Classical Music Stations

I like to listen to classical music at work, but I'm discovering that my local classical station tends to have a fairly repetitive playlist. Can anyone suggest a classical station with a web stream that is perhaps more varied? I do like WWOZ out of New Orleans for jazz.

I've been using Minnesota's YourClassical.org this week since the local station is devoting most of the day to having a membership drive instead of playing music, heh. They say that only 6% of the audience supports the station, which seems very low.

In addition, does anyone know of a resource that identifies which stations which stream concerts of their local orchestras? I remember seeing one somewhere, but I guess I didn't bookmark it.

There's WUOL in Louisville, Ky. Local hosts during the weekday and on Sunday afternoon (C24 other times), plus, when in season, Louisville Orchestra broadcasts. Streams at www.wuol.org, and there's also an app. Search "Louisville Public Media."

(full disclosure: I do operations for the LPM stations -- am not on air, so I can brag on the product others create. )

--Russell

WMNR, Monroe, CT, (www.wmnr.org) has a variety of volunteer hosts on weekdays who draw from a deep library of classical music. A couple of them also sprinkle show tunes and standards into their playlists, though, so if you want 100 percent classical, you might be disappointed. Vermont Public Radio (www.vpr.net/classical) is very good during its local shifts (morning, late afternoon, evening), with Classical 24 midday and overnight, and Performance Today 2-4 p.m. Both stations will do fundraisers a few times a year, but neither is right now. (My go-to station, WFCR, Amherst, MA, is asking for money all this week and playing very little music, so these two fall-backs have been a godsend.)

In my effort to learn more of the Classical format, you describe "my local classical station tends to have a fairly repetitive playlist". How frequently must the (some of the) playlist repeat to earn this title?

Now the good stuff: Here are three streaming stations that tend to be live, 100% classical and seem to have extensive libraries.
http://www.kmfa.org/
https://www.kcme.org/
and possibly: https://www.wdav.org/

b-turner said:

In my effort to learn more of the Classical format, you describe "my local classical station tends to have a fairly repetitive playlist". How frequently must the (some of the) playlist repeat to earn this title?

Now the good stuff: Here are three streaming stations that tend to be live, 100% classical and seem to have extensive libraries.
http://www.kmfa.org/
https://www.kcme.org/
and possibly: https://www.wdav.org/

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I'm in the Phoenix area and even though we have local hosts 24/7, with the exceptions of some syndicated programming like SymphonyCast from APM and Sunday Baroque from WSHU, KBAQ seems to have a very limited library, or at least play the same things over and over..

I'll hear the Copland's Red Pony, for example, several times a week. Searching the past playlists, they played this on 9/19 @ 1:20pm, 9/17 @ 6:04 pm, 9/14 @ 7 am, 9/12 @ 6:06 PM. They did use different recordings each time, so it's obviously not the case of the library being tiny. But you'll see similar trend for other Copland pieces during the same time frame.

I know they need some filler to go around the larger works, but I feel like long works have a lot of repetitiveness as well.

I tend to prefer orchestral pieces over say solo instruments or choral work, and KBAQ is a pretty good fit in that regard. I never listened to much classical on the radio when I lived in Southern California (KUSC)

Edit: Thanks everyone for the station suggestions. I'll check them out next week at work. I'm not picky about it being 100% classical all the time, I actually quite like movie soundtracks,

I'll share that WCRB Boston has a lot of archived Boston Symphony concert streams (apparently they haven't come to agreement with the musicians union to stream for this coming year though), and the BBC of course, has all the recordings of the Proms every summer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007v097/episodes/player

Wow, that is heavy airplay. At least it was different recordings.

I knew little of classical radio programming and still have much to learn. I find stations fall in to 3 types: the serious classical station that plays the all time favorites but 'discovery' classics by lesser known composers and lesser known works. There are the all time favorite stations playing a tight playlist. And the ones in the middle.

The serious classical listener enjoys the discovery aspect and donates. The issue is that audience is getting smaller and older. The tight playlist seems to get better numbers but fewer donations and less time listening.
Those in the middle strive for both types of classical listener (casual and serious) and are usually exclusive in their market. The 'serious' classical station usually does not do news, has minimal talk and is not programmed by an hourly clock. The tight classical (casual listener) is the opposite, frequently with hourly NPR or BBC News.

The 'serious' classical stations I looked at tried to go about 10 days before a repeat (same work even with a different recording).

Repetition is also harder for the listener to detect on classical radio because of the length of the pieces played. Even the stations that aren't playing 30-45-minute symphonies are playing pieces that run 10-15 minutes. A pop, urban or country station can fit three or four songs into that time. I listen on my commutes (30 minutes each way) and on twice-a-month trips to see family (175 miles each way), and occasionally as background music at home while on the computer or reading. Can't say that I've noticed more than a couple of repeats on the FM stations I listen to.

SiriusXM's lazily programmed Symphony Hall is far more likely to annoy with repeats, especially since they occasionally rerun entire blocks of voicetracked programming, complete with outdated observations on upcoming holidays, weather, etc. -- references to Halloween in February, for example.

CTListener said:

Can't say that I've noticed more than a couple of repeats on the FM stations I listen to.

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I agree. My local classical station is only music in evenings/overnights, airing Peter van de Graff's WFMT Network programs. The only times I recall hearing repeats are when Mr. van de Graff takes time off and they recycle his programs. Even that is hard to detect, since they tend to time shift. An hour that might have originally aired on Monday at 8pm will re-surface weeks later at 5am on Saturday.

SiriusXM's lazily programmed Symphony Hall is far more likely to annoy with repeats, especially since they occasionally rerun entire blocks of voicetracked programming, complete with outdated observations on upcoming holidays, weather, etc. -- references to Halloween in February, for example.

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... But at least when WFMT re-feeds Peter van de Graff's programs, they pick "evergreen" hours!

I am amazed at some of the 'fill' tossed in at some stations. One station I used to catch would throw in something like the Overture to South Pacific or a track from Mantovani back from the Beautiful Music days. Another might have a Beatles tune (orchestra or perhaps acoustic guitar) or perhaps the Hampden String Quartet (might be wrong on the group) doing something like California Girls from The Beach Boys. While these always 'fit' the format, I thought such selections were sort of coming at you from left field.

If I recall, Peter van de Graff's programming comes in 59:40 length hourly blocks at the rate of 9 hour segments per day where the station opts for as many as they want. In my opinion, it's very well done, preferring it to Classical 24. With that said, both providers are forced to limit what they air (ie: longer symphonic works) because they need to fit in breaks for affiliates and backtime for those NPR News affiliates.You'll notice Classical 24 always have a piece that starts at :01 past the hour and is done by :06 past, for example.

You might try "all classical.org". They've been at it for well over thirty years now and are still going.

What's interesting about XLNC in San Diego/Baja California is that they publish the scheduled playlist ahead of time...it has the playlist through midnight tonight. Does that mean all their announcers pre-record their wraparounds?

http://www.xlnc1.org/todays.php#now

b-turner said:

I am amazed at some of the 'fill' tossed in at some stations. One station I used to catch would throw in something like the Overture to South Pacific or a track from Mantovani back from the Beautiful Music days. Another might have a Beatles tune (orchestra or perhaps acoustic guitar) or perhaps the Hampden String Quartet (might be wrong on the group) doing something like California Girls from The Beach Boys. While these always 'fit' the format, I thought such selections were sort of coming at you from left field.

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Doesn't sound like a true classical station. WMUU in Greenville SC, which was Christian at night and on Sunday, used to do this.

WDAV Davidson, NC, outside Charlotte, is very popular. I hear it at the dentist. They don't listen to it all the time, but they know if they want me to be a patient, that's what they will have on. The works are short when I'm there.

http://www.wdav.org/2_72_98.cfm

tjguitar85 said:

I like to listen to classical music at work, but I'm discovering that my local classical station tends to have a fairly repetitive playlist. Can anyone suggest a classical station with a web stream that is perhaps more varied?

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You could give WQXR an audition …

>>>What's interesting about XLNC in San Diego/Baja California is that they publish the scheduled playlist ahead of time...it has the playlist through midnight tonight. Does that mean all their announcers pre-record their wraparounds?<<<

I have only heard XLNC do brief prerecorded announcements. It may have live hours sometimes but I have never heard them. The station isn't "voice-tracked" in the traditional sense, where a host will do a four, five or six hour shift, acting like he's live but not having to sit through each piece of music. XLNC is more like an automated station. Each work is tagged and no one sounds as if he's doing a live show.

I've also never heard a commercial or an appeal for funds. I believe the founder, Victor Diaz, who made some good money from commercial radio stations in Tijuana, set up an endowment to keep this station running now that he has passed. At the beginning of each work, it is introduced in English and at the end, it is announced in Spanish. Every night at midnight Pacific, 3am Eastern, it plays El Himno Nacional, the Mexican National Anthem. I believe it also must run La Hora Nacional on Sunday at 10pm (Monday at 1am Eastern).

Some purists might not like that the playlist is sprinkled with some non-classical works played by an orchestra, including a few rock tunes done Boston Pops-style. But for me, a classical novice, I think XLNC (Excellency) is a good listen. And it means San Diego has a 24/7 classical station. (Some top 20 markets, such as Miami and Houston have no classical music anymore. Others like Atlanta, have classical only at limited times on a local NPR staton.)

I've also never heard a commercial or an appeal for funds.

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So I listened to XLNC's webstream for a few hours at work today. Multiple times they had an 'ad' that you can donate your old car by calling a number of going to the website. I heard some mentions about an upcoming concert, and I heard a short statement about how it's supported by members and sponsors and you can get more info on the website by calling. Definitely less "underwriting spots" than other classical stations though.

Certainly nothing as overt as a membership drive though.


And if people are curious, I'll mention that I've also enjoyed WUOT out of Knoxville, TN during the "Afternoon Concert". This is an NPR station with a morning classical block and an afternoon block.

The host, Garrett McQueen, did a Reddit "ask me anything" with lots of fascinating info:

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5krowq/iama_classical_music_radio_host_on_an_npr/

He always includes some less common pieces.

Try WQXR and KUSC.

While this may be a little off the topic, perhaps you'll find the following interview with Nimet Habachy interesting:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsZ6hPbOEFM (24:58)
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uObC4a8WPeU (24:02)

Try KXPR Sacramento the Capital Public Radio Classical Music station in the Valley.

I assume you are searching to find a station to listen to online, not necessarily local.
Follow these links to stations in other countries which might have different rotations:
England
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
Pоссия

tjguitar85 said:

So I listened to XLNC's webstream for a few hours at work today. Multiple times they had an 'ad' that you can donate your old car by calling a number of going to the website. I heard some mentions about an upcoming concert, and I heard a short statement about how it's supported by members and sponsors and you can get more info on the website by calling. Definitely less "underwriting spots" than other classical stations though.

Certainly nothing as overt as a membership drive though.


And if people are curious, I'll mention that I've also enjoyed WUOT out of Knoxville, TN during the "Afternoon Concert". This is an NPR station with a morning classical block and an afternoon block.

The host, Garrett McQueen, did a Reddit "ask me anything" with lots of fascinating info:

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5krowq/iama_classical_music_radio_host_on_an_npr/

He always includes some less common pieces.

Click to expand...

Since updating this thread, Garrett McQueen has done pretty alriht for himself, moving from Nashville to one of the most popular stations in Minnesota.

KBAQ has improved it's programming as well, dropping a lot of the syndicated programming, and adding a local host to the overnight slot. New program director Matt Rogers added a "full works Friday night" and a weekly film music program. I don't know if KBAQ has similar heavy rotation as in the past, but I do listen to it often, going to KUSC for broadcasts of LA Phil concerts and KDFC for SFSO concerts...