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  »  New  Analog FM on a PCI cards?..  We probably already covered this...  Off Air Audio Forum     1  24477  12-18-2008
  »  New  Another Boston Radio Station Sold...WCRB..  More on the deal...  Off Air Audio Forum     2  28302  09-22-2009
  »  New  Open letter to WGBH...  The arrival delay vs. feed delay....  Off Air Audio Forum     1  25041  08-16-2009
12-26-2009 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
clarkjohnsen
Boston, MA, US
Posts 298
Joined on 06-02-2004

Post #: 26
Post ID: 12550
Reply to: 12537
The "new" CRB
fiogf49gjkf0d
scades wrote, "NPR has no say about WGBH's operations." That's a lovely assertion, but naive to the extreme. And it presumes insider knowledge.

The producer of PHC is American Public Media, as well as of Symphonycast and many other musical programs; it may well have been they (I no insider info here) who effectively put the kibosh on Friday at Symphony, for reasons that would never be divulged.

At any rate I've already heard two pre-recorded DJ programs on CRB repeated later, both originating from other sources, as well as numerous waltzes and other super-lightweight material reminiscent of the old CRB. And they still play mere movements from whole works. Feh! They have plenty of room for Friday at Symphony if the will is there.

clark
12-26-2009 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
scades
Posts 4
Joined on 12-24-2009

Post #: 27
Post ID: 12551
Reply to: 12550
BSO Friday broadcasts
fiogf49gjkf0d
Clark, an interesting thing to explore might be the discussions between WGBH and the BSO. Here's a possibility: Until last month, of course, the BSO had long-standing agreements with two different entities: WGBH and WCRB. Now, the BSO has to re-think both agreements. I have no idea what's happened to the BSO's concert attendance in the past ten years or so, but I do know that both the important orchestras in our home area--the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (our BSO, by the way)--have lost a huge part of their audiences. Could it be that your BSO is trying the equivalent of a sports blackout: if the stadium isn't sold out, the broadcast is blacked out? Don't know; just sayin'....--scades
12-26-2009 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 28
Post ID: 12553
Reply to: 12550
The DJ programs vs. context programs
fiogf49gjkf0d
 clarkjohnsen wrote:
At any rate I've already heard two pre-recorded DJ programs on CRB repeated later, both originating from other sources, as well as numerous waltzes and other super-lightweight material reminiscent of the old CRB. And they still play mere movements from whole works. Feh! They have plenty of room for Friday at Symphony if the will is there.
Yes, I have noted too that 99.5 in style more incline to the old WCRB. The WGBH was “art and culture” and they have more music imbedded in context. The new WCRB is more DJ-type of station the juts play records. The hosts are there but they do not do interring programming.  What I would like to see is the new WCRB give more power to the programs like Brian Bell’s “BSO on Record” where music is imbedded into histories, research, educational programming, interviews etc. As far as I concern I LOVE to see Brian Bell to run the entire station and to be responsible for all programming.


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
12-27-2009 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
clarkjohnsen
Boston, MA, US
Posts 298
Joined on 06-02-2004

Post #: 29
Post ID: 12571
Reply to: 12551
A sports blackout?
fiogf49gjkf0d
Conceivably, but most observers here think that GBH would have used that to duck the blame.

Still... worth checking.

clark
12-28-2009 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 30
Post ID: 12575
Reply to: 12356
Anything We Can Do for Classical Music Radio in Boston?
fiogf49gjkf0d

Boston Musical Intelligencer will be presenting a panel discussion at Old South Church, Copley Square, Tuesday, January 5, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. The panel intends to address the overwhelming response of dismay at the diminution of classical music programming in the greater Boston area.
Moderator: William M. Bulger, former Massachusetts Senate President and President, University of Massachusetts, board member of the Boston Public Library and Boston Symphony Orchestra

Panelists: Richard Dyer, former classical music critic, The Boston Globe; Christopher Lydon, Radio Talk Host; Dave MacNeill, for many decades announcer, then general manager at the old WCRB; and John Voci, general manager, WGBH

Respondents: reviewers for The Boston Musical Intelligencer: Mark DeVoto, John W. Ehrlich, Brian Jones, Peter Van Zandt Lane, Tom Schnauber.

http://classical-scene.com/2009/12/24/anything-we-can-do-for-classical-music-radio-in-boston/

The Issues:

• Friday afternoon broadcasts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra are cancelled.
• In Boston’s Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and areas south of Boston, listeners are unable to receive a clear signal from “all-classical” WCRB.
• Much of the music on WCRB is programed by a Minneapolis syndicate.
• Area listeners have lost fifty hours a week of quality classical music.
• Do we really need more talk radio and duplicative NPR programming?
•Are WGBH contributors pleased with the changes?
•Are WCRB listeners pleased?
•Will the administration at WGBH reconsider?


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
01-01-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 31
Post ID: 12599
Reply to: 12575
Bravo, Joe Whipple!
fiogf49gjkf0d

Today Joe Whipple have posted a message in the Intelligencer board:

http://classical-scene.com/2009/12/10/wgbh-to-discontinue-bso-friday-afternoon-broadcasts/

I would like to re-print the Joe’s post:

Somehow, I had missed the article in the December 18 Boston Globe which verified the dropping of the Friday afternoon BSO broadcasts. Yesterday I got a letter from Mary Toropov at WGBH confirming my ongoing status as a Sustainer and a member of the “Leadership Circle.” Here’s my reply.

“Dear Ms. Toropov:

Thank you for confirming that my status as a Sustainer and a member of the Leadership Circle is continuing. However it is in jeopardy.

Somehow, I missed the article in the December 18 Boston Globe in which it was stated that WCRB would not continue the Friday afternoon BSO broadcasts. This is outrageous. As I stated in feedback in November, there are audience members like me who can listen on Friday afternoons but not on Saturday evenings. Some of us use it to rehear the concert of the previous evening; some to preview the following evening’s concert; some as their only opportunity to hear a given program; and some because they want to hear the BSO as much as possible. At the time, I got a reply which implied that the only issue was obtaining broadcast rights. But clearly there has been a decision to abandon me and the other members of the audience who relied in one way or another on those broadcasts.

Mr. Voci indicated that he considered the two live broadcasts in very different time slots ‘duplicative’ and has sent a letter to the Globe in which he claims, ‘As audiences listen to us, we’ll listen to them.’ Well, I want some evidence that he’s listening to the audience. How many audience members asked to have the Friday Symphony [broadcasts] dropped? How many have asked to have them continued? (Please don’t send me patronizing generalities. Please answer the questions.)

Mr. Voci also tried to justify the decision by pointing to broadcasts from Tanglewood and to BSO-related broadcasts on non-concert Saturday evenings. But for years all three weekend Tanglewood concerts have been broadcast on one or both stations, and WCRB has regularly broadcast BSO performances on non-concert Saturdays (”fantasy concerts” they used to call them). So neither represents an increase in BSO availability for the audience, and therefore neither justifies dropping Friday afternoon concerts. Mr. Voci must think we’re either stupid or without memory if he thinks we’ll fall for that nonsense.

At this point I am angry enough at the disregard for 58 years of tradition and lack of concern for the audience that I am seriously considering discontinuing my support. Certainly I must reduce it as it seems that management cares about nothing but money, and therefore the only thing that will tell them they made a big mistake is having it cost them money. But if the decision is promptly reversed I shall continue support at the current level. And if Mr. Voci soon leaves WGBH, willingly or unwillingly, I shall increase my level of giving.

Sincerely,”

Comment by Joe Whipple — January 1, 2010

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
01-02-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
RichardMitnick
Posts 4
Joined on 01-02-2010

Post #: 32
Post ID: 12603
Reply to: 12575
WCRB
fiogf49gjkf0d
Does it surprise anyone to know that of the ten listed on-air hosts on the weekly schedule of WCRB/WGBH fully seven of them are actually Minnesota Public Radio personnel?

This means that Boston is for a lot of the time getting canned music aimed at the lowest common denominator, what one noted Classical music critic called "musical wallpaper", designed not to intrude.

Somehow, I think that listeners in Boston, one of the cultural meccas of the USA, deserve better.
01-02-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
RichardMitnick
Posts 4
Joined on 01-02-2010

Post #: 33
Post ID: 12608
Reply to: 12535
Is Boston to be satisfied with a diet of canned music from Minnesota?
fiogf49gjkf0d
Do you Boston Classical music lovers realize that what WGBH is giving you in fully seven of the ten on-air slots, the ones in yellow on the weekly schedule, is actually canned music from Minnesota Public Radio? Go to http://classical24.publicradio.org/, check the names of the hosts, then go back to the yellow sections of the weekly schedule at WBGH. Also, at the Classical 24 web site, you can see who and what is playing right now, and often it will be a different host than you have on WGBH, i.e., not only rented, but canned, what one noted Classical music critic called “musical wallpaper” designed not to intrude. Really, Boston, you deserve better.
01-02-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 34
Post ID: 12609
Reply to: 12608
Any advice?
fiogf49gjkf0d
Richard, you are preaching to the converted. I have enough facts about the ridicules of the current 99.5 operation. Some of them I can’t express on public forum. The point is not to recognize the unfortunate facts but to find actionable measures that would make the GBH management to respect the content of the programs and do not treat them as they are just slot fillers. How to do it is the question.

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
01-02-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
RichardMitnick
Posts 4
Joined on 01-02-2010

Post #: 35
Post ID: 12610
Reply to: 12609
Let them know you know the facts
fiogf49gjkf0d
Hey Cat-

First, sorry about  the second post. I did not realize that I had already left a message.

The best advice is to let them know you know. I have been reading abouot the WCRB take over all over the place, Doc Searle, Scannng the Dial, boston.com.

Any place that I found people commenting on the station, no one seemed to know WBGH's little secret. They just commented on content. Many PubRadio outlets that subscriv=be to Classical 24 are quite up front about it.

So, members and listeners alike should be telling WGBH that they want, expect, demand better. I mean, you know, the station has a budget. But at Scanning the Dial, I found a link to http://classical-scene.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/poster.pdf :

The Boston
Musical Intelligencer
presents
WHAT CAN WE DO FOR
CLASSICAL MUSIC RADIO IN BOSTON?
Panel discussion at Old South Church, Copley Square
Tuesday, January 5 at 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Recent articles in the Boston Musical Intelligencer and elsewhere evoked widespread
dismay over the changes in WGBH and WCRB programming and the lack of signal
strength from the recently-designated station for classical music, WCRB. Come hear
what the experts think, ask your questions and have your say.
Moderator:
William M. Bulger, formerly President of the Massachusetts Senate,
president of University of Massachusetts, and trustee of the Boston
Public Library and Boston Symphony Orchestra
Panelists:
Richard Dyer, former classical music critic of the Boston Globe
Christopher Lydon, broadcast journalist on WBUR and WGBH
Dave MacNeill, announcer & fomer general manager of WCRB
John Voci, general manager of WGBH radio
Respondents:
Boston Musical Intelligencer reviewers Mark DeVoto, John W. Ehrlich,
Brian Jones, Peter Van Zandt Lane, and Tom Schnauber
The Issues:
• Friday afternoon broadcasts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra are cancelled.
• In Boston’s Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and areas south of Boston, listeners are
unable to receive a clear signal from “all-classical” WCRB.
Much of the music on WCRB is programed by a Minneapolis syndicate.
• Area listeners have lost fifty hours a week of quality classical music.
• Do we really need more talk radio and duplicative NPR programming?
•Are WGBH contributors pleased with the changes?
•Are WCRB listeners pleased?
•Will the administration at WGBH reconsider?
The Boston Musical Intelligencer is at www.classical-scene.com

I really like that "Minneapolis syndicate" thing. Sort of sounds like The Mob

Anyway, it sounds like with you guys things are in good hands. Best of luck.

Hey, if you get bored, try our new WQXR web streams, traditional Classical music at the 105.9 web stream or our eclectic music stream, Q2, all at
http://www.wqxr.org/. Both streams are at 128k stereo. All of the hosts at the 105.9 stream are live. The Q2 stream is not hosted.

Please visit my weblog "Whither Public Radio and serious music" at http://richardmitnick.wordpress.com
01-06-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 36
Post ID: 12629
Reply to: 12575
The waste of time!
fiogf49gjkf0d

http://classical-scene.com/2010/01/06/wgbh-wcrb-panel-discussion-great-success/

I would disagree and would hardly be calling the WGBH Panel Discussion a “great success”. In fact I am calling the event as “great disappointment”. Sure, the Intelligencer put effort in the game, thanks for that, but we judge value of the events not by fact of events but by QUALITY OF EVENTS. Was the Panel Discussion a quality event? Absolutely not!

The only quality factor during the entire event was a voice of passion coming from few hundred visitors and a few dozens of folks who come to microphone to went disappointment.  What WGBH in the face of Mr. Voci offered in response? A bunch of demagogy and sub-sophomoric comprehending the subjects of public concerns! Very productive! It very much not the subject of person animosity to Mr. Voci, in fact I do appreciate that Mr. Voci had courage to show up at the meeting. However the numb, indifferent and partially deceptive reaction by Mr. Voci to the most important subjects brought to the panel did indicate the unfortunate strategic WGBH direction and this ugly direction was foggy expressed.

The Intelligencer fancies itself as a journalistic organ. Where my journalists were during the meeting when the matter of Truth Discovering was needed them the most? What was the role of Intelligencer’s Panelist? They asked lame questions (with exception of Rebecca Marchand) but not of them brought to the table their expert judgments when the clueless apparatchiks (Mr. Voci and Mr. McNeill ) expressed insulating silliness. Among the Intelligencer’s panelist were composers, musicologists and musical critics – where was their voices of rational and competence? The whole panel turned into the Mr. Voci responses to the subjects that he did not understand well and the endless moronic monologs from Dave MacNeill, a former WCRB general manager, who believes that IQ of a classical radio listener shall not be higher than IQ of a teenager pterodactyl. Why no one followed up the stupid insistence of Voci/MacNeill diet that Boston classical station shall be no more “loaded” then drive-by ratio? Why no one makes MacNeill to shut up when he insisted that classical station shall be “music that does not require attention”? Where was the demand for clarification where Mr. Voci and Richard Dyer presented contradictory information? Richard Dyer was blabbing that BSO was not happy with Friday Broadcasts and it was why our Friday Broadcasts were discontinued. In 10 minutes Mr. Voci was pulling out of his ass an argument that it would cost $20K-$30K for WGBH to transmit Friday Broadcasts. Both comments were completely idiotic. BSO willingly donate own live feed to public with no charge or fees. WGBH runs a dedicated feed from Symphony Hall, the feed that up all time and even the 24/7 live broadcast from Symphony Hall coast to WGBH ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as all recourses are in place.  Why Mr. Voci went for the sage of $20K-$30K cost? Why was it not the $200.000? Why no one insisted Mr. Voci to itemize the alleged $20K-$30K additional coast for the WBH Friday Broadcasts? Was it his attempt to extort more donations from public? I am sorry but it is dirty method! Partially because as just before he informed that the reasons why Friday Broadcasts were suspended was not the cost consideration but the fact the “Friday and Saturday Broadcasts are duplicates”. Where were my Intelligencer journalists who would explain to a Mr. Voci the whole premise of “LIVE PERFORMING MUSICAL EVENTS” and why for each sane person it would be such a barbaric vulgarity to hear such a comment from a manager of classical radio station?

I was not going to but I had a few words to say at the panel and I started from stating that it is an illusion that WGBH 99.5 cares what we the listeners wants. According to the panelists the WGBH has 76 pages of customer complains since the WGBH took over 99.5. Mr. Voci said that he does not even know what that complains are all about! Furthermore the attitude with which he stated it clearly indicated that he would feel annoyed with an idea that he even might families himself with those complains.

I was listening all of it I was asking myself “What the hell we all doing in here”? It was absolutely clear that WGBH does not have cultural capacity to understand what the people were talking in that church.  The complains from the public that WGBH 99.5 is more and more turns into old WCRB crap (with primitive music and idiotic hosts who had be working selling hotdogs during Red Socks games) was faced by Mr. Voci with a lack of understanding the those complains. I presume that Mr. Voci  position reflects  the position  of the entire WGBH upper management. I am, as a listener, felt myself so much screwed, so lonely and so underrepresented! I felt this way not particularly because my voice had no representation in my city public FM classical radio but because my interests (and the interests of thousands people like me) were methodically destroyed by corporate indifference. I truly felt like I was raped and the saddest part in that rape was that I voluntary paid for this “service”!

If cause it is not the question about $20K-$30K, it never was. If the WGBH 99.5 will get tomorrow $120.000.000 as a donation from some kind of oligarch then the context of the WGBH programming will absolutely no be changing. We still will have on 99.5 airs the third movements of the same quarter, first movements of flute concerts, the same overtures from operettas, brainless selection of music and the WGBH management flipping eyes and asking “Why it is wrong?” I need to note that since the WCRB the WGBH programming is better but it is very rapidly sliding back to the “lumpenproletariat entertainment tunes” …. Very sad!

After the meeting I spoke briefly with Mr. Voci and told him that one of the ways to WGBH to stay as a “cultural program” is to development not the brainless DJ presentation of random tunes but to develop and to brew truly compartmentalized authored programs. The best classical programs on today Boston FM dialer are the highly personalized programs by David Elliott from WHRB and by Brian Bell from WGBH. I told to Mr. Voci: why do not give to Mr. Bell another 2-3 slots per week to run 2-3 new programs? For us, the listeners, it is very important to know the STRUCTURE of the programs and to know that the context of the program was well researched and selected. After all, NPR was always known and supported by many for the QUALITY OF CONTENT!

Anyhow, I am feeling worn thin to think and do not anything about the 99.5 as WGBH demonstrated a clear lack of any sanity that I would support.  The only positive outcome from all of it I see is that in a few years when the 99.5 shut down the lights the upper WGBH management will be forced to work in McDonalds, where they are belong today. I have no idea who allowed to THOSE PEOPLE to manage THE CLASSICAL STATION in the city like Boston.

Anyhow, the WGBH Panel Discussion was not “great success”. The major question of the discussion was not asked by the Intelligencer panelists and the major question was the following: “The WGBH administration, how different you see your role if the WGBH 99.5 would not be a classical station but be a station dedicated to … gardening and the SKU of WHRB operation were not classic music events but the piles of organic potato?

PS:  People, please kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the stupid HD radio!

Rgs, Romy the Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
01-07-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
RichardMitnick
Posts 4
Joined on 01-02-2010

Post #: 37
Post ID: 12630
Reply to: 12629
What about the programming
fiogf49gjkf0d
I read through the referenced article.

I guess no one cares about "...the Minneapolis syndicate...", I don't see that it ever came up. Maybe I missed it?
11-11-2010 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 38
Post ID: 14918
Reply to: 12356
The WGBH has run itself to ground....
fiogf49gjkf0d

The WGBH has run itself to ground and now are looking for a new classical music program director:

http://classical-scene.com/2010/11/07/one-year/

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
07-08-2011 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 39
Post ID: 16657
Reply to: 12356
Live From Tanglewood
fiogf49gjkf0d
Tonight the WCRB kicks off the summer broadcasting season from Tanglewood. It will be Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm and on Sundays at 1pm. Bravo, WCRB, let s how it goes…

http://www.wgbh.org/995/bso.cfm

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
07-11-2011 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 40
Post ID: 16662
Reply to: 16657
Boston!!!
fiogf49gjkf0d
It was Friday around 11.30AM and I was sitting in my downtown office, watching live NASSA-TV broadcast from Cape Canaveral of the Atlantis’ launch. As the Shuttle took off from the launching platform the commentator said “America will continue the dream.” In context of everything that is going on with NASSA I felt that it was such a phenomenal thing to say, the dream will continue…

As last night BSO proceed with opening the Berlioz’s Requiem (a wonderful performance BTW) I felt very much the same about the recent development with WCRB. Those 3 live broadcasts from Tanglewood per week – we, the New Englanders, are back in the celebrated Boston radio broadcast haven! The dream of all those people who started and supported the BSO broadcasts in 50s, even before the FM era came, is certainly continuing. It was depressing to observe for the last 2 years how the former WCRB moronic-management vandalized whatever was built-in in Boston for years. With Ben Roe arrival it looks like the whole attitude of the station begin to change and now we have 3 concerts from Tanglewood!

Well, the least that I can do at this point is to call to on Monday to WCRB and to donate money, something that I did not do since WGBH moved to WCRB. The BSO broadcasting dream is continuing, so the support to the radio station that is makeing is possible…


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
10-03-2011 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 41
Post ID: 17113
Reply to: 12356
The change in the air indeed.
fiogf49gjkf0d
http://classical-scene.com/2011/10/03/change-is-on-the-air/


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
07-05-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 42
Post ID: 19633
Reply to: 12356
It is nice to live in 21 century.
fiogf49gjkf0d
I was laying in the beach of update NY’s Keuka Lake, smoking Samuel Gawith’s Commonwealth from my churchwarden, browsing internet and learned the today BSO started this Tangelwood season with all Tchaikovsky program by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.  I remote desktoped to my DAW, started the Schwarz, Lavry A/D and recorder and scheduled the recording for today and for tomorrow’s Mahler 3. It is kind of nice to live in 21 century and to have this control....

I have to say that during the last year the WCRB went down to rube. They laid off the good producers and good recording engineers and this season the guys who sell hot dogs in Tangelwood will be responsible for BSO recording. Well, it is the sign of the times, it is what it is….

The Cat


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
07-05-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
drdna
San Francisco, California
Posts 526
Joined on 10-29-2005

Post #: 43
Post ID: 19634
Reply to: 19633
Down the pipes
fiogf49gjkf0d
 Romy the Cat wrote:
I was laying on the beach of update NY’s Keuka Lake, smoking Samuel Gawith’s Commonwealth from my churchwarden
I prefer Gawith's Number 4 twist, but after all it is summer time, so Commonwealth or even Squadron Leader are good choices.Adrian
11-05-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 44
Post ID: 21310
Reply to: 12356
A sad end of the Rohde & Schwarz era.
fiogf49gjkf0d
During the last 2 years I am slowly trying to reevaluate my relationship with FM in Boston. The two major FM stations WCRB and WHRB are getting worse very rapidly sound wise. 

The WHRB is wonderfully station with very stimulating host and good programming but the guy who runs the show has horrible listening culture hygiene. As the result the some of the most interesting live-to tape programs they broadcast are getting worse and worse from sonic perspective.  The last even I was listening and records I was abandoned in the middle of first movement as it was juts horrendous sound, literally you can get better at 64kbit MP3. It is very sad but I do not feel that any of the WHRB broadcasts; regardless their musical values are worth to keep sonicly.
 
The WCRB is commercial station that has been running to ground buy corporate idiots. The times what I was able to call to the recording and broadcast engineers, to uphold the fragments and to tale about sound are long gone. There is no people in there anymore who care about sound in any form and shape and nowadays life BSO and other life broadcast are Hadley listenable, not to mention recordable.
 
Well, in this situation I found myself with a great antenna, two great tuners, two great AD converter but staggering to have any material on the air worthy to be recorded. So, after some consideration I decided to let my beloved Rohde & Schwarz and probably one of A/D to go as they truly do not see a lot of services that they deserve to have. It is sad that we in Boston have no longer FM sound that can go justness to this beautiful tuner. I have spent so much love and attention to get the beat from FM and it looks now that FM have betrays me… Oh, well…. We'll Always Have Paris…


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
11-05-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
clarkjohnsen
Boston, MA, US
Posts 298
Joined on 06-02-2004

Post #: 45
Post ID: 21312
Reply to: 21310
WHRB concerts "on tape"
fiogf49gjkf0d
These are delivered on CDs and therefore the source recordings must be blamed.
11-05-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
drdna
San Francisco, California
Posts 526
Joined on 10-29-2005

Post #: 46
Post ID: 21313
Reply to: 21310
Renaissance in radio?
fiogf49gjkf0d
Is it just an excuse to sell your old equipment? I think as the community of music and audio grows smaller, there is often a revival of high quality audio, so there is a great deal of variability. It may be next season that a new person with a passion for audio gets a radio program and things change for the better...

Adrian
11-05-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Romy the Cat


Boston, MA
Posts 10,049
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #: 47
Post ID: 21314
Reply to: 21312
I do not think so.
fiogf49gjkf0d
Adrian, I do not think that it is "excuse sell equipment". I have been straggling with it for a while.  I do not "need" to sell it and I do appreciate this given equipment much more then the money that I would get for it. I do not need the money but to my sadness I realized that I do not need the equipment. The unfortunate reality of today FM in Boston then if you listen it at anything more than $50 table radio then it in sound much worse. My believe in "next season that a new person with a passion"… that is what made me keep going but it does not materialize, the WCRB  keep lading off any sensible people who is who in there are saying that the station today it is very much not what it used to be. I do not plan to depart from FM completely I still keep one of my good tuners with good A/D, they just have much less use then they use to be. I keep schedule recording but they are very depressing quality. To me the space in my rack is more valuable than the sound I am getting today from FM. The BSO principle flutist today on FM sound louder than the whole brass section at full blow, I am not kidding, I have no idea what they are doing but it is hardly listenable. I do not believe in revival of high quality audio over FM in Boston. There are no right people in city for this revival…


"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
11-05-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree
Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,571
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #: 48
Post ID: 21315
Reply to: 21314
Be Glad It Lasted So Long!
fiogf49gjkf0d
Like I said in several tuner/antenna threads here, I have never had good classical FM/programming to tune in to, anywhere I've ever lived. And my travels suggest that your good times in Boston were an exception, versus the usual fare in other metropolitan areas. Every so often, I talk to someone with fond memories of LA classical radio in "the Old Days". Where was I? I remember a succession of snippets and long discussions of poor renditions of mediocre works that we subsequently suffered, even when the analog sound was what I considered good (for the time).

Best regards,
Paul S
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