a virtual journal and blog of the classical music scene in Boston
Robert Levin, editor; Bettina A. Norton, executive editor; Lee Eiseman, publisher
News & Features
February 3, 2010
Latest Ratings Show WGBH Audience Flat and WCRB Down 14%
by Lee Eiseman
The WGBH and WCRB changes in format, which hundreds of BMInt readers lambasted, have not produced results likely to please management. The latest Arbitron reports, the first to show the response to the changes, show WGBH with the same listenership it had in October and WCRB with 14% less. On February 3rd this writer made a presentation on behalf of BMInt to a very courteous WGBH board board of directors:
Good Evening. I am like those at the table, a director of a Boston cultural non-profit. In my case it’s the Harvard Musical Association, where I have been director-at-large for twenty years and the chairman of the program committee for all of that time. So I can speak with authority on matters of classical music programming as well as fiduciary responsibility connected with a board seat. [Click title for complete article]
January 30, 2010
Divorce, Paris Opera Style: A Conductor Leaves the Podium
by Trobador
Trobador’s Paris Diary
Rumor has it that they are a hardbitten bunch, the players in the orchestra pit of the Paris Opera. And Trobador can vouch, from his couple of seasons of gigging around in France with Paris-Conservatory-trained instrumentalists, that the men and women of that milieu are a no-nonsense crowd. They like things on the [...]
January 22, 2010
Lost Innocence: Unfolding Horror in Turn of the Screw
by Bettina A. Norton
“I seek a friend —Obedient to follow where I lead, Slick as a juggler’s mate to catch my thought… and in that hour ‘The ceremony of innocence is drowned’…” This ominous text is from the libretto to Benjamin Britten’s opera, Turn of the Screw, to be presented by Boston Lyric Opera as an Opera Annex [...]
January 14, 2010
Classical Music on the Airwaves: The Private Ear Remembers WGBH, and Has a Vision
by Joel Cohen
Drawing on the recent travails of WGBH, Troubadour Joel Cohen has penned this lightly fictionalized, satirical commentary. He draws heavily on, and attempts to synthesize the audience comments from the BMInt’s sponsored panel discussion on January 5 at New Old South Church, blending these with his own experience in radio both in the States and abroad.
January 13, 2010
UPDATE on WGBH Story: Ratings and Support Soar for DC’s WETA with Shift from All-talk to All-classical
by BMINT STAFF
BMInt Interview with Daniel C. DeVany, Vice President and General Manager, Classical WETA 90.9 FM, Washington, DC
One of Daniel DeVany’s first acts, when he became general manager of Washington, DC’s WETA in 2000, was to encourage the staff and trustees to examine how their public was being served. WETA has a 75,000 watt transmitter, which [...]
January 11, 2010
BSO Strives to Maintain Live Friday Broadcasts
by BMINT STAFF
The Boston Symphony Orchestra management feels the loss of the Friday afternoon broadcasts represents a significant rupture with a loyal subscriber base. Further, both the BSO management and the players committee agree that it is very important for the BSO to have broadcast exposure. They feel that as media exposure has been drying up, it has become harder for the BSO to maintain its position on the world stage. And what the BSO gains from those broadcasts is immense. [Click title for complete article]
January 6, 2010
Future of Classical Music Broadcasting in Boston in Jeopardy
by Steve Landrigan
More than 400 classical music aficionados filled the New Old South Church Tuesday night, January 5, to voice their concerns over elimination of classical music programming at WGBH Radio. On December 1, WGBH shifted all its concert music broadcasts to station WCRB, where it has established a 24-hour all-classical format and promptly announced the cancellation of Friday BSO broadcasts. [Click title for complete article]
December 26, 2009
BCMS Does Time on Three January Saturdays, supper included
by BMINT STAFF
The last interview here of Marcus Thompson, violist and artistic director of Boston Chamber Music Society, led us into BCMS’s coming season, closing with a hint about a new Winter Festival, which will consist of three panel discussions in the late afternoons, followed by concerts at 8 pm (with a chance for participants to purchase [...]
December 24, 2009
Anything We Can Do for Classical Music Radio in Boston?
by BMINT STAFF
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 MA Senate President and President, University of Massachusetts, board member of the Boston Public Library and BSO
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 from BMInt: Mark DeVoto, John W. Ehrlich, Brian Jones, Peter Van Zandt Lane, Tom Schnauber, David Patterson, Rebecca Marchand.
The event is free and open to the public. Click here for a printable flyer. Click title to read comments.
December 10, 2009
WGBH to Discontinue BSO Friday Afternoon Broadcasts
by BMINT STAFF
According to officials at WGBH, the station has always looked at opportunities to expand and extend its programming, so when it learned that WCRB was going to be for sale, it became the successful bidder. As radio listeners now know, WGBH has become a news station and spawned WCRB (now at 99.5 FM) as its [...]