Submitted by Jesse McQuarters on Thu, 11/30/2006 - 7:41pm.
BP CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA RADIO BROADCAST SERIES:
Weekly local and national radio broadcasts on The WFMT Radio Network
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The WFMT Radio Network, the international syndication division of Chicago’s award-winning classical music station, 98.7WFMT, will partner to create the new 52-week per year BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series. This two-hour, weekly radio program will consist of 39 weeks of live concerts by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, recorded in its home, Symphony Center, that will be broadcast and syndicated nationally by The WFMT Radio Network. An additional 13 weeks of broadcasts will draw upon the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s expansive catalogue of commercial recordings, filling out the broadcast schedule to a full 52 weeks. The BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series will be heard locally in Chicago on 98.7WFMT on Sunday afternoons at 1:00 p.m.
The WFMT Radio Network’s existing weekly CSO Retrospectives series—national broadcasts of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra drawn from commercial releases—will be presented with the support of BP, beginning in January 2007. The CSO and The WFMT Radio Network will launch the new BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series in March 2007, bringing a new and distinctive approach to CSO radio programming. With the powerful sounds of the CSO as its centerpiece, the new series’ engaging and lively content will include produced segments created to provide deeper insight into the music and programmatic themes found within the CSO’s concert season; interviews with CSO musicians, guest artists, and composers; and an exploration of the stories found within the CSO’s rich heritage of recordings and the Orchestra’s illustrious history in Chicago. Additional information about new series programming will be shared in early 2007.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s return to the national airwaves is made possible by a generous three-year gift from BP, title sponsor of the new radio series. “BP is pleased to help the Chicago Symphony Orchestra provide access to its world class musical performances for more people in the United States and around the globe through this important radio broadcast series, made available over the airwaves and via the Internet,” said Bob Malone, Chairman and President of BP America Inc. “The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is known worldwide as a leading institution of art and culture. We are pleased to partner with CSO to help extend its reach into homes throughout America as well as elsewhere in the world.”
The BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series represents the first new nationally syndicated radio programs by the CSO to be heard since 2001. In addition to radio sponsorship, support from BP totaling $3.4 million over the next three years will provide much-needed funding for the CSO’s international touring activities, Opening Night Gala programs in 2007 and 2008, as well as educational activities.
BP has a long history of support of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The company has contributed to the CSO’s annual fund for more than 15 years and, since 2002, has also provided important support for CSO education and community initiatives, including BP Adventures in Music, a program that enhances the CSO’s Saturday morning Kraft Family Matinee Series experience for families from 19 community organizations through preparatory materials, instrument donations, and guided pre-concert music-making activities. A fan of classical music, Lord John Browne of Madingley, BP’s Group Chief Executive, became an Honorary Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2000. Today’s announcement of added funding also notably builds on many years of previous support received by the CSO for local and national radio broadcasts beginning in 1976, originally from Standard Oil Company of Indiana (later known as Amoco and currently BP).
The BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series will be syndicated to more than 160 markets nationwide by The WFMT Radio Network. WFMT Radio Network executives expect this number to increase throughout 2007 as word about the new series reaches classical music stations throughout the United States. In addition to concerts by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The WFMT Radio Network also syndicates concerts by the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as ongoing series and documentary specials such as Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin and the Peabody award-winning documentary Leonard Bernstein: An American Life with Susan Sarandon. The WFMT Radio Network also offers exclusive programming from Germany’s Deutsche Welle Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and dozens of classical, folk, jazz, and news series, as well as specials to radio outlets around the world. For more information about 98.7WFMT and The WFMT Radio Network, please visit www.wfmt.com.
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Nick at Norton ... | Tue, 04/10/2007 - 10:59pm
Well, the first of the CSO’s WFMT produced radio programs was broadcast on Sunday, April 8. It was great to hear the CSO back on the radio and although I’d heard that the new format was designed to “appeal to a younger demographic” and was intended to try to bring a new audience to classical music, I was still a little surprised with the way the program was organized.
I’d heard rumors about the way the show was going to work, so listened cautiously, half-expecting to be disappointed. As a CSO subscriber for more decades than I care to admit, and as someone who listened to hundreds of CSO “live” broadcasts back “in the day” I thought that tampering with the usual format of just presenting a single hour and a half program just the way it actually occurred in Orchestra Hall (the old days again) would be something that would be hard to improve upon.
The actual program was a collage held together with reasonably interesting commentary. It even included some(all to brief) remarks by local ehru virtuoso Betti Xiang speaking about her instrument, and other than some slightly too-quick edits (which had the announcer speaking before the music had fully decayed) the program actually was, I think, entertaining enough to keep the attention of the new, younger, potential symphony audience member that the CSO (and the rest of us) are trying to attract.
As an “older, regular listener and long time audience member” I wasn’t offended at all. I know that Deborah Card has been quoted as “expecting to receive some flack” from the CSO’s core i.e.: conservative audience, but personally, I thought it all worked pretty well.
So, congrats to the CSO, and WFMT and a very big Thank You to British Petroleum, the show’s National Sponsor. WFMT does, however get one demerit for misspelling local musician Betti Xiang’s name in the WTTW/WFMT Program Guide.
Did you listen? What did you think? Is the jury still out? Will this kind of programming be the salvation of the classical music audience?
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