she has had, her method of on-air presentation and her careful diction.

Why do I say this? Rosie has prodigious knowledge of contemporary composers and artists. She has met many and undoubtedly has many friends in this group.

Her manner on air is one that makes the listener feel privileged listening to the music she serves up and privileged to be sharing the emotional impact of the piece with her. Privileged also to hear her insightful comments and to share her interesting observations on classical music.

Rosie's whole method of on-air presentation is measured and thoughtful. One need never be afraid that she will engage in banalities or pass-the-time badinage. Rosie never rushes, takes her time, as befitting a great classical music announcer.

Her diction is impeccable. "Twenty" comes out "twenty," not "twenny," as you hear elsewhere. And not "Meh-da" for "Zubin Mehta," or "Rigoleddo" for "Rigoletto."

For all of the above reasons and many more, I consider Rosie Stevenson to be the best classical music announcer in the U.S. today.

AMAZING TALE OF KCPW-FM RECEIVING LOAN FROM SALT LAKE CITY

2011-10-25T09:28:00.002-06:00

I have several observations on the drive by management at KCPW-FM to pay back loans made to its parent Wasatch Public Media (WPM) when the station was purchased several years ago.

1. If Ed Sweeney, head of WPM, decides to sell the station in the future, will proceeds or profits from the sale be returned to listeners who contributed to paying its purchase price? Or will Sweeney just walk away with the monies, considering the whole purchase to have been a great personal investment?

2. If Salt Lake City does lend KCPW and WPM monies (see the report by Glen Warchol in today's The Salt Lake Tribune here) to meet loan repayment obligations incurred by Ed Sweeney on purchase, has the mayor and/or the city council been able to inspect recent financials from WPM and KCPW? I ask this question because KCPW and WPM have shown themselves in the past reluctant to come out with financial statements that are fresh and timely. Usually financials are revealed only some12 months or more following the end of KCPW's fiscal year on June 30, almost as if Ed Sweeney and WPM want to downplay financial results or keep them hidden from the public for as long as possible. Here is a link to WPM's Form 990 for year ending June 30, 2010. But to date, KCPW and WPM have not released financial statements for their latest tax year ending June 30, 2011.

3. Ed Sweeney and his company WPM are fortunate to have Salt Lake City on the verge of lending tax dollars to this non-governmental enterprise. If SLC does go ahead and extend a loan for thousands of dollars, why must other private businesses fend for themselves in tough times? Anyone who owns his or her own shop in Salt Lake City must be wondering about the selectivity and unfairness of SLC's offer to help KCPW

SLOPPY AND LAZY LANGUAGE ON KBYU-FM

2011-10-24T19:05:00.000-06:00

Someone in management at KBYU-FM should tell the student announcers that it is sloppy and unacceptable to drop "t"s following "n"s as in twenty, ninety or Internet.

Over the last few days, I heard student Shaun O'Neill read a promo ad for Prosperity 20-20. It came out as "Prosperity twenny twenny."

Again today I heard veteran Mark Wait who should know better talk about 90% of something. Mark Wait dropped the "t" in 90 and so it came out as "niney."

This is sloppy and lazy language. It might be okay on some AM station or maybe even for sports announcers. But it surely not acceptable for announcers on an FM classical music station.

MARK WAIT'S INAPPROPRIATE QUESTION, "DO YOU HAVE CHILDREN YET?"

2011-10-10T16:24:00.000-06:00

Mark Wait of KBYU-FM sometimes treats his guests inappropriately, especially it appears if they are younger than he is. This afternoon, having two guests assist him with KBYU's fund drive, he asked the young woman, "do you have children yet?"

That should be none of Mark Wait's business. Whether the lady has children "yet" is up to her and her husband, an area that Wait should keep out of, especially live on air.

STOP FUND DRIVE ON KBYU-FM UNTIL PUBLIC RECEIVES FULL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES

2011-10-10T16:12:00.000-06:00

Once again KBYU-FM runs another unwelcomed fund drive.

Before KBYU solicits monies and pledges from listeners over public air waves, it should make a complete financial disclosure, showing how much it takes in from these pesky fund solicitations, how much it pays to management for salaries and perks like travel to Bayreuth, Germany. Above all KBYU needs to give a full accounting of its expenses showing detailed breakdowns. Plus KBYU should disclose how much it takes in from Brigham Young University, its owner, which itself is owned by the LDS Church.

Until and unless KBYU-FM makes these disclosures, it should cease and desist from any further solicitations for money from listeners.

KBYU-FM'S MISPLACED POLICY OF HIRING STUDENTS AS CLASSICAL ANNOUNCERS

2011-10-09T19:01:00.001-06:00

I despair over KBYU-FM's model of employing students from BYU to fill in on the weekends and while the three full-time announcers are on vacation. It just doesn't work.

Why not? Because KBYU's management seems incapable of training the students sufficiently or properly.

Take Michael Acey. He undoubtedly is a nice human being, but his monotone is depressing. Add to that his run-on sentences which produce a deadly effect on listeners' enjoyment of classical music. Specifically, why doesn't general manager Marcus Smith tell Acey to pause after each period in a sentence? Take his declaration of his name. "This is Michael Acey." Here there should be a definite pause before going on. Instead Acey rushes on to the next sentence, and then the next one, and then on to the music. Is there even one second of pause ("one mississippi")?

And how about Shaun O'Neill? He apparently emulates Mark Wait with his non-classical-music banalities on Sunday mornings , say, about 6:20. Clearly inappropriate and mistimed. But no one at KBYU seems to have the desire to tell that to Shaun O'Neill so he can correct himself.

And how about Ben Waggener who insists on rudely ordering listeners to "stick around" to hear the next piece? Here clearly Waggener has picked up this unfortunate annoying habit of speech from Mark Wait. Where is Marcus Smith, general manager, on all of this inappropriate stuff?

No, KBYU's policy of paying students to be classical announcers on the weekends and at various other times clearly does not work, notwithstanding the savings in salaries so realized.

Marcus Smith, it's you bailiwick, so how about managing this mess?

SOME CLASSICAL MUSIC ANNOUNCERS SHOW INORDINATE FEAR OF DEAD AIR

2011-09-19T15:26:00.000-06:00

I heard student news announcer Jessica Black reading the news headlines on KBYU-FM at 7:30 this morning. Although I am generally against allowing students to present the news on KBYU because they tend to emphasize news not suitable for a classical music station, such as murders, robberies and other criminal happenings, I did appreciate how Jessica Black paced her stories, took her time, paused between stories, and otherwise read the news in an intelligent and measured way, compatible with the requirements of listeners to classical music.

However, I did note the stark contrast when veteran classical music announcer Bruce Seely came in after the news. It seemed there was not one second, not even one millisecond pause, between the end of Jessica Black's last breath and Bruce Seely's first word. He rushed in as if a deliberate pause were anathema for on-air announcers.

It is obvious that Bruce Seely cannot tolerate one second (one Mississippi) of dead air time. Thus he forfeits the intense and emotional impact of what he plays when he also rushes in right after the music stops. Bruce Seely gives listeners the impression that he does not know what all experienced public speakers and teachers, as well as classical music composers, do know: sometimes the best thing to do is to stop and allow silence to take over. At key times dead air pauses are the most powerful thing that could be said. Think of Giuseppe Verdi's whole note pause in Rigoletto's La Donna è Mobile, and how it attracted universal attention and unforgettable contrast.

KBYU-FM NEEDS TO BLOCK MISLEADING ADS

2011-09-14T13:23:00.000-06:00

I want to object to the apparent policy of KBYU-FM of accepting advertising copy from advertisers or sponsors without first passing on it for accuracy and honesty.

I refer to the ad copy of a purveyor of gold and silver coins currently running on the station. It goes something like, "Have you watched the decline of our country's monetary system? . . ."

I find the implication of the question to be false in its implication. Contrary to the ad's back-hand assertion that the U.S. monetary system is in decline, I maintain that the American monetary system is in great shape. It is not in decline. Inflation was less than two percent for 2010 and less than 3% for 2009. For 2011, the outlook is higher but still less than 4%. At the same time, the U.S. dollar is gaining in value versus the Euro and most other currencies.

But no matter to this advertiser. The company wants to sell gold and silver coins so it plays on the uninformed and irrational fears of listeners. The desired response is, "Oh no! The monetary system of the U.S. is in decline. Therefore I should buy gold and silver coins."

Someone who should know better at KBYU has allowed this message on air. This is wrong.

And it especially hurts to hear Rosie Stevenson lend her dignity and cachet to the implied falsehood. I don't blame Rosie, she is merely doing what KBYU and its management ask of her.

I call on Marcus Smith, general manager of KBYU, to put an end to misleading ads from advertisers using KBYU to advance their self-serving messages.

KBYU-FM SHOULD AIR SOME COMPOSITIONS FROM STUDENT ANNOUNCER IGOR MARX

2011-09-07T11:11:00.001-06:00

Rosie Stevenson, host of Midday Classics on KBYU-FM, yesterday interviewed Igor Marx, one of KBYU's student fill-in announcers. Apparently Igor Marx is a composition student. Although I missed hearing the interview, I was told that Rosie Stevenson asked Marx about his composition techniques and the difficulties of composing.

I would like to see general manager Marcus Smith program and schedule some of Marx's pieces. KBYU has for too long been mired in music mostly from the classical and romantic periods. It would be refreshing to hear more music from contemporary composers. Let's hear what Igor Marx has to say in his music.

MORE COMMENTS ON STUDENT ANNOUNCERS ON KBYU-FM

2011-09-05T14:00:00.000-06:00

First of all, it would be convenient if KBYU-FM's web site contained the spellings of the student announcers who fill in during evenings and weekends for the regular full-time classical announcers. I therefore apologize to any of the students if I have mangled their last names.

Second, I think that the students have made noticeable progress in slowing down their tempos. Not so long ago, they would all madly rush through announcements, commercials and even music titles in their scramble to say it and get off the air. I particularly note that Michael Acey now proceeds at a more moderate pace, notwithstanding his occasional run-throughs of periods and other punctuation marks. For the most part, Michael Acey presents his delivery in a more thoughtful measured manner, all of which benefit the listener of classical music.

Third, I urge both the students and full-timers alike to take their time before jumping back on air the very instant that the music ends. I note this annoying habit with Mark Wait. Wait tends to immediately come in the milli-second that the music ends. It gives the listener the impression that Mark Wait thinks his voice and his comments, banal as they may be, are more important than the music itself.

So I was astounded to surmise that Marcus Smith, manager of KBYU-FM, might have appointed Mark Wait to mentor the student announcers. If Mark Wait fails to give the music just ended time to settle down and allow its emotional reverie to fade away, how can we expect the students to do any different? Unfortunately I heard the same bad tendency today with Michael Acey. He came right back on air, as if afraid to wait even one second for the music to disappear.

That's all I ask from classical music announcers - one second! Hardly the time taken between symphonic movements! I thus call on the students - Michael Acey, Ben Waggener, Sean O'Neill and Igor Marx - don't be like those announcers who would rather hear themselves than the music. Give each piece one second after the last note before you jump in.

MORE ON KBYU-FM'S STUDENT ANNOUNCERS

2011-08-22T19:38:00.008-06:00

KBYU-FM is a classical music station in Utah. It is owned and operated by Brigham Young University.

As fill-ins on evenings and the weekends, KBYU's general manager, Marcus Smith, utilizes student announcers.

I have long called for adequate and professional training for these students. But it seems anything goes.

Consider for example their announcing of ads and promos for underwriters or sponsors. It seems everyone just can't wait to rush through them.

I heard Michael Acey last night rush through a Rose Bake and Serve. Was he bored with what he had to say? Did he think that it was a waste of his time? These questions came to mind when I was listening.

The same criticism goes for Ben Waggener and Shaun O'Neill, two other student announcers. Don't they realize they are on a classical music station where slow is always better when it comes to any and all announcing?

Do these guys receive any help or coaching? If so, what is the matter with the coach for not picking this up and stopping the rush?

About the only one who seems to takes his time is Igor Marx. He seems genuinely interested in the music, enough for him to make comments such as, "This is my favorite flute concerto," and the like.

BRUCE SEELY ON CLASSICAL KBYU-FM - SLOPPY ON SOME WORDS

2011-08-22T19:23:00.009-06:00

I posted on August 11, 2011, about Bruce Seely and his careful diction, but upon more attention I must admit I was too premature and hasty in my praise.

Take the word "partita" for example, as in Bach's partitas, a series of keyboard pieces or suites. Unfortunately Bruce Seeley referred to these as "partidas." Instead of pronouncing the "t" in a clean, crisp way, he lazily converted it to a "d."

I admit, Seely is inconsistent in his sloppiness. Sonata comes out "sonata" as it should, so why does he ruin "partita"?

Take another word, "ninety." Seely calls this "nine-dy." Come on Bruce Seely, your bio says you sang for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Would Dr. Ralph Woodward or the Tabernacle Choir director ever permit you to get away with this diction sloppiness in a hymn or song? Of course not! So why do you as a classical music announcer try to pass it off to listeners on KBYU-FM?

Still another word, "classical." According to Seely, this comes out as "class-cal." The vowel "i" in the middle just disappears. How does Seely manage to do this? Apparently he is in too much of a rush to give it its due.

SOMEONE TELL FRED CHILD: IT'S NOT "LIBRE-DDO" BUT "LIBRETTO"

2011-08-17T14:54:00.006-06:00

Why is it that we hear too many classical music announcers who should know better talk about "libretto" as "libre-ddo," and refer to performers whose first name is "Roberto" as "Rober-do"?

Last night I heard Fred Child of Performance Today utter the above words in this sloppy and lazy way.

Consider that Fred Child occasionally announces for New York Philharmonic performances on TV as well as for other orchestras, and you come away feeling that somewhere along the line Fred Child's education as to precise pronunciation experienced a black-out.

It's a different thing if your neighbor, unfamiliar with the arts, changes the "t" to a "d," as when, for example, you are chatting over the fence. We all can understand that some people have no language training or arts education.

But Fred Child? Or for that matter any announcer on any classical station throughout the world. Listeners to great music deserve deserve better than "Rigole-ddo" instead of "Rigoletto."

PUBLIC TV STATIONS IN UTAH RUN PERPETUAL FUND DRIVES, RETURN LITTLE TO VIEWERS IN NEW PRODUCTIONS

2011-08-15T16:38:00.011-06:00

Both KBYU-TV and KUED-TV ran fund drives all of last week. Let's hope that both stations return to regular scheduling tonight and not continue for a successive second week.

But consider the excessive reiteration of fund appeals on both stations. Instead of just twice a year, both KUED, owned and operated by the University of Utah, and KBYU, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, run these annoying fund drives at least four times a year, maybe more. And mostly they don't last only a week. Viewers have to suffer through two whole weeks, from Friday of one week to the Saturday or Sunday following the Friday two weeks later!

And what do these "public" stations offer their viewers in Utah? Not much when it comes to new and original programming.

Both KUED and KBYU absolutely love Antiques Roadshow. You can tune in and see Antiques Roadshow many times a day on either station. For all the fundraising and disruptions caused by the drives, you might think that KUED and KBYU could do better. Taking in monies, the stations resist spending it on new and available programs.

KBYU, for example, recycles, seemingly endlessly, Sherlock Holmes with the late Jeremy Brett, as well as Poirot, The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, et al. These are all productions originally released years ago, and surely much cheaper for KBYU to broadcast than new versions of Sherlock Holmes or Poirot.

I call upon both KUED and KBYU - stop all fund drives and the shameless asking for monies and pledges over the air until and unless you update your programs.

ROB SANDERS NOT SUITED FOR CLASSICAL KBYU-FM

2011-08-13T14:05:00.005-06:00

KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, allows journalism students from BYU to read news on weekdays both in the mornings and afternoons.

This is fine in principle but needs much revision in particulars.

Many of the students have no idea of classical music, its appeal, or its emotional allure. Many no doubt have never listened to KBYU's music even though KBYU presents them with an opportunity to read the news on air. The result is a culture clash that should not be allowed by KBYU's management and, in particular, by Marcus Smith, its general manager.

No student should be allowed on air at KBYU unless he or she has received training and coaching by Smith or one of his delegates in the cultural make-up of KBYU's listening public, the type of music played, and KBYU's sophisticated approach.

Take the case of student Rob Sanders who is heard reading the news on many mornings. Rob Sanders must think that KBYU is some AM country music station. He seems oblivious to the make-up of KBYU's audience, the nature of classical music, and the sophistication of KBYU's approach. The result: a severe culture clash between Rob Sanders and many of KBYU's listeners.

First order of business for GM Marcus Smith: terminate Rob Sanders, tell him he is not suited for a classical music station, and wish him good luck in other environments. Second order of business: take the time and effort to put budding student broadcasters, before allowing them to read one word of news on the air, through a course stressing classical music and the cultural characteristics of its listeners.

DEARTH OF CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC ON KBYU-FM

2011-08-13T13:43:00.011-06:00

Listening to classical music on KBYU-FM, I have long perceived an inattention to and snubbing of composers from the last 50 years. Yes, listeners to KBYU, the classical radio station owned by Brigham Young University, hear plenty of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and the like but relatively little music by contemporary American composers.

But this need not be the case. Summer music festivals around the country and especially in the Southwest program lots of contemporary music. In today's The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini writes about the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and some of the works it features.

Here's Tommasini on Lowell Liebermann's Quartet for Piano and Strings, composed in 2010:

"The program also offered Lowell Liebermann’s Quartet for Piano and Strings (2010). Now 50, Mr. Liebermann is a prolific composer who has gained popularity for works written in an accessible, neo-Romantic style. This work, a single 18-minute movement, begins with the piano playing a murmuring, repetitive figure and softly chiming chords. The three strings enter, one at a time, with a wistful melody. Mostly pensive, the piece has only one surprise, when the instruments break into whirling, frenzied figurations. The music, though skillfully written, is safe, tame and eager to please."

Why can't we hear this work on KBYU? What's wrong with KBYU's management, specifically Marcus Smith, general manager, that Liebermann is an unfamiliar name to listeners?

Tomassini also talks about Sean Shepherd's Quartet for Oboe and Strings heard in Santa Fe in its premier performance. Mr. Shepherd is but 32 years old. The Santa Fe Music Festival thought highly of his work that it included it on its program.

Here's Tommasini:

"A terrific new piece opened a 60-minute program at noon on Thursday: Sean Shepherd’s Quartet for Oboe and Strings, in its premiere performance. And Mr. Shepherd, 32, is from Reno, Nev., which should make Southwesterners here proud. Last year his chamber work “These Particular Circumstances” received its premiere in the New York Philharmonic’s Contact! series.

"Mr. Shepherd’s quartet, inspired by Mozart’s Oboe Quartet, was played by the same musicians who had played the Mozart work on Thursday: Mr. Wang, Mr. Schmidt, Ms. Francis and Mr. Fan. Mr. Shepherd was particularly fascinated, he writes, by the way the oboe in Mozart’s quartet, with its “chameleonic role,” becomes a conciliatory presence.

"Mr. Shepherd’s engrossing 12-minute work begins with the oboe playing a fidgety, twisting melody, prodded along by plunked sounds and curt chords in the strings. Is the oboe line agitated or playful? The mood is wonderfully ambiguous, as is Mr. Shepherd’s pungent harmonic voice. The oboe maintains its lead role as the piece evolves, spinning out long, restless lines, setting the strings off into a rush of dotted-note-rhythm busyness.

"When the oboe turns elegiac, the strings play strummed chords, like a quasi-atonal guitar accompaniment. Eventually the strings take charge, for a while anyway. There are episodes of minimalist repetitions and yearning melodic flights before the dotted-note riffs return, in a transfigured state, to end the work."

Tommasini calls Shepherd's Quartet "a terrific new piece." Why can't KBYU play it on air?

VARIOUS COMMENTS ON KBYU-FM'S ROSIE STEVENSON AND BRUCE SEELY

2011-08-11T15:31:00.008-06:00

1. I caught some of Rosie Stevenson's comments on Midday Classics today and it is a pleasure and a joy to listen to her.

Stevenson's bio on the KBYU web page says, among other attributes,: "She's on a personal quest to experience the breadth of musical styles everywhere she has lived, including New York, Salzburg, and Spring City."

The depth and insight of Stevenson's musical knowledge seems encyclopedic. Two small examples. Today she spoke about the personal papers of Johannes Brahms before playing a piece by Heinrich von Herzogenberg, the husband of one of Brahms' piano students. Stevenson also spoke about contemporary composer Frederick Silver and his persistence in mastering the piano. She had just aired Silver's If You Were Coming in the Fall.

2. I also heard some of Bruce Seely's Morning Classics. Seely is smooth and easy to listen to. But I want to comment on his careful diction, his hitting of "t"s, his precise articulation. None of this "Rigoleddo" for Bruce Seely. So I commend him and offer him as an example to Mark Wait and yes even to Fred Child of Performance Today whose diction happens to be incredibly sloppy and imprecise.

STOP PERPETUAL FUND APPEALS ON KUED-TV AND KBYU-TV

2011-08-08T12:42:00.004-06:00

Stop the perpetual fund drives on KBYU-TV and KUED-TV. Both stations are owned and operated by universities: KBYU by Brigham Young University, an LDS sectarian school, and KUED by the University of Utah, a state school.

Fund drives began this past Friday, August 5th. If the past is any indicator, both stations will persist in their crass appeal for pledges and donations until Saturday, August 20th, a full two weeks.

Don't think that these stations run fund drives only in the fall and spring. Nowadays, we have fund drives every two or three months. This must stop.

My proposal: do away with public TV stations such as KBYU and KUED. In their place we need one or two national TV stations with heavy emphasis on national and international news, much like Al Jazeera, France 24 or BBC.

WHY DOES KBYU-FM REDUCE FREQUENCY OF BBC NEWS ON WEEKENDS?

2011-07-31T16:09:00.007-06:00

About the only "public" radio station carrying BBC news during the day on Saturdays and Sundays is KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University. So if you want to hear BBC News on the radio, you will need to tune in to KBYU.

But there's a problem. KBYU airs BBC News only four times a day on the weekends. That means if you don't tune in either at 6 AM, 7 AM, 5 PM or 11 PM, you are out of luck for BBC News.

Why only four times on Saturdays and Sundays? Does the management at KBYU, specifically Marcus Smith or Eric Glissmeyer, think that weekends are periods of little or no news, thus their listeners won't be deprived of learning about important world events which just don't happen on Saturdays and Sundays?

News, important news, occurs at random on any day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays. By its parsimonious policy in limiting BBC News to a mere four times on Saturdays and Sundays, KBYU deprive its listeners and the Utah public of an important and reliable news source in the BBC. This is bad public policy.

Today, Sunday, for example, both chambers of the U.S. Congress are attempting to fashion a compromise on the U.S. debt ceiling, a move that could have profound effects on debt and equity markets throughout the world.

Yet no matter how important or momentous the world events, KBYU reduces the frequency of its BBC News to only four times a day. This ill serves the listening public in Utah, notwithstanding that KBYU likes to call itself "public," especially during its frequent fund drives.

CLASSICAL ANNOUNCERS: GIVE TIME FOR EMOTION OF MUSIC TO SETTLE

2011-07-27T14:28:00.008-06:00

Here's what I look for in a classical music announcer, that he or she give the music some time to settle in after the piece ends.

I am not asking for a lot of dead-air time, just a little. About the length of the normal interval between symphonic movements is just right. Two or three seconds.

I am not just speaking of those classical announcers on KBYU-FM, broadcasting a mostly classical format to Salt Lake City and Utah. What I say applies to all announcers, whereever they are, no matter what station they work for.

But some announcers at KBYU do in fact violate this norm. Here's an example. I heard KBYU's Mark Wait yesterday afternoon bust the emotional evocative aura of Rimsky Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture by jumping in with some forgettable announcement the instant, the very instant, that the music ended (approximately at 3:52 PM). There seemed to be hardly a second from the ending bars of Russian Easter Overture and Mark Wait's unwelcomed jumping in.

Where's the respect for the music? Listeners need time to absorb and reflect on what they just heard. The emotions need a chance to reflect. Does Mark Wait himself have any emotional reaction to the music? If yes, why not give two or three seconds to let the music fade away on its own? A classical announcer who jumps in right away appears as if he/she is routinely going about a job, any job, which just happens to entail playing classical music.

KBYU-FM AIRS JEFF HITT'S YELLOWSTONE: CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA

2011-07-25T12:24:00.006-06:00

I just heard KBYU's Rosie Stevenson cue up and play Jett Hitt's evocative and colorful Yellowstone: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra.

It's nice to see that KBYU's management now selects and broadcasts lesser-known works by contemporary composers.

Additionally, I commend KBYU for broadcasting a work lasting more than 15 minutes. Yellowstone lasts over 45 minutes.

ROSIE STEVENSON PLAYS ERIC EWAZEN'S "MOSAICS" ON KBYU-FM

2011-07-23T15:20:00.010-06:00

I have been complaining that management at KBYU-FM, specifically general manager Marcus Smith, and program selector Eric Glissmeyer, are unwilling to play much contemporary music, by which I mean stuff written from 1950 on.

But I heard Rosie Stevenson this past Friday comment on a contemporary marimba piece during BYU On Air. Ewazen's composition was on a private recording - his Mosaics. Unfortunately it was only the second movement and lasted only but five minutes, but at least it qualifies as contemporary music.

From Eric Ewazen's home page, the following:

"Eric Ewazen was born in 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. Receiving a B.M. At the Eastman School of Music, and M.M. and D.M.A. degrees from The Juilliard School, his teachers include Milton Babbitt, Samuel Adler, Warren Benson, Joseph Schwantner and Gunther Schuller. . .

"He has been lecturer for the New York Philharmonic's Musical Encounters Series, Vice-President of the League of Composers--International Society of Contemporary Music, and Composer-In-Residence with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York City. He has been a faculty member at Juilliard since 1980."

Imagine if KBYU devoted one hour each week to the likes of Eric Ewazen and other contemporary composers! Who exactly do I mean? How about for starters, the music by those with whom Eric Ewazen studied: Milton Babbitt, Samuel Adler, Warren Benson, Joseph Schwantner and Gunther Schuller.

IGOR AT KBYU-FM SHOWS INTEREST IN CLASSICAL MUSIC

2011-07-18T10:08:00.007-06:00

I have criticised KBYU and its management for not adequately training part-time announcers drawn from the student ranks at BYU. Here's an example: the annoying delivery of Ben Waggoner (Wagner?), annoying because it seems to this listener that he wants to turn a classical music station into something more akin to a pop music one. Example, his inappropriate exhortations to "stick around" for the next piece to be cued.

But I see promise in one student announcer, Igor. He filled in for vacationing Rosie Stevenson a fortnight ago. At first his English-as-a-second-language seemed to put him among those tyros who would never make it as announcers on a sophisticated classical station. But then . . .

Igor began expressing his own comments on the music. He seemed genuine and interested in the classical genre. Announcing on KBYU seemed more than a job.

So commendations to Igor. Now when he is on, I don't rush to change stations or tune him out mentally.

TODAY KBYU-FM SELECTS COMPOSERS BORN PRE-20TH CENTURY

2011-07-15T12:35:00.007-06:00

I wrote recently of certain "unfavorite" composers treated unfairly by management at KBYU-FM, which broadcasts a mostly classical music format to Salt Lake City and the rest of Utah.

Part of my argument is that KBYU unduly concentrates on pre-20th Century music, to the detriment of more contemporary music.

Consider KBYU's playlist for today, Friday, July 15, 2011.

According to KBYU's own play list, (which seems to leave large unexplained gaps and therefore probably does not indicate every piece of music broadcast), almost all music played on Morning Classics, Midday Classics and Drive-time Classics is from composers born prior to 1900, excepting one or two, like Aaron Copland (1900-1990)and Lars-Erik Larson (1908-1986). And if length of air time given to music selected is any indication of KBYU's prejudices, consider the time devoted to the Larson piece, Pastoral, by KBYU: only four minutes.

KBYU-FM'S LIST OF "UNFAVORITE" CLASSICAL COMPOSERS

2011-07-14T13:42:00.025-06:00

I have complained many times about KBYU-FM's disinclination to broadcast hardly any classical compositions written in the last 50 years.

KBYU is owned and operated by Brigham Young University and broadcasts mostly classical music to Salt Lake City and the rest of Utah.

But it appears that KBYU has a list of disfavored classical composers writing even before 1950. For this post I am going to mention just four, but there are probably another 100 on the "unfavorite" list. I refer specifically to KBYU's play list for Morning Classics, Midday Classics and Drive-time Classics. Here are my four choices for KBYU's "unfavorites":

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) - although I heard Rosie Stevenson play Bruckner's Scherzo from his Fourth Symphony just today during her Midday Classics. But other than this Scherzo, I don't recall KBYU playing Bruckner. And forget about any of his lengthy nine symphonies. They are anathema given that KBYU tries to program works no longer than 15 minutes for most of the day. But Bruckner has written much more than just symphonic works. He has composed a number of masses and motets, as well as secular choral works, which we seldom or never hear.

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) - has BYU ever played any of Mahler's works during Morning Classics? During Midday Classics? During Drive-time Classics? How about his Das Lied von der Erde? Or any of his symphonic works? Or his lieder?

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882-1971) - one of Russia's great classical composers, KBYU seems to have relegated him to history books, eschewing his compositions over the air. Wikipedia describes his appearance on the musical scene: "He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Russian Ballets): The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911/1947), and The Rite of Spring (1913)."

Finally, Bela Bartok (1881-1945) - perhaps the greatest star of classical music for the first half of the 20th Century. Where are his piano concertos? How about his great Concerto for Orchestra? Or his string quartets? Don't expect to hear much if any Bartok on KBYU.

Yes, KBYU does occasionally broadcast snippets but I argue they are insufficient to overturn my argument that KBYU has "unfavorites." For example, on Friday, July 1st, there was an Anton Bruckner: the Scherzo from his Symphony No. 7, played from 6:34 to 6:45 AM. Also on July 1st, KBYU aired Igor Stravinsky's Four Norwegian Moods, at 8:20 to 8:29 AM. Along with the scarcity of composer, notice the brevity of the pieces aired.

I don't blame KBYU's announcers for the dearth of music from the above classical composers. They simply cue up what they are told from on high. But I do blame KBYU's management, specifically, Marcus Smith, general manager, and his program director, Eric Glissmeyer, for a timid and parsimonious choice of programming on Utah's only classical music FM station.

KBYU-FM NEEDS TO BROADCAST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL WORKS, NOT JUST FROM CENTURIES AGO

2011-06-29T14:43:00.008-06:00

Here's my proposal for KBYU-FM, broadcasting a mostly classical format to listeners in Utah: set aside one hour each week to broadcast and feature classical music written and composed in the last 50 years.

The absence of contemporary classical music on KBYU is an intellectual scandal and shame. It is as if Marcus Smith, general manager of BYU broadcasting, has no knowledge or affinity with classical works other than those written in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Imagine a one-hour program where Bach, Beethoven and Mozart are not invited! Of course there is nothing wrong with these great masters of classical music, it's just that they don't reflect the imaginative and alluring new works of classical music by those who are writing in the last 50 years.

Consider the dearth of contemporary composers now on KBYU, works of whom are hardly or never heard.

The Shagreen Bone, The Symphony of Dogs, The Middle Symphony, Agonia Dei, What Zarathustra Said Indeed - by the Russian Yuri Khanon (1965 - ).

"Vanada"; Javelin; Rapture (percussion concerto); Ecstatic Orange - by the American Michael Torke (1961 - ).

Greek (opera); From All Sides (ballet); Mambo, Blue and Tarantella (violin concerto); From the Wreckage (trumpet concerto); Fractured Lines (percussion concerto); Five Views of a Mouth (flute concerto); A Fast Stomp - by the English Mark-Anthony Turnage (1960 -).

Play Station Cycles; Simulation Cycles; 2 Violin Concertos; 3 Piano Concertos; 6 Chamber Symphonies; 6 Concerto Grossi; 7 Operas - by the Japanese Shigeru Kan-no (1959 -).

(My source for the above is Wikipedia's List of 20th-century classical composers by birth date.)

KBYU needs to show that its management and personnel are open to "new" music, such as the list above, which of course is only a small selection of composers and music available. If KBYU never plays the music, how the heck can listeners be expected to appreciate what they have never heard?

NEW OFFERINGS FROM KBYU-TV, NO! NUMEROUS PROLONGED DRIVES, YES!

2011-06-28T15:30:00.008-06:00

KBYU-TV, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, frequently engages in those prolonged fund drives, I mean, the kind that last from Friday of one week into Saturday of the third week. KBYU runs these marathon drives for viewer donations at least twice a year, sometimes three and four times a year!

Given all the monies raised, consider one of KBYU's regular offerings, Rosemary & Thyme, broadcast on Monday nights at nine. The show consists of 22 episodes and was originally produced and taped from 2003 until 2007.

KBYU must have shown and repeated the series and its episodes at last four or five times over.

My question is, with all the monies raised by the numerous fund drives, and with a wealthy parent like BYU, why can't KBYU invest in new programming, spend money on new PBS productions, broadcast more art happenings, purchase rights to international news programs, such as France 24, Al Jazeera or BBC World News?

Rebroadcasting a series like Rosemary & Thyme over and over again no doubt costs less money than purchasing brand new programs. But for all the bull and specious arguments about why viewers should call up and contribute to KBYU as a "public" TV station, a viewer would expect KBYU to invest these monies back into its viewer community by offering top quality international news, sophisticated dramas and fresh arts broadcasts.

As of now, we are stuck with Rosemary & Thyme. I see no evidence that KBYU has any intention of upgrading its programming.

KBYU-FM NEEDS TO SET RULES FOR STUDENT CLASSICAL ANNOUNCERS

2011-06-27T17:07:00.013-06:00

KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, broadcasts a mostly classical format to listeners in Utah. But for fill-in and weekend announcers, KBYU uses students from BYU. Undoubtedly KBYU pays them less than full time, but is that any reason why KBYU's management, specifically Marcus Smith, can't take some time training them before allowing them on the air?

For example, Ben Waggener is filling in this week for Mark Wait. While it's nice to get a vacation from the garrulous and self-important Mark Wait, it is not so pleasant to hear Ben Waggener rush through the announcements and the music.

Marcus Smith, please tell Ben Waggener that periods in sentences mean stop, pause, wait a second, before plowing on. Even when he announces, "I'm Ben Waggener," he needs to take a breath before proceeding. Slower is better when announcing on a classical music station.

Tell Shaun O'Neil that "stick around" is not quite the classy proper way of encouraging classical music listeners to remain with him for more music.

And tell all your student announcers, including Michael Lacey, to make an effort to articulate clearly and distinctly. Perhaps they can start practicing pronouncing their "t"s, as in Rigoletto, twenty, internet, and so on, instead of improperly substituting a "d" for the "t." Sloppiness in public speaking is all too endemic among them.

KBYU saves money in employing students. It can't escape, however, the responsibility to sit down and explain the rules of proper announcing on a classical music station.

BBC RADIO NEWS ALLOWS "VOICES" OTHER THAN PRESENTER'S

2011-06-21T08:57:00.006-06:00

I note on news bulletins from BBC Radio News that there are many additional "voices" other than that of the presenter. I object.

Currently, several "public" radio stations in Utah carry BBC Radio News at various times during the day and night: KCPW-FM, KUER-FM and KBYU-FM.

Much of the appeal of the BBC news bulletins is the careful and precise articulation of the voice of the presenter. Allowing other voices to be heard weakens this appeal and makes BBC similar to all the other radio stations that sometimes have two or three extraneous voices on one particular news story.

Please, BBC, stop the degradation of listeners' experience to BBC radio news. These extra voices are hard to listen to and even sometimes unintelligible.

No more voices on any BBC news bulletin other than that of the presenter.

WHERE IS INTERNATIONAL NEWS ON "PUBLIC" TV STATIONS IN UTAH?

2011-06-20T10:56:00.004-06:00

The New York Times reports today that KCET, a public TV station in Los Angeles, is now programming Al Jazeera English News both on weekdays and Saturdays and Sundays.

Why can't KBYU-TV, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, or KUED-TV, owned and operated by the University of Utah, do the same?

I argue, get rid of The News Hour, get rid of PBS, and bring the viewing public serious international news every day of the week, such as Al Jazeera, France 24 or BBC.

WHY SO LITTLE ATTENTION TO 20TH CENTURY CLASSICAL MUSIC ON KBYU-FM

2011-06-17T16:59:00.013-06:00

A few years ago (March 2007), to commemorate the birthday of Steve Reich, KBYU-FM broadcast a four-part series, I think from American Public Radio, on Reich's music. KBYU's announcers publicized the weekly series by reading blurbs on Steve Reich, including that Reich was among the "greatest" of 20th Century American classical composers. See my post here on this as it occurred.

KBYU, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, broadcasts a mostly "classical" format to Salt Lake City and Utah.

But if KBYU's management went along with this encomium to Steve Reich as one of the "greatest," how come we hardly hear any music on KBYU from Steve Reich since then?

Why does KBYU's management insist on airing only the favorite 50? Listen to KBYU for a few hours and you will know what I mean. Yes, there is lots of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, as well as their contemporaries from the 18th and 19th Centuries. This is nice classical music but it is hardly the only example of classical music. All the while there are great composers of the 20th Century that KBYU basically ignores.

Take one example: Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000). Hovhaness has 67 symphonies to his credit, yet KBYU, I venture, has never played one of them. Even his And God Created Great Whales seems like a stranger on KBYU.

Why should this be so? How could management of a classical music station bar great music from the 20th Century from its playlist?

I argue, KBYU's management needs to open up to the possibility that there is indeed great music out there not restricted to composers writing 200 years ago. KBYU has a mission of bringing quality classical music to its listeners in Utah. It does little service by airing only the staid old war horses of classical music.

WHY CAN'T KBYU-FM SUPERVISE PART-TIME CLASSICAL MUSIC ANNOUNCERS?

2011-06-11T17:04:00.007-06:00

Why can't Marcus Smith, general manager at KBYU-FM, broadcasting classical music in Utah, control the quality of KBYU's part-time announcers? I refer to Ben Waggener who is often on air on weekends.

KBYU broadcasts a mostly classical format and attracts a type of listener different from those who tune in to the typical FM pop or rock station.

Ben Waggener gives a listener the impression that he can't wait to get out of the play booth. He rushes his announcements, does not obey the pause commanded by periods, and goes hurriedly from one piece to the next.

Waggener is not alone. Michael Lacey outdoes him in a perfunctory rushed approach to the classical music selections played on air.

I say to Marcus Smith, if you yourself don't want to take the time, appoint someone of quality, such as Rosie Stevenson, to supervise these part-timers. Give them some attention. Critique their performances. Slow them down. Make them better classical music announcers.

NO REASON TO HAVE FUND DRIVES ON LOCAL PUBLIC TV STATIONS - KUED-TV & KBYU-TV - NO HOURLY INTERNATIONAL NEWS, LITTLE INVESTMENT IN NEW PROGRAMMING

2011-06-07T16:17:00.007-06:00

Why must public TV stations broadcasting in Utah conduct another dreadful and embarrassing fund drive at this time of year?

It appears that both KUED-TV, owned and operated by the University of Utah, and KBYU-TV, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, are now engaging in perpetual fund appeals. Consider that their drives typically last more than two whole weeks. Besides Spring and Fall drives, both stations now fit in additional fund drives in the Summer and Winter.

I argue, stop this madness. There has to be a better way.

Consider what neither of the above two stations provides viewers:
1. no national or international news during day-time hours. Viewers apparently should consider themselves lucky in getting The News Hour on weekday evenings!

2. no station commitment to investment in new programs. KBYU is content to recycle Rosemary and Thyme, and KUED endlessly recycles Antiques Roadshow.

Why can't "public" stations like KUED and KBYU upgrade their news programming? And why can't they spend monies for new offerings?

I argue, get rid of all local stations like KUED and KBYU, and, in their stead, let's have a national station that, like Al Jazeera or France 24, can offer quality national and international news all throughout the day and night, including weekends.

ANOTHER FUND DRIVE BY KBYU-FM BUT NO RELEASE OF KBYU'S FINANCIAL INFORMATION

2011-05-19T09:51:00.004-06:00

I complained in a post of February 23rd of this year that KBYU-FM, a classical music station owned and operated by Brigham Young University, was conducting fund drives and appeals about every three months. This has to end. Especially in view of the fact that KBYU does not make public its financials or anything having to do with how much it takes from these appeals over public airwaves and what it does with the monies raised.

But tuning in to KBYU today after being away for the last week, I am shocked to hear another drive in progress.

I call upon KBYU and its general manager, Marcus Smith, to end all public drives over KBYU until and unless KBYU makes full public disclosure of its finances including what it does with listener donations, specifically as it applies to salaries, perks, pension benefits and other forms of remuneration to management and staff.

WHAT HAPPENED TO BBC RADIO NEWS ON KBYU-FM TODAY AT 7 AM?

2011-04-24T12:17:00.006-06:00

Why was there no BBC Radio News this morning on KBYU-FM at 7 AM?

Someone was asleep when he/she should have been minding the store. Where is Marcus Smith, general manager of KBYU? Why is there no system in place for assuring that early morning personnel do actually show up when they are scheduled? Management is ultimately responsible for the no-show.

And why does KBYU air BBC News only at inappropriate times on Saturdays and Sundays: 6 AM, 7 AM, 5 PM, 11 PM? It is as if KBYU's management is attempting to keep listeners away from BBC News on the weekend, as if world and international news is inappropriate on Saturdays and Sundays! It prompts me to ask: is there a LDS religious component here that discourages worldly activities on the weekends and promotes only religious works, such as writing letters to missionaries?

I want KBYU to schedule BBC News more frequently on the weekends. I propose KBYU air BBC news at 7 , 9 and 11 AM. Then at 2, 4, 6 and 8 PM. Important news does not stop just because the faithful go to church on Sundays.

WHERE IS KBYU'S GENERAL MANAGER MARCUS SMITH WHEN IT COMES TO TRAINING AND SUPERVISION?

2011-04-23T17:09:00.008-06:00

Why can't we get some uniformity in the quality of announcers on Classical 89, KBYU-FM, broadcasting a mostly classical format to Salt Lake City and Utah?

I refer to the part-time announcers on the weekends and holidays. Take our announcer today on KBYU. This guy is deadly. But if someone in authority at KBYU would pay attention and extend some training, all would not be lost.

Contrary to the mindset of former KBYU general manager Walter Rudolph who recently retired, it is just not true that a walk-on can do a good job at being a disk jockey for classical music. Listeners are a different breed and they expect some sophistication besides a minimum familiarity with the standard classical repertoire.

They also expect not to be rushed from one piece to another. Our Saturday announcer gives the impression that what he is doing is boring and tedious, thus impelling him to rush from one announcement to the next. Hey, slow down!

Marcus Smith, the present general manager, needs to pay attention. Assign novice announcers a polished mentor, like Rosie Stevenson, who can critique the tyro's performance and offer guidance as well as do's and don't's.

Don't immediately cue the music after announcing what it is going to be. Allow a second or two. Don't immediately rush in the moment a piece ends. Give some room for the emotional impact of the music to settle. Don't read commercial announcements as if you were still in grade school. Don't rush through them as if they were radioactive.

Marcus Smith pays too much attention to his interview program Thinking Aloud. He needs to pay more heed to upgrading the quality of KBYU's part-time announcers.

KBYU-FM CANCELS BBC NEWS IN FAVOR OF BYU GRADUATION

2011-04-21T17:05:00.007-06:00

Why must KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, cancel BBC Radio News today at 4, 5 and 6 PM so that it can broadcast graduation at BYU?

Instead of timely and important world news, we get dull and religiously oriented graduation ceremonies. Does anyone tune in thinking that BYU graduation is going to be anything but boring? And besides, BYU graduation means cloyingly saccharine religious sermons. Ugh!

KBYU terms itself a "public" radio station especially during its frequent on-air fund drives. Yet it broadcasts BYU ceremonies, religious sermons, LDS Church general conferences and other church events. How can a "public" radio station be so emphatically sectarian? This should not be allowed.

I also object to KBYU allowing BYU students to recite "news" on KBYU, a station that is supposed to broadcast a classical music format, where that news consists of murders, robberies, killings, thefts, and the like. BYU itself has its own radio stations for its students. Why does KBYU allow students to foist their depressing news on listeners who tune in for the emotional impact of classical music.

If KBYU is truly a "public" radio station, I blame KBYU's general manager Marcus Smith for allowing "Classical 89" to be hijacked both by the LDS church and by the BYU journalism department. Get rid of all church programs on KBYU, and eliminate allowing KBYU to serve as a sounding board for students who think that genuine news comes from the local sheriff's blotter.

WHY DOES KUER-FM SPEND OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS ON SALARIES AND BENEFITS?

2011-04-21T14:40:00.009-06:00

I have some questions about KUER-FM's latest financial statements for fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. KUER broadcasts programs mostly from NPR to almost all of Utah.

Here's the link to KUER's financial statements.

On page 10, the statements show that KUER paid out $1,223,097 cash for salaries, wages and benefits. Why is this number so inflated? Assume 25 full time employees. Each would receive almost $50,000 in salary and other compensation.

Why does KUER need 25 employees? It receives almost all of its programing from NPR and similar organizations. Twenty five employees seems like too many. I bet KUER could get by with 10.

Consider how much cash KUER received from contributions generated by its seemingly perpetual fund drives: $1,147,223. That amount almost goes to pay for KUER's employee wages and benefits. In other words all of the cash that KUER takes in from pledges and donations generated by its on-air fund raising goes to pay for employee benefits. Forget about the old canard that "all monies raised will go to programming." To the contrary, monies raised go to pay salaries. Since the rest of KUER's cash expenses totalled only $1,090,756, and since cash contributions exceeded this amount, it is patently untrue and impossible that "all contributions go to programming."

This is the problem with "public" radio and TV here in the U.S. We have bloated staffs, and consequently bloated expenses for salary and benefits. That's why stations like KUER resort to the never-ending two-week fund drive, where normal programming is suspended and viewers are forced to watch Irish Tap Dancers, the Four Tenors, and the like.

Here's a possible solution: disband all local public radio and TV stations and replace them all with one national station, much like Al Jazeera, France 24 or BBC. Imagine all the time now wasted on pledge drives that could be salvaged, and monies wasted on pledges that could be put to better uses, such as beefing up national and international news coverage.

WHAT DOES KBYU-FM'S MARCUS SMITH KNOW ABOUT CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CLASSICAL MUSIC?

2011-04-19T18:52:00.005-06:00

I expressed hope that KBYU-FM, with a new general manager, Marcus Smith, would bring some freshness to the classical play list of "Classical 89."

But Marcus Smith has been general manager for two years now, and we do not yet see or hear any difference. Specifically, where is KBYU when it comes to play contemporary American classical composers? I specifically mean contemporary works composed by Americans since 1950.

So my hopes are tempered as to whether Marcus Smith will shake up KBYU's play list. Currently KBYU plays mostly the old saw horses from the 18th and 19th Centuries, you know, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Bach, and then just snippets, works lasting no more than 15 minutes, at least during its Morning Classics, Midday Classics and Afternoon Classics.

It may be because Marcus Smith does not himself know much about contemporary American music. I think I heard him admit as much on one of his Thinking Aloud programs.

Come on Marcus, get with it. Listeners will never know anything about contemporary classical music unless you order KBYU's staff to program it.

MARCUS SMITH, KBYU-FM NEEDS MORE TRAINING FOR PART-TIME ANNOUNCERS

2011-04-18T08:33:00.006-06:00

KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, and broadcasting to Salt Lake City and other Utah cities and towns, often uses what appears to be college or university students to fill in for its regular classical music announcers.

The problem is that these younger voices don't seem to have much training. Take the announcer this morning filling in for Bruce Seeley. Why can't KBYU appoint a mentor for him and others like him? He talks too fast, frequently slurs his words, often runs on from one sentence to another, in general, seems as if he is merely putting in time. Just one example, KBYU's moniker, "Classical 89" becomes "Class-cal 89," not to mention that the "t" in "eighty" becomes a "d" as in "eigh-ddy."

Where is KBYU's general manager Marcus Smith on this? Why can't Smith appoint a trainer/mentor for all new and part-time announcers? Someone who can pay close attention to what is being said and how it is delivered on-air, then give almost instantaneous feedback.

KBYU-FM UNDER MARCUS SMITH - WILL IT DARE BROADCAST CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN COMPOSERS?

2011-04-12T17:06:00.004-06:00

With Marcus Smith the relatively new general manager of KBYU-FM, I am hoping for a more varied play list. The old GM, Walter Rudolph, seemed stuck to the 50 greatest works of classical music, mostly drawn from the three "B"s plus Mozart. Listeners rarely heard classical music from the last 60 years, and hardly any American compositions from that same period.

I don't say that KBYU has to blacklist the greats from the 18th and 19th Centuries. Play them to your heart's desire, KBYU!

But how about one period a week, even 30 minutes, where KBYU's announcers could feature American composers from 1950 on?

If listeners at first don't recognize the pieces, that's because Walter Rudolph studiously avoided them. I argue, Rudolph was afraid of diminishing returns at pledge times if he played "unfamiliar" works.

Let's see if Marcus Smith can show less self-interest and more concern for giving contemporary American composers some hearing.

KBYU-FM NEEDS EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT, BUT WHERE IS IT?

2011-04-09T13:21:00.008-06:00

I have long complained about the seeming absence of effective management and supervision at KBYU-FM, broadcasting mostly classical music to Salt Lake City and other spots in Utah.

Today illustrates a good example of my beef. On Saturdays after the opera, listeners hear part-timers, sometimes students drawn from BYU. The part-timer today seems not to realize what listeners expect of him. He speaks too fast, slurs his words. So "classical" becomes a two syllabic word, "class-cal." And "eighty-nine" comes out with a "d" instead of a "t." Overall I get the impression that he has a job to do, time to put in, and, by heck, he is going to do it as fast as as lazily as possible.

Now I don't so much blame the student announcer as I do management at KBYU. If Walter Rudolph, general manager, has not yet retired, why does he not give his announcer a call and politely tell him what is expected of him by classical listeners? But I maintain Walter Rudolph is an "empty chair" when it comes to day-to-day supervision. I get the impression that Rudolph would much prefer to produce special programs usually on opera where he can sound stentorian and authoritative.

KBYU-FM needs effective management and supervision, especially when it comes to its part-timer announcers and even as to the excessive comments of one of its full-timer, Mark Wait. But so far, we the listeners see no evidence anyone has his hand on the wheel.

TROUBLE WITH "PUBLIC" RADIO IN UTAH: NEVER-ENDING PLEDGE DRIVES

2011-04-07T16:19:00.006-06:00

At the same time the KCPW-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City, is struggling through its second full week of fundraising, another "public" radio station in Utah, KUER-FM, is running its own drive.

So Utahns, especially those in Sal Lake and environs, are being bombarded by two "public" stations clamoring and begging for donations and pledges. This is not pretty.

The fund drives point up the fatal flaw with "public" stations here in the U.S. There are over 200 public radio and TV stations, each with its own pricey equipment, its own staff, its payroll requirements. Who dreamt this up? It means a multiplication of overhead, 200 general managers, over 200 engineers, twice or triple that number for announcers, and so on.

A solution: let's get rid of all these individual stations that call themselves "public" and which engage in never-ending pledge drives. In their place, we should have one centralized national station, broadcasting to the whole country, with emphasis on national and international news.

Imagine the savings of overhead, personnel and radio spectra!

KCPW-FM PERSISTS WITH PHONY REASONS TO ENCOURAGE DONATIONS

2011-04-05T15:29:00.011-06:00

KCPW-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and environs, continues into its second full week of fund-raising asking for listener pledges and donations over the air.

It also continues with its specious reasons for prompting donations, viz., (1) "every penny goes to programming," and (2) "KCPW is a commercial-free station."

As for #1, KCPW's unsigned Form 990 for tax year ending June 30, 010 shows contributions, gifts, grants and similar amounts, excluding government grants, of $851,000 (see Page 9). Its programming expenses totalled almost $269,000 (See page 10). If this current year is like last year, how could "every penny" go to programming if contributions are more than three times as much as programming expense?

As for #2, KCPW is really a commercial-heavy station pretending to be commercial-free. KCPW's claim is laughable. Every 10 minutes between 6 AM and 10 PM, KCPW tries to squeeze in three or four or more commercials. True, KCPW makes each business advertising on the station preface its commercial with, "We support KCPW." But then listeners are treated to car commercials, pitches for real estate brokerage, deli and food store ads and the like, the limit being one's imagination. If you don't believe KCPW runs commercials, tune in and listen. Here's the link for on-air listening.

KCPW-FM POSTS FORM 990 ON ITS WEB SITE WITHOUT ANY SIGNATURES!

2011-04-04T15:24:00.004-06:00

KCPW-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and suburbs, has recently posted a copy of its Form 990 on its web site. Here is the link. Form 990, to be filed with IRS, contains required disclosures about finances, including all income received from whatever source and all expenses. Form 990 gives financial statements, all income and expenses,including the salaries for the highest paid employees.

It disturbs me that KCPW's Form 990 for its tax year ending June 30, 2010, contains no signatures from either Ed Sweeney, the president of Wasatch Public Media, the non-profit parent of KCPW, or from its accountants who prepared the form. Take a look for yourself at KCPW's Form 990 and notice the absence of signatures on the bottom of page 1.

Try handing in any form to IRS without a genuine signature and date on the form. Just like a Form 1040 for individual taxpayers is worthless without signature and date, so too a Form 990. Yet Ed Sweeney and KCPW think that the public will accept financial disclosures on an unsigned Form 990!

WHY NO SIGNATURES ON KCPW'S FORM 990 DESIGNATED AS "PUBLIC DISCLOSURE COPY"?

2011-04-03T12:08:00.004-06:00

KCPW-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and suburbs, is now in the midst of another avaricious fund drive. KCPW has recently posted a copy of its Form 990 on its web site. Form 990 is a requirement for most non-profits. It gives financial statements, all income and expenses, and the salaries for the highest paid employees.

It disturbs me that KCPW's Form 990 for its tax year ending June 30, 2010, contains no signatures from either Ed Sweeney, the president of Wasatch Public Media, the non-profit parent of KCPW, or from its accountants who prepared the form. Take a look for yourself at KCPW's Form 990 and notice the absence of signatures on the bottom of page 1.

The absence of signatures on KCPW's Form 990 designated as a public file copy is troubling and raises some serious suspicions and questions. Is the information on this Form 990 entitled "Public Disclosure Copy" the same as on a properly signed and dated Form 990 submitted to the IRS?

KBYU-FM BROADCASTS LDS CHURCH CONFERENCES, YET INSISTS IT IS "PUBLIC STATION"

2011-04-02T13:15:00.009-06:00

KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University and broadcasting to most cities and towns in Utah, likes to call itself a "public" radio station. So even though it is principally funded by BYU which itself is owned by the LDS Church, KBYU engages in three, sometimes four, pledge drives every year, posing as a public radio station.

Therefore, I object to KBYU engaging in fund drives over-the-air. Why? Because KBYU is really an organ for the LDS Church. Witness today and tomorrow KBYU's schedule. It has cancelled the Saturday opera and other programs and replaced them with live feed from the LDS Church's semi-annual Conference. How "public" is that?

If KBYU wishes to do the bidding of the LDS Church and broadcast its church conferences and other religious programs, I have no objection. But I do strenuously object when KBYU-FM foists itself off as a "public" station when it is really but a sectarian one. And I also object to KBYU's fund-raising using public air waves.

National Public Radio (NPR) should take action against KBYU for its pretension to be a public radio station at the same time that it is pushing the agenda of the LDS Church.

STOP BULLSHIT ON KCPW-FM SOLICITING PLEDGES AND DONATIONS

2011-03-31T15:48:00.006-06:00

Still more bogus reasons from announcers of KCPW-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and nearby suburbs, why listeners should send in monies and pledges:

1. "KCPW is not a commercial station and does not run commercials." This should make KCPW personnel all break out in hilarious guffaws. Of course, KCPW runs commercials. It's just that they call them euphemistically "underwriting slots." Indeed KCPW is rife with commercials - just listen anytime from 6 AM until 10 PM if you want to hear two minutes of solid commercials every 10 minutes!

2. "Give something back to KCPW." This means make a donation so that general manager Ed Sweeney can increase his take. Last year Sweeney increased his own salary from $80,000 to $96,000, (see page 7 of link showing KCPW's Form 990 for tax year ending June 30, 2010), not counting extra perks of $9,709 from KCPW. So when KCPW announcers ask listeners to "give back," I guess they mean give more so that management and employees can take increased compensation for running a "public" station.

3. "By donating, you will help the Salt Lake community." This is pure bull, taken out of thin air. How will padding salaries of KCPW's management do anything whatsoever to "aid the community"?

4. "By omitting commercials, KCPW gives more in-depth news." Just the opposite! KCPW, in its zeal to fit in two minutes of commercials every 10 minutes, truncates and abbreviates NPR News on both the hour and half-hour to a mere three minutes. Sometimes during morning and evening hours, NPR provides a full nine minutes of news. You will never hear these full nine minutes on KCPW. KCPW's annoying announcers cut in after only three minutes. Why? So that KCPW can run commercials during what should be minutes of hard news.

FUND DRIVES PROVOKE SILLY UNSUPORTABLE CLAIMS ON KCPW-FM, PUBLIC STATION IN UTAH

2011-03-30T12:47:00.004-06:00

You hear the strangest claims offered as reasons why listeners/viewers should contribute during the frequent pledge drives on "public" Stations.

Take KCPW-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and surrounding environs. KCPW, owned by "non-profit" Wastch Public Media, is in the throes of another pesky annoying fund drive. Yesterday its announcers were drumming up pledges with the likes of, "All of your contributions will go to pay for programming." And another gem, "KCPW lives on a tight budget."

What whoppers!

Take the "tight budget claim." If KCPW is on such a severe austerity budget, how come the station paid its non-profit's president and CEO, Ed Sweeney, a salary for tax year ending June 30, 2010 of $96,000, not counting additional compensation of $9,700? This represents a pay increase of 32%, or some $25,700 over Sweeney's compensation for year ending June 30, 2009. Oh yeah! KCPW is on an austerity budget, my ass!

And then there is the silly claim that all listener contributions go for programming. This claim is totally unsupportable. KCPW had program costs for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, of $268,000. But its costs for salaries for management and other employees, including payroll taxes and employee benefits totalled at least $434,000. I would argue that ALL of KCPW's take from listeners goes to salaries for management and employees. Programming represents a relatively smaller expense.

But don't take my word for this. Here's a link to KCPW's Form 990 for year ending June 30, 2010. And here's the link to KCPW's Form 990 for year ending June 30, 2009.

EXPECT NO MUSIC FROM COMPOSERS WRITING IN LAST 50 YEARS ON KBYU-FM BROADCASTING TO UTAH LISTENERS

2011-03-29T12:57:00.009-06:00

Walter Rudolph retires as general manager at KBYU-FM this April.

KBYU calls itself "Classical 89," because it broadcasts mostly "classical" music together with an assortment of LDS Church meetings, conferences and BYU sermons.

I argue that Rudolph and KBYU have drunk the kool-aid of those radio consultants who advise a classical station to play mostly short pieces (i.e., individual movements of symphonies, overtures, and other pieces not exceeding 15 minutes). And above all, they recommend, avoid broadcasting any classical compositions from composers written in the last 50 years.

Take Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000). When a classical station plays few if any pieces from American composer Alan Hovhaness, there is something wrong with management. Have you ever heard any of Hovhaness's 67 symphonies aired on KBYU's Morning, Afternoon or Drive-time Classics? Probably not, thanks to Rudolph. Once in a while, KBYU's regular announcers broadcast And God Created Great Whales by Hovhaness, but not very often.

This is why I criticize Walter Rudolph. Because of his timid and outdated conception of classical music, KBYU offers listeners the 100 greatest pieces from the 18th and 19th Centuries (provided they can be cut into 15 minute slices), but little if any music from the period 1960 - 2010.

Rudolph certainly has an ulterior motive for this play selection. Most listeners would recoil, at least at first, from hearing a "new" piece of music. Especially tyros and novices to the genre think classical means Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, and not much else. Rudolph fears listeners, in reality potential donors to KBYU, would tune out the more contemporary stuff. This translates into less donations and pledges during KBYU's frequent drives. This in turn means less salary and perks and pension contributions for Rudolph and his staff.

Thus the listening public is deprived of modern American composers by a station that pretends to be a "public" station operating in the public interest. Restricting listeners from hearing new classical works is not, I argue, in the public interest. Especially when the decision is based on self-interest.

STOP PERPETUAL FUND DRIVES ON PUBLIC RADIO STATIONS KCPW, KBYU, KUER IN UTAH

2011-03-28T13:01:00.004-06:00

Now it is KCPW-FM's turn to seemingly devote every waking minute of daytime hours to asking for listener pledges and donations.

Several observations.

One. Contrary to what some announcers on KCPW imply, monies raised through pledge drives are not used exclusively to pay for programming. Without pledge drive contributions, management at KCPW would need to take a substantial pay cut. The same goes for all the other KCPW employees. Consider KCPW's Financial Statements for tax year ending Jne 30, 2010. Total salaries for employees, fund-raising personnel and management amount to $436,000. Program costs total only $269,000.

Second. Why does it seem that these "public" radio stations such as KCPW are quick to run on-air pledge drives but are slow, oh so slow, to make their financials available to the public? Especially when it comes to how much they take in from on-air drives and what they do with their monies?

Take KCPW's Form 990 for tax year ending June 30, 2010. A copy labeled "public disclosure copy" appears on KCPW's web site but it lacks signature of Ed Sweeney, head of Wasatch Public Media, KCPW's "non-profit" parent. Furthermore, this public disclosure copy has no date on which it was signed, assuming that it was indeed signed. If KCPW's Form 990 were recently posted and released, that would mean that the public obtains access to financial happenings at KCPW only some eight months following the end of its fiscal period.

Another "public radio station, KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, refuses to publish any financial statements, relying on its legal exemption for institutions owned and operated by religious entities.

Still a third, KUER-FM, owned and operated by the University of Utah, gives us financial statements, but it omits information about its five highest paid employees, such as how much they receive in salary, perks and pension contributions.

WALTER RUDOLPH: POOR MANAGEMENT AND AVERSION TO CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC

2011-03-25T13:03:00.005-06:00

Walter Rudolph retires after 32 years as general manager at KBYU-FM, broadcasting a mostly classical music format to Salt Lake City and the rest of Utah.

As a manager, Rudolph was pretty much an empty chair.

Why? Because he had no control over the local news put on by BYU students who had no conception of what a news bulletin should sound like on a classical music station. Classical listeners don't want to be bombarded with the unseemly street goings-on, such as murders and robberies, yet KBYU student announcers routinely featured just those sort of things.

Furthermore, Rudolph seemed to allow anything goes from any of his announcers, including part-timers many of whom had never heard a classical piece themselves on the radio until they got behind KBYU's microphones. Rudolph never seemed to want to impose any training or discipline. This caused KBYU's quality to veer wildly from the truly professional to the tyro and neophyte.

In addition, Rudolph seemed to lack any vision for where classical music is going. Rudolph gave short shrift to 20th Century composers, not to mention those writing in the first decade of the next century. About the only music we listeners heard on KBYU from the last 100 years was Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. Rudolph claimed that KBYU's listeners would never put up with more recent compositions. I say that it was Rudolph's timidity and fear of losing contributors at pledge time that was and is responsible for listeners considering contemporary music unappetizing and unapproachable.

More on Rudolph's "legacy" in coming posts.

WALTER RUDOLPH RETIRES AS GENERAL MANAGER OF KBYU-FM IN PROVO, UTAH

2011-03-23T14:33:00.008-06:00

The announcement is that Walter Rudolph is retiring after 32 years with KBYU-FM, mostly as general manager.

I maintain that Walter Rudolph was principally responsible for keeping KBYU-FM stuck in a rut. Rudolph permitted the station to have multiple personalities. Was and is KBYU a religious LDS station broadcasting weekly LDS religious programs and sessions of the LDS semi-annual general conference? Is KBYU's main goal to broadcast classical music? Is part of its essential mission permitting students at BYU to become journalists and get experience on air with hoaky local news? None of these questions allow an easy answer.

Because of Rudolph, I argue that KBYU-FM never reached its potential as a premier broadcaster of a classical music. For example, Rudolph seemed to allow every announcer to do his/her own thing. So Rudolph allowed Mark Wait to pontificate at length about his own favorite subjects, notwithstanding antipathy of some in the listening audience. And Rudolph allowed local newscasts to degenerate into the unseemly and descend into the world of crime and robberies and murders.

Basically, I hold that Walter Rudolph was a hands-off manager who did not do what it would take to make KBYU into a classical station of distinction and high class.

KBYU-FM CALLS ITSELF A "PUBLIC" RADIO STATION DURING FUND DRIVES BUT SKIMPS ON BBC NEWS ON WEEKENDS

2011-03-19T16:49:00.009-06:00

Important news happens often on weekends. Why then must we suffer throughout much of Saturday and Sunday without BBC Radio News on KBYU-FM? The station is owned and operated by Brigham Young University and broadcasts to much of the state of Utah, with a mostly classical music format.

KBYU's general manager Water Rudolph and his program assistant Eric Glissmeyer seem to ignore BBC news broadcasts and bulletins on Saturdays and Sundays. Consider that they play BBC News at 6 and 7 AM, then a black-out until 5 PM, then at 11 PM.

Today the world witnessed France, Britain and the U.S. mount an attack on Col. Gaddafi and his military after Gaddafi shelled and bombed the civilian population in Benghazi. But don't expect to get any news on KBYU from 7 AM until 5 PM, thanks to the shortsightedness of Rudolph and Glissmeyer. Then prepare to wait another six hours before more updates.

KBYU likes to call itself a "public" radio station at times of its frequent fund drives over the air. Yet it ignores the public good by minimizing news bulletins on the weekends.

END FUND DRIVES ON LOCAL "PUBLIC" STATIONS

2011-03-16T15:56:00.004-06:00

Both KUED-TV and KBYU-TV, both calling themselves "public stations," and broadcasting to cities and towns in Utah, continue this week with their March fund drives. These are now into their second full week.

Stop! No more fund drives. There must be a better way.

Here's a suggestion: get rid of all local public stations and their staffs. Do away with all the attendant overhead, such as salaries, pensions, travel expenses, studios, broadcasting equipment. Replace these with one single national broadcaster, like Al Jazeera, France 24 or BBC News.

PUBLIC TV STATIONS IN UTAH ENGAGE IN ANOTHER FUND DRIVE

2011-03-07T16:23:00.007-07:00

Oh no! Another round of fund raising from the two "Public" TV stations broadcasting to Salt Lake City and environs. This seems to be the trend: public stations are not content with two fund drives per year. Now they add a third and in some cases a fourth.

I speak about KUED-TV, owned and operated by the University of Utah, and KBYU-TV, owned and operated by Brigham Young University.

Of course during the fund drives that seem to last upwards of two weeks, all regular programming is disrupted. Instead, views get "specials," like the Irish Dancers or Wayne Dyer or the Four tenors. Stop this madness, I say.

Stop all fund raising on local "public" stations. There has to be a better way.

If the cutting off of funds to PBS and NPR would have an effect of forcing local public stations to consolidate and coalesce, that might be a good thing. Instead of each community supporting its own local "public" station, I suggest a national broadcaster like BBC, Al Jazeera or France 24. Then public broadcasters would have less overhead, less staff, less local programming. This would mean an end to those pesky ever-present fund drives.

I say to KUED and KBYU, stop the seeking of funds over the air and give viewers a break. Find some other source of funding or get off the air.

BYU DISMISSES BLACK BASKETBALL PLAYER FOR PRE-MARITAL SEX

2011-03-04T15:58:00.002-07:00

BYU has dismissed Brandon Davies from the men's basketball team because of an "honor code" violation. It turns out Davies admits having sex with his girlfriend. BYU is owned and operated by the LDS Church. How many present general authorities of the LDS Church had pre-marital sex when they were younger? A lot, maybe even the majority, I imagine. Why weren't they punished like Brandon Davies? Was Davies singled out because he is African-American?

CLASSICAL MUSIC IS MERELY THE BAIT FOR KBYU-FM TO GENERATE FUNDS

2011-02-25T15:42:00.005-07:00

KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University and broadcasting a mostly "classical" format to Salt Lake City and other towns in Utah, never tires of asking the public and its listeners for donations. It conducts fund drives at least three times a year, sometimes more. "Help support classical music," KBYU's announcers say. But I suspect that monies generated during pledge times benefit the employees especially management as to their salary increases, their pensions and their travel expenses. Classical music is merely the bait. Come and listen to classical music then send in your donations. Isn't this a classic conflict of interest?

KBYU-FM HOLDS "WINTER DRIVE" BUT RELEASES NO INFORMATION ON MONIES RAISED

2011-02-23T15:33:00.007-07:00

It seems like every three months KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University and broadcasting mostly classical music, is holding another fund drive asking listeners for pledges and donations. Yesterday began what KBYU's announcers call its "Winter Drive." Do not confuse this with the Spring and Fall Drives.

But there is a problem. KBYU-FM under general manager Walter Rudolph never releases or discloses any financial information about the station. How much KBYU takes in from listeners, what donations are used for, how much KBYU receives from BYU, the salary for KBYU's five highest paid employees, how much goes to Rudolph's travel budget, whether any of KBYU's funds received from listeners are used for expenses of non-employees, such as spouses and/or children of employees - of these matters the listening public has no idea.

Therefore I call upon Rudolph and KBYU to hold no further fund raising until KBYU and Rudolph make timely and full disclosure of KBYU's finances, including all income and all expenses shown in detail.

LITTLE CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC ON KBYU-FM CONTRIBUTES TO CRISIS FOR UTAH SYMPHONY

2011-02-12T09:26:00.009-07:00

I have previously complained about the curtailed classical playlist on KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University and broadcasting mostly a classical format to Salt Lake City and Utah. Listeners can expect to hear little music from contemporary classical composers. KBYU's playlist consists mostly of the giants of the 18th and 19th Centuries, not bad music but myopic and insufficient when it comes to 20th Century composers. I have said before and will repeat again, no wonder symphony orchestras face subscriber resistance when programming contemporary music. Using KBYYU's modus operandi of apparent disregard for and neglect of modern music as an example, listeners in Utah can be expected to avoid concerts of music which they have not heard before on Utah's only classical music FM radio station.

I blame KBYU-FM and its general manager Walter Rudolph and program manager Eric Glissmeyer for helping to cause the empty seats in Utah's Symphony Hall. Every piece of classical music, no matter when or by whom composed, is strange and foreign upon its first hearing. If a new composition is not heard several times before, we cannot expect the audience to take to it when first played in the concert hall.

Thus we read the report in today's The Salt Lake Tribune by Catherine Reese Newton that last night's performance by the Utah Symphony of compositions by 20th Century composers was sparsely attended.

Writes Reese Newton:

Twentieth-century music, it seems, is still a tough sell at the symphony. A large number of empty seats in Abravanel Hall on Friday was cause for dismay, not just because of the implications for the Utah Symphony’s finances but because so many people missed vibrant and colorful performances of some of the century’s most exciting music.

KUED-TV SKIMPS ON NEW PROGRAMMING TO SAVE MONEY; VIEWERS SUFFER

2011-02-09T16:27:00.003-07:00

Why must viewers in Utah be limited by public station KUED-TV's desire to save money on new programming?

Don't look to KUED for any new programming this spring. But do expect more of the Antiques Road Show, reruns of Inspector Morse, Sherlock and Rosemary & Thyme.

Oh, and one more thing. Expect lots of fund drives from KUED throughout the year.

MY RATINGS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC HOSTS ON KBYU-FM

2011-02-08T13:16:00.008-07:00

KBYU-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and the rest of Utah, calls itself "Classical 89" because of its largely classical format. During weekdays, it features three principal announcers, Bruce Seely in "Morning Classics" from 6 AM till 10 AM, Rosie Stevenson in "Midday Classics" from 10 AM till 2 PM, Mark Wait in "Drive time Classics from 2 PM till 6 PM.

Rosie Stevenson gets a nine out of 10. She is professional and very knowledgeable about classical music, performers and composers. She is not faking her familiarity. I would have given her a "10" but she rushes in after each piece instead of allowing the emotional impact of the selection to have a few seconds to die away.

Bruce Seeley gets a 7 out of 10. He is pleasing to listen to, does not get in the way of the music, and overall does a good job.

Mark Wait gets a three out of 10. I get the impression that his big aim in life is to have his own radio show, not encumbered with classical music, where he can spout and pontificate and bully as he pleases. Not a pleasant guy to listen to.

KBYU-FM SHUNS CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC SUCH AS JOHN ADAMS "NIXON IN CHINA"

2011-02-06T10:57:00.008-07:00

Has KBYU-FM, which calls itself "Classical 89" to express its mostly classical format, ever given any notice or air time to "Nixon in China" by John Adams? I don't think so. But KBYU and its staid old-fashioned management (I mean general manager Walter Rudolph and his sidekick assistant Eric Glissmeyer - I describe them this way because of their apparent avoidance of contemporary classical composers) will be forced to acknowledge this 20th Century opera when KBYU broadcasts the Metropolitan Opera in the coming weeks.

Anthony Tommasinin reviews "Nixon in China" in The New York Times on February 3rd.

Writes Tommasini:

When Mr. Adams, who conducted the performance, first appeared in the pit, he received a cheering ovation from a full house. And practically the first person on her feet during the standing ovation at the end, nearly four hours later, was Tricia Nixon Cox (who during the first intermission had posed for a photo backstage with her operatic “parents”).

WHY CAN'T WE GET AL JAZEERA NEWS ON PUBLIC TV?

2011-02-03T18:50:00.012-07:00

What is wrong with Comcast that the cable TV provider does not have Al Jazeera news channel on its "basic cable"? Al Jazeera has been covering the Egyptian uprising with much peril to its reporters and employers, especially in Cairo. Comcast gives me the impression that it must think that Al Jazeera is a subversive terrorist organization, thus it does not allow subscribers to watch it.

One bright note is KUEN, the educational TV network here in Utah. KUEN's digital 9.2 broadcasts MHz WorldView which provides Al Jazeera several times per day, even including weekends. But MHz WorldView inexplicably delays Al Jazweera's news 30-minute program so that it is already two or three hours stale by the time we viewers in Utah can see it.

I argue that the other "public" TV stations broadcasting in Utah should step in and provide Al Jazeera 24 hours per day. I think especially of KBYU-TV, owned and operated by the LDS Church, which broadcasts four digital channels, most of them dealing with the LDS Church's Brigham Young University or with other ecclesiastical matters. But when it comes to daily news, KBYU is deficient, airing just The NewsHour, which hardly qualifies as to international news.

And how about KUED-TV, owned and operated by the University of Utah. KUED is equally as deficient in solid international news as KBYU. Nothing but The NewsHour on weekday evenings, and unfortunately nothing on the weekends whatsoever as far as news. KUED could certainly pick up Al Jazeera.

WHY CAN'T WE GET AL JAZEERA ON PUBLIC TV?

2011-02-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

WHY NO CONTEMPORARY MUSIC ON KBYU-FM IN SALT LAKE CITY?

2011-02-02T16:42:00.005-07:00

Why can't KBYU-FM, broadcasting a "classical" format to Salt Lake City and Utah, schedule but one hour per week with music by contemporary classical composers?

Listen to KBYU's Morning Classics, Midday Classics or Drive-time Classics, you will not hear one work by contemporary composers.

KBYU and managers Walter Rudolph and assistant Eric Glissmeyer must have a thing about contemporary music -- they must detest it. I venture this because they avoid putting contemporary classical music on KBYU's play-list.

I don't argue that KBYU should schedule 20th Century music twenty-four-seven. What I do say is that KBYU should give contemporary composers a hearing for one hour per week.

KUED-TV'S POLICY OF AIRING RE-RUNS SHOWS UNWILLINGNESS TO SPEND MONEY ON QUALITY PROGRAMMING

2011-02-01T16:55:00.007-07:00

KUED-TV publishes its financial statements on its web side for fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. Here is the link.

Management at KUED explains how it cut expenses for fiscal year ending 2010. Note on page 8, it states that it cut expenses for programming.

No wonder the programs on KUED-TV, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and the rest of Utah, seem stale, old and re-runs from seasons past. Consider Rosemary & Thyme, a series originally broadcast between 2003 and 2006. KUED continues with re-runs of this series, no matter that viewers saw the same exact episodes within the past six months. The same with Inspector Morse, originally broadcast from 1987 until 2000. How stale can you get when KUED airs episodes shown no that long ago. KUED seems content to replay these series, not just once, but it seems, every six months. Even the new episodes of Sherlock Holmes are re-broadcast over again, shamelessly.

Why these stale programs? Because KUED undoubtedly finds them cheaper than to air fresh new productions and series. But what is the result of this parsimony? Surely viewers get the impression as I have that KUED is too cheap to broadcast new productions, such as the Scandinavian detective series, e.g. Varg Veum and the new Wallander, or Detective Montalbano or The Octopus.

I have long complained about the thinness of KUED's news services. I now add my complaints about its re-run policies.

MILTON BABBITT'S OBITUARY POINTS TO KIBYU-FM'S AVOIDANCE OF CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC

2011-01-30T09:28:00.006-07:00

Milton Babbitt's obituary appears in today's The New York Times.

The NYT's Allan Kozinn writes:

Mr. Babbitt received a special Pulitzer citation for his life’s work in 1982, and in 1986 he was awarded a $300,000 MacArthur Fellowship. His earlier awards included the Joseph Bearns Prize from Columbia University, for his “Music for the Mass” in 1941; the New York Music Critics Circle Awards, for Composition for Four Instruments in 1949 and for “Philomel” in 1964; and the Creative Arts Award from Brandeis University in 1970. He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1965.

For listeners to KBYU-FM, a classical music format station that terms itself "Classical 89," when was the last time KBYU aired any of Milton Babbitt's compositions? The answer is, KBYU has never in my experience broadcast any of Milton Babbitt's works. And why not? Because KBYU's general manager, Walter Rudolph, fears that broadcasting of contemporary classical music like Babbitt's will turn off donations and contributions from listeners at pledge times. In other words, Rudolph's success at fund raising depends on playing those "easy" standard pieces of 18th and 19th Century repertoire that confirm what "classical" music is for those just beginning to listen to the genre.

REVOLUTION IN EGYPT, YET KBYU-FM RESTRICTS BBC NEWS ON WEEKENDS

2011-01-29T08:43:00.005-07:00

Today Saturday is the fifth day of the uprising in Cairo and other Egyptian cities. Yet we receive no BBC News bulletins on KBYU-FM after 7 AM. Not at least until 5 PM this afternoon. The blackout is insufferable for listeners who wish to be current on the revolutionary crisis in Egypt.

I blame KBYU and its general manager Walter Rudolph for not scheduling BBC News more frequently on the weekends. It appears that KBYU and Rudolph must believe that no newsworthy events happen on Saturdays and Sundays.

If KBYU, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, is really the "public" station its announcers claim it to be when they seek listener donations and pledges during the station's frequent fund drives, then KBYU should change its head-in-the-sand programming vis-a-vis the news on weekends and increase the frequency of BBC News bulletins.

WHY NO CLASSICAL COMPOSERS OF 20TH CENTURY ON KBYU-FM?

2011-01-28T14:27:00.009-07:00

Why is management and personnel at KBYU-FM, broadcasting a classical format to Salt Lake city and the rest of Utah, so resistant to program more than just 18th and 19th Century classical works?

Why can't general manager Walter Rudolph and his sidekick Eric Glissmeyer schedule a weekly program of modern 20th Century composers? Where is William Elden Balcom? Where is Philip Glass? Where are the other great classical composers of the last 100 years. There were great composers before Bach, and there are great composers after Brahms. KBYU needs to broadcast these great composers, many of whom are American.

Why has KBYU-FM shut out Alfred Schnittke, a Russian composer of 10 symphonies? Or Aulis Sallinen? Or the great American composer Steve Reich who some say is one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century?

Why has "Classical 89" as KBYU likes to call itself restricted its play list of classical music to just those composers who have been dead more than 100 years?

Is it too much to ask that KBYU devote one hour each week to modern masters?

No wonder classical music has fallen on rocky times, where symphonies here in the U.S. are uniformly hit with financial deficits and where the audience attending live symphonic concerts appears to consist of mostly of grey heads. I blame KBYU, specifically its general manager Walter Rudolph, for classical music's financial woes, because its programming is so febrile and anemic in its focus on only a small part of the exciting and dynamic classical repertory.

KBYU-FM NEEDS TO INCREASE FREQUENCY OF BBC NEWS ON SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS

2011-01-25T16:09:00.003-07:00

KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University and broadcasting to Salt Lake City and the rest of Utah, offers BBC Radio News only four times a day on Saturdays and Sundays, at 6 AM, 7AM, 5 PM and 11 PM. The rest of the day, KBYU presents no news. It is as if noteworthy news simply does not occur on weekends.

KBYU and general manager Walter Rudolph, you owe it to listeners to increase the frequency of BBC news. Your announcers claim KBYU-FM is a "public" radio station when they solicit donations and pledges from listeners. If KBYU is truly a public station, it should operate in the public interest, and the public interest requires news bulletins during daytime on both Saturdays and Sundays.

KBYU-FM OFFERS "CLASSICAL" MUSIC BUT ONLY FROM 18TH & 19TH CENTURIES

2011-01-23T13:32:00.006-07:00

When will classical music stations wake up and start programming American composers of the 20th Century? KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, and broadcasting to Salt Lake City and cities in Utah, is a good example of a station that proclaims its classical music format, but then neglects music from the 20th Century. Don't even think that KBYU will air a piece from William Schuman, John Cage, Milton Babbitt or George Rochberg, these being just a few examples of American composers who seemed destined to oblivion simply because KBYU is afraid of offending those who think classical music means only Bach, Beethoven and Mozart (and their contemporaries).

Why should KBYU-FM or its general manager Walter Rudolph care about the inchoate sensitivities of tyros to classical music who don't know any better? The answer is simple. Even though KBYU is owned by BYU, a school with millions if not billions in endowment funds, Rudolph and KBYU come on air three or four times a year asking for listener donations and pledges. So 20th Century music becomes an impediment to raise as much money from listeners where the fear is that "new" music might turn off the funds flow. Less funds taken in during pledge drives means less money for management and staff salaries, a tighter budget for management junkets, no funds for staff admissions to various concerts. Thus we have a perfect conflict of interest between management of classical stations and the broader educational interests of the listening public.

It is because of stations like KBYU-FM and its management that the silly notion that classical music necessarily implies a genesis in the 18th or 19th Centuries comes into being.

KBYU-FM NEEDS MORE BBC WORLD NEWS BULLETINS ON WEEKENDS

2011-01-22T17:12:00.006-07:00

KBYU-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and Utah, terms itself a "public" radio station when it engages in its many fund drives during the year, but the rest of the time seems to ignore the public's interest. A good example is the lack of BBC News bulletins on Saturdays and Sundays. KBYU schedules BBC bulletins for 6AM, 7 AM, 5 PM and 11 PM. Why only four times a day? Does BYU or its general manager Walter Rudolph believe that most listeners are not concerned about world events on Saturdays and Sundays?

Even though KBYU is owned and operated by Brigham Young University, I doubt that the paucity of BBC bulletins on Saturdays and Sundays has anything to do with a belief that the Mormon faith shuns news programs on the weekends. This would be too far out to believe.

I want KBYU-FM to add BBC News bulletins in its programming on Saturdays and Sundays at 8AM, 10 AM, 12 noon, 2 PM, 4 PM and 8 PM. Important world news does not stop just because KBYU is parsimonious with its scheduling.

WHY NO JOHN ADAMS ON KBYU-FM'S CLASSICAL PLAYLIST?

2011-01-20T18:54:00.005-07:00

Why does it take Performance Today to give us any John Adams on KBYU-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake City and Utah, and owned and operated by BYU. Today, Fred Child played Adams, "the Chairman Dances," to commemorate Chairman Hu's visit to Washington.

It seems management at KBYU, I mean general manager Walter Rudolph and his sidekick, Eric Glissmeyer, thinks that "classical" music means only Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart and their contemporaries. Don't expect any 20th Century classical music on this backward station, certainly not John Adams.

LITTLE GOOD ABOUT KCPW-FM, BROADCASTING TO SALT LAKE CITY

2011-01-19T15:43:00.005-07:00

Unfortunately, KCPW-FM, a "public" radio station broadcasting mostly to Salt Lake City and suburbs, has little to recommend. KCPW ostentatiously calls itself "NPR Utah." But KCPW's announcers routinely cut in on NPR News after a mere three minutes, notwithstanding that NPR offers news up to nine minutes on certain hours of the weekday. And KCPW's management has chosen to do away with BBC news even during BBC programs. Why? Because management is keen to have its announcers serve up commercials, oops, I mean "underwriting slots," which bring in revenues. In other words, when it comes to balancing the needs of the listening public versus KCPW's lust for income, the public be damned!

About the only value in KCPW's lineup is its on-air transmission of BBC News from 10 PM on most nights to 4 AM the next morning.

CLASSICAL MUSIC MORE THAN JUST BACH, BEETHOVEN AND MOZART

2011-01-18T13:05:00.004-07:00

KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, and offering a classical music format to listeners in Utah, is stuck in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Under general manager Walter Rudolph and his assistant Eric Glissmeyer, "classical music" becomes only Bach, Beethoven and Mozart (and others of the same genre).

Where is classical music of the 20th Century. Why so little John Adams, Aram Khachaturian, Luigi Dallapiccola, Dmitry Kabalevsky, or Samuel Barber? And these are only a few. Why does KBYU ignore modern composers in favor of those of the classical and romantic periods?

I call for KBYU, Rudolph and Glissmeyer to recognize the damage they are doing to classical music when they limit the station's playlist to only the favorite oldtimers 50. No wonder audiences at most symphonic concerts are composed mostly of greyheads and those over 60. If the public's classical stations behave as KBYU, listeners will never have the opportunity to hear modern masters.

KUED-TV DISAPPOINTS WITH ITS PROGRAMMING ON 7.2

2011-01-17T14:22:00.006-07:00

KUED-TV, the public TV station owned and operated by the University of Utah, and broadcasting to Salt Lake City and the state of Utah, is frankly a big disappointment when it comes to its programming. I expected that the advent of digital would mean that KUED would present more frequent news programs, not just run-of-the-mill b-o-r-i-n-g The News Hour. With another frequency found on 7.2, KUED could engage, if it chose, in news 24/7, something akin to France 24 or Al Jazeera. Instead, KUED is content to use 7.2 to air re-runs and cheapo non-news programs offered by PBS World. About the only good thing on 7.2 is BBC World News, but why only on weekday nights and not on weekends?

WHY NO BBC NEWS BULLETINS ON KCPW-FM DURING 11 AM AND 2 PM HOURS?

2010-10-20T11:15:00.003-06:00

Why can't we listeners to the BBC on KCPW-FM, a "public station" broadcasting to Salt Lake City and environs, hear BBC news bulletins during KCPW'S broadcasts of BBC programs at 11 AM and again at 2 PM?

KCPW instead substitutes three minutes of NPR News and dismisses the news entirely on the half-hour. NPR, after all, is of little value in comparison to the BBC.

KBYU ditches BBC news bulletins because it is so hot to throw in its own commercials. (Oops, I mean "underwriting promotions.") NPR unlike the BBC allows KCPW's announcers to cut in and play revenue-producing ads.

KCPW puts money over information. so much for its vaunted "mission" of "educating" listeners.

NO MORE KBYU-FM FUND DRIVES TILL PUBLIC CAN SEE FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES

2010-09-14T09:12:00.003-06:00

Once again KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, conducts another fund drive this week, claiming that its mostly classical music format deserves listener support though contributions and pledges.

But KBYU and its general manager Walter Rudolph never tell the public how much the station takes in, and especially what it does with contributions from listeners. KBYU never releases any financial statements, never discloses key expenses such as how much it pays Rudolph, never reveals how much it has in the bank.

My argument is that KBYU-FM should not use public airwaves to solicit donations from listeners until it first makes complete and regular disclosures of its finances.

SURPRISES IN FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF KCPW-FM FOR YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2009

2010-08-11T15:23:00.005-06:00

I wonder if contributors to KCPW in the first six months of 2009 knew that their contributions and donations were going to pay Ed Sweeney, owner and CEO of Wasatch Public Media, the "non-profit" parent of KCPW, a salary of $80,000, while at the same time, KCPW paid its station manager, Eric Ray, a salary of only $31,381.

Take a look for yourself at KCPW's Form 990 (i.e., its financial disclosure for tax year ending June 30, 2009. Here is the link on page 7.

It is also of interest that the "development director," Jodi Emery, earned $41,000. Why? Because who gets paid more, the development director or the station manager? It must be that the development director whose job it is to solicit donations and pledges and underwriting advertising spots is more important and has a higher compensable job than the station manager in charge of the news and the daily running of the station.

This is the dirty little secret of KCPW-FM. Its main mission is to bring in more and more donations, more and more grants, more and more contributions, notwithstanding its purported lofty mission of "educating and informing" the listening public in Salt Lake City. What bull!

STOP NEVER ENDING FUND DRIVES ON KBYU-TV

2010-08-10T09:00:00.003-06:00

Why is it necessary for any public radio or TV station to hold two weeks of fundraising at a clip?

This is exactly what KBYU-TV, owned and operated by Brigham Young University and broadcasting to Utah, is doing right at this time. Its latest fund drive began more than a week ago, on Friday, July 30th, and it is still on the air asking for monies, donations and pledges.

There has to be a better way for "public" stations other than using public air waves to solicit funds.

Furthermore, KBYU makes no release whatsoever of its financial status or how much it takes in from these campaigns or what it does with the monies.

Therefore, I call upon KBYU's management to cease these annoying fund drive interludes and get on with the job of presenting quality programs and news broadcasts to the TV public.

KCPW-FM'S RIDICULOUS CLAIM OF "EDUCATING" LISTENERS

2010-07-19T09:31:00.002-06:00

It's hard to believe some of the claims made on public radio and TV stations, glorifying the mission of these "non-profit" broadcasters.

As a prime example, I offer the claim of KCPW-FM, broadcasting to Salt Lake and environs, that its "mission" is to "educate listeners."

This claim is baseless and ridiculous. The true mission of KCPW, like all the other "public" stations is to raise more money from listeners and sponsors. This is why KCPW runs "commercials" (oops, I mean "underwriting spots") ever ten minutes from 6 AM to 10 PM

WHAT IS KCPW-FRM'S REAL MISSION AND IS IT "COMMERCIAL-FREE"?

2010-06-06T09:46:00.004-06:00

What a farce! KCPW-FM, a "public" station broadcasting to Salt Lake City and surrounding suburbs, claims that its mission is to inform its listeners and keep them in touch with local community happenings.

I say, the real mission of KCPW is to raise money from donations and commercials. KCPW's programming, mostly from NPR, is only the "bait" to attract listeners and then hit them up for donations and pledges.

Take a look at this assertion on KCPW's web page:

"KCPW Public Radio 88.3 FM and 105.3 FM is Utah’s first and only 24-hour commercial-free news and information station. Owned by Wasatch Public Media, a Utah non-profit corporation, KCPW is a membership-supported community public radio station."

KCPW claims it is "commercial-free." Reader, judge for yourself. Listen to KCPW's programming for 10 minutes anytime between 6 AM and 10 PM and you will hear two or three minutes of commercials every ten minutes. KCPW may euphemistically call these commercial interruptions as "underwriting spots," but it is clear that there are commercials. So how then does KCPW have its announcers refer to the station as "commercial-free"?

NO MORE FUND DRIVES FROM KBYU-TV UNTIL IT MAKES FULL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

2010-06-05T19:26:00.003-06:00

Oh, no! Not another tedious supernumerary fund drive on KBYU-TV! Wait, this is the second fund drive in the first six months of 2010. At this rate, KBYU-TV will hold four fund drives, each lasting one full week, and two lasting a full two weeks.

KBYU is owned and operated by Brigham Young University and has no need financially speaking of asking for donations from the viewing public. BYU has more than enough in its endowments to pay ten times over for KBYU and its operating and administrative expenses.

So why does KBYU insist on calling itself "public" and taking advantage of a public station's modus operandi in using public airwaves to solicit donations and pledges?

I have no good answer. But I do note that KBYU has never made a financial disclosure of its assets and expenses. Nor has it disclosed what it does with monies taken in from its frequent fund drives.

I say, no more fund drives on KBYU until it agrees to make full, adequate and timely disclosures of how much it takes in, what it does with its revenues, including especially how much it pays the top five highest paid employees.

NO MORE FUND DRIVES FROM KBYU-FM UNTIL IT MAKES FULL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

2010-05-12T18:20:00.003-06:00

KBYU-FM, broadcasting mostly classical music to Salt Lake City and environs, is proceeding ahead with its Spring Fund Drive.

KBYU headed by general manager Walter Rudolph does not make public anything having to do with its finances. The public receives no information on how much KBYU raises from each fund drive, how much is pledged, how much is taken in from other sources such as from KBYU's parent, Brigham Young University.

We know nothing about what KBYU does with the monies raised from solicitations to the listening public during these fund drives. For example, how much goes to general manager Walter Rudolph for perks such as travel expenses? Whether KBYU's staff of announcers receives any bonus or salary increase if fund-drive goals are met?

Because of the lack of financial transparency at KBYU-FM, I argue that KBYU should cease and desist from making any further appeal for donations and pledges over public airwaves until and unless KBYU makes full and timely disclosure of its financial position, including answers to the above questions.

STOP FUND DRIVE ON KBYU-FM UNTIL KBYU MAKES FULL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

2010-05-07T18:42:00.003-06:00

KBYU-FM, owned and operated by Brigham Young University, is set to begin another one of its many fund drives next week.

KBYU and its general manager Walter Rudolph do not make any financial information public. Listeners have no idea how much KBYU actually takes in from each fund drive, nor what KBYU and Rudolph do with the monies and pledges. For all anyone knows, monies raised could be used for Rudolph's travel expenses to Bayreuth for the yearly Wagnerian Festival. No one has any clue.

I argue that KBYU should desist from all fund raising over the air until and unless KBYU and Rudolph make full financial disclosure of the station's income, expense and how much it pays its five highest paid employees.