New from Ken Burns: Prohibition - WGBH

All Classical
WGBH and the BSO: 60 Years of Making Music Together
“The field is wide open, and I can’t think of an area
better equipped than Boston to the carrying out of an
adventurous project of this kind.”
– Aaron Copland, WGBH Radio, October 6, 1951
By Ben Roe
WGBH Managing Director of Classical Services
A mere three days after the late broadcaster Russ (“The Giants win the pennant!”)
Hodges uttered one of the most famous lines in radio history, Aaron
Copland made a pretty audacious “call” of his own. The American composer
was part of what truly was WGBH’s “Opening Day:” October 6, 1951, when
WGBH Radio signed on the air with a live broadcast of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra’s first program of the season.
Thus was born one of the nation’s pioneering public-media organizations,
thanks to strong community support and the persistence of a group of
Boston’s educational and cultural leaders, led by the extraordinary vision and
indefatigable spirit of Ralph Lowell. Lowell, who led the founding of WGBH,
himself uttered the first words listeners heard on this fledgling station:
“WGBH is truly the outgrowth of a community effort…nationwide,
in fact. Finally, those who have listened to our programs in the past,
and encouraged us to go forward, are responsible for WGBH. WGBH,
we hope, will be a station which you will invite into your home as a
welcome guest. We plan to be on the air every day, from 3 o’clock until
10; a carrier of the cultural heritage of the world in which our own
New England shares so abundantly.”
Sixty years on, the “adventurous project” by, in Copland’s words, the
“bright new hope of radio stations” has flowered into one of the world’s
most-recognized public media providers. WGBH is stronger than it ever has
been before, working tirelessly to fulfill Lowell’s vision of public broadcasting:
bringing you thoughtful and inspiring programming—everything from
the in-depth news on 89.7 WGBH, to programs that celebrate creativity and
the human spirit, on the radio, on television and online.
Through all of the changes that have transformed Boston, the media
landscape and the world, there has been one constant on the radio: live
concert broadcasts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, creating the longest
continuous relationship between an orchestra and a broadcaster in the
nation. Now, we’re thrilled to announce that the partnership between WGBH
and the BSO is about to get even stronger, with more opportunities than ever
before to hear the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops and Tanglewood concerts
on the radio, online and all over New England.
Beginning this month, 99.5, Boston’s All Classical station, will be airing
Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts live on Saturday nights, and repeating
the program on Sunday afternoons. Each broadcast will be available for
on-demand listening via the new BSO Tanglewood Channel from WGBH at
bsotanglewood.org. In addition, our broadcast concerts from both
Symphony Hall and Tanglewood will be available for the first time ever to
stations throughout the six-state New England region.
To celebrate this new level of partnership,
join us for a special broadcast on Thursday
night, October 6, for a 60 th -anniversary commemorative
concert from Symphony Hall.
At 7pm, 99.5 presents a documentary on our
60 years of BSO broadcasts that will include
excerpts from the inaugural BSO broadcast.
Then, live at 8pm, Assistant Conductor Sean
Newhouse leads the BSO in the Four Sea
Interludes from Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter
Grimes, the Symphony No. 2 by Jean Sibelius and the Piano Concerto No. 3
by Sergei Prokofiev, with French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet as the soloist.
Ron Della Chiesa will be back in the host’s chair, with the support of WGBH
producer Brian Bell and an engineering crew led by Jim Donahue.
For more information about the coming season, check the October BSO listings
on page 27. Visit bsotanglewood.org for the latest broadcast information
and schedule.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
What’s on 99.5 All Classical
5am
10am
2pm
7pm
9pm
Monday–Friday
Classical Music with Laura Carlo
Classical Music with Alan McLellan
Classical Music with Cathy Fuller
Performance Today with Fred Child
Classical Music with James David Jacobs
Fridays: Concierto
6am
7am
12pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
10pm
Listen online at 995allclassical.org, on 96.3 Back Bay/Beacon Hill,
on 88.7 WJMF in Smithfield/Providence, RI, on your Internet radio, on your HD radio
at 89.7 HD2 or on 89.5 WNCK Nantucket
Saturday
99.5 All Classical is made possible by your contributions to the Classical Founders Fund.
In Performance with Cathy Fuller
Classical Music with James David
Jacobs
9am Classics For Kids
Classical Music with Ray Brown
From the Top
New England Festivals
Boston Symphony Orchestra
BSO on Record
6am
7am
11am
12pm
1pm
3pm
5pm
6pm
6:30pm
10pm
11pm
Sunday
The Bach Hour with Brian McCreath
Baroque in Boston with Laura Carlo
Live from Fraser
New England Festivals
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Sunday Concert
The Bach Hour with Brian McCreath
Arias & Barcarolles with Cathy Fuller
NPR World of Opera
Song of America
Pipedreams
26 Schedules, program info, playlists: 995allclassical.org