January 14, 2010 by kicline
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Lisa Gray – (704) 641-4691 or ligray@wdav.org
January 14, 2010 | DAVIDSON, NC –WDAV 89.9 Classical Public Radio and South Carolina ETV/Radio will co-produce Carolina Live, a weekly program of the Carolinas’ best live classical concert recordings. The show will be broadcast in the Charlotte region on WDAV 89.9FM; in Columbia, SC at WLTR 91.3FM; in Greenville/Spartanburg, SC at WEPR 90.1FM; and in Charleston, SC at WSCI 89.3FM. Carolina Live is the centerpiece of WDAV’s push to showcase regional music and music-makers. The new two-hour co-production debuted on January 5, 2010 and can be heard on Tuesdays at 7 PM in South Carolina and Saturdays at 3 PM on WDAV.
“This co-production with SCETV/Radio is an extension of the partnership we established last year with our Spoleto Festival USA coverage,” notes WDAV General Manager Benjamin K. Roe. “For Carolina Live listeners, the collaboration brings more diversity to the show’s musical offerings, as we will feature North and South Carolina performances. More important, it helps us build awareness and new fans for the organizations whose concerts we broadcast.”
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Posted in Classical music, NC Public Radio, WDAV Productions | Tagged Carolina Live, Classical music, Concierto | Leave a Comment »
January 10, 2010 by kicline
By Rick Thames
Posted: January 10, 2010
rthames@charlotteobserver.com or 704-358-5001.
I love reader suggestions for new content. A reader who is motivated enough to e-mail or pick up the phone shares my passion for making a newspaper all it can be for its community.
But three years ago, the reader on the other end of the line stumped me with his suggestion.
Oh, it was a great idea. But how could we pull it off?
The caller was Stan Thompson, a retired engineer, strategic planner and futurist for BellSouth who lives near Mooresville. Stan, it turned out, was still thinking strategically.
The United States, including North Carolina, is falling dangerously behind in growing a high-tech work force, and it’s only getting worse, Stan told me. Science is no longer on the minds of our children when they contemplate exciting careers. Schools alone can’t raise that awareness. Mass media should also pay more attention to the topic.
Stan had brainstormed solutions with Bill Thunberg, then the mayor of Mooresville. The two dreamed of a weekly section in the Observer that would expose families and classrooms to significant developments in science and technology.
Stan had done his homework. He knew that a package produced in the Charlotte newsroom theoretically could be shared with other McClatchy papers in the Carolinas, say, The News & Observer in Raleigh or The State in Columbia. Soon he was in those cities, lobbying those editors, too.
Stan and Bill then lined up enthusiastic endorsement letters from science teachers and the presidents of major universities and community college systems across the Carolinas.
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Posted in NPR | Tagged Charlotte Observer, NPR | 2 Comments »
December 16, 2009 by kicline
By Mike Janssen, Scanning The Dial
Posted December 16, 2009
Hello, readers of my poor neglected blog. Apologies for not having posted for some time, but the usual deadlines have kept me away. Let’s jump right back in, though, with a look at a new way of measuring radio’s audience that is affecting all formats, including classical.
People outside the radio industry might not be aware of it, but a change is afoot in how radio stations gauge their listenership. Arbitron, the company that gathers ratings data for radio, is moving away from the paper diaries that listeners have long filled out by hand and embracing Portable People Meters — gadgets that can tune into and automatically register a radio station’s signal. This means PPMs should supposedly be more accurate, since they don’t rely on a listener’s possibly delayed or even incorrect recollection of what radio stations they listened to throughout a given day.
The move to PPMs has caused a lot of fluctuation in audience measurements, calling into question what radio stations really know about their audiences. And, as an article in yesterday’s New York Times reports, classical stations in particular have taken a beating. Classical’s share in 12 markets that introduced the PPMs last year fell by 10.7 percent.
I’d like to see more detail about a breakdown by format to help put this into context, but the Times doesn’t offer a full review. This article in Current, the trade newspaper about public broadcasting, does delve into the effects of PPM measurement on public radio stations in particular, however. One analysis presented at this year’s Public Radio Program Directors conference found that dual-format stations — the stations that air both news and music, often classical — have suffered the largest audience declines among public stations, but that all-news stations saw a drop as well. Will PPM measurement prompt even more station to abandon the dual format, adding to a trend that showed no sign of abating this year?
For more reactions, see this letter to Current in which one program director in public radio expressed a positive attitude about the shift to PPMs. Greg Sandow also commented on the Times article on his blog.
Posted in Audience ratings, Classical music, Industry News | Tagged Arbitron, Audience ratings, Classical music, online radio, radio industry | Leave a Comment »
Thank you note from a WDAV member
December 2, 2009 by kicline
An email to our Development office regarding the Yo-Yo Ma contest held during the fall membership campaign:
I was the very lucky winner of the Gold Prize in your recent Yo-Yo Ma contest! I was unbelievably excited to have won this prize and, fortunately, my daughter from Winston-Salem was able to share it with me. The concert was absolutely wonderful and we will always remember Yo-Yo as a delight to hear and to watch. His interaction with the symphony (particularly the cellists) was so gracious and will long be remembered.
We enjoyed meeting the winners of the Silver Prize who were also from Winston-Salem and they shared our enthusiasm for the excellent performance. We all agreed that this was an experience of a life time.
The stay at the Dunhill was most enjoyable and fulfilled a wish that my daughter has had for many years to stay there for a night. We were well cared for and found everyone to be very obliging and helpful. We even had brief contact with Yo-Yo Ma!
Many, many thanks to WDAV for this incredible opportunity. WDAV has been a significant feature in my life for 24 years at home, in the car and in the office and I would like you to know how appreciative and grateful I am that the Charlotte area is blessed with such a wonderful and heart warming radio station. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
WDAV Member
Posted in Arts community, WDAV General Info | Tagged Listener comments | Leave a Comment »