July - KCME

Volume 2, Issue 7
July, 2013
88.7 KCME/88.1 KMPZ
Classical Matters
Send your questions or comments to Brenda Bratton, Editor, [email protected]
A Message from Jeanna Wearing
Dear Friends:
Inside this issue:
Message from Jeanna Wearing
Message from George Preston
KCME WANTS YOU!
8 8 . 7 K C M E - F M / 8 8 .1 K M P Z - F M
Great Food for a Great Cause!
And My Favorite Opera Is...
Tickling the Funny Bone!
Chance the Gardiner and Eric
Satie.
Corporate Sponsors
Trivia
Contacts:
George Preston
General Manager
[email protected]
Melissa Anthony
Interim Development
Director
[email protected]
Jeanna Wearing,
Director of Corporate
Sponsorships
[email protected]
Keith Kauspedas
Traffic Director
[email protected]
Sherry Hamill,
Receptionist
[email protected]
Brenda Bratton
Editor-in-Chief
Finance/Office Manager
[email protected]
In August of 1995, I embraced the pleasures and accepted the
responsibilities of becoming 88.7 KCME’s General Manager.
For the past 18 years, together we have watched KCME grow
and develop, expand its service coverage area to listeners, support the
arts community, and earn its reputation as one of our area’s most
respected arts organizations. KCME is a unique treasure with roots
deeply embedded in our community.
As of June 17th, 2013, I elected to step down from my position
as General Manager. My heart is full of gratitude for the opportunity to
serve as KCME’s General Manager for many years, working side-byside with my creative colleagues. My respect for their untiring and
dedicated work on behalf of KCME is beyond measure. Providing
guidance and support throughout my tenure has been the different and
changing members of our governing Board of Directors whose wisdom
and experience have proven invaluable to me. I count it among my
greatest blessings that my life’s work has been in service to classical
music.
KCME welcomes a new General Manager in the person of George
Preston. He comes from Chicago, Illinois where he has served as an
on-air announcer and Program Producer at the great classical station
WFMT-FM. He brings a great depth of knowledge about classical music
broadcasting, music history, and he is highly respected amongst his
colleagues in the entire broadcasting profession. George is planning to
introduce a fresh and innovative perspective to KCME, and he will earn
your respect and trust as he has mine. Please join me in welcoming
George as KCME’s new General Manager.
I am remaining involved with KCME-FM in a new capacity –
moving just one office over where I now serve as the Director of
Corporate Sponsorship. In this new role, I will continue to meet and
greet many of you in my travels to and fro around KCME’s service area.
For almost two decades, I have felt a profound admiration of,
and love for KCME’s listeners and members without whose support
KCME could not continue to broadcast. KCME’s members are my
“family” as they shared with me their life’s joys and sorrows. Thank
you for trusting me as your friend.
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your dedication to 88.7
KCME-FM throughout my years as its General Manager. Your continued
belief in – and support of KCME’s classical music service will ensure
KCME’s existence well into the next decades.
With affectionate regards – and deepest gratitude,
Jeanna Wearing
A Message from George Preston, General Manager
HELLO, BEAUTIFUL COLORADO SPRINGS!
How am I supposed to concentrate on work with these
gorgeous mountains distracting me? Seriously, coming from
Chicago, Illinois, I’m not sure I’ll ever lose my awe of the
natural beauty here. My hope is that the mountains will
serve as inspiration, rather than distraction, as we take
KCME to even greater heights of classical radio excellence.
The Springs residents I’ve met so far have opened
their arms warmly to me and my family, and I hope to get
to know many more of you soon. By way of introduction,
here’s a little more about me.
I’ve been in radio for almost 30 years. For much of
that time, I was also a free-lance classical singer and an
George’s dog Walther von Stolzing meets a Colorado Springs local! actor. I now consider myself a “recovering sing-aholic,”
concentrating on classical radio full-time. My latest stint was at Chicago’s legendary classical station, WFMT,
where I did afternoon drive-time and hosted and produced broadcasts from Lyric Opera of Chicago. Previously
I was at WNYC, New York, as Music Director, host, and producer for about a decade. WBUR, Boston, was my
radio home before that, where I wore many hats. My radio journey began at a little commercial classical
station in Safety Harbor, Florida (Tampa Bay), which has long since changed format.
We’re so fortunate to have KCME as part of our lives in Colorado Springs. It’s a treasure that can’t be
taken for granted, as many classical stations have gone by the wayside in other cities. A few years ago, I heard
the late Sir Colin Davis describe classical music as “perhaps the greatest invention of the human mind,” and I
happen to agree with that assessment. What other art form, in our troubled world, offers such a keen reminder
of the very highest pinnacle of human endeavor? What other art form welcomes such a vast variety of
participants and enthusiasts, lifting us above our everyday troubles and differences to celebrate the beauty,
depth, and power of community through music? Classical music on the radio quite literally makes the world a
more beautiful and harmonious place.
Jeanna Wearing has served KCME with tremendous devotion and vision as general manager over the
past 18 years. I’m so grateful that she has handed me a station that sounds so great and runs so smoothly,
and I’m thrilled that Jeanna will be staying on as Director of Corporate Sponsorships. Her dedication will
continue to take us to new heights of service to the cultural community of Colorado Springs.
A radio station has many important components, but the most important component, particularly for a
station such as KCME, is the audience. Your listenership and support help make everything we do possible.
Your feedback and participation are crucial in helping us shape our sound and our mission, so that we can
embody the very best of what Colorado Springs has to offer. I personally am counting on you to let me know
how I and the staff at KCME can better serve this community and take a central role in the enhancement of our
cultural infrastructure.
I plan to be at KCME for many years to come. I hope to leave it a better radio station than I found it,
but I also hope to be part of something bigger: a lasting legacy of richer cultural opportunities for future
generations in Colorado Springs and beyond. When you see me out and about at various concerts and events,
please say hello. If you have programming and partnership ideas for KCME, please be in touch. I’m just a
phone call or an email away, and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for welcoming me and my
family to Colorado Springs.
General Manager, George Preston
KCME WANTS YOU!
The staff of Classical Matters is looking for a few good stories about what the classical music
you hear every day on KCME means to you. We are looking for stories of how you first came to
appreciate and love classical music, or how it has impacted your life. If your story is selected
for publication, you will receive a KCME shopping bag with a t-shirt and mug inside. Your
initials and city will be listed in the newsletter as the author of the piece. Please submit your
stories to [email protected]. You will be notified by email if your story is selected.
V O L U M E 2, I S S U E 7
K C M E / K M PZ
C la ssi ca l Ma tters
Page 2
Great Food for a Great Cause
th
On Tuesday, July 16 Il Vicino Wood Oven Pizza in
Colorado Springs will hold a Benefit Day in support
of KCME. When you print out the flyer below and
present it to your Il Vicino cashier on July 16 th
anytime during Il Vicino’s business hours, KCME will
receive 20% of your purchase price!
It’s that easy. You enjoy a delicious meal from Il
Vicino (We highly recommend their pizza!) and KCME
receives support for the broadcast of the classical
music you love and enjoy.
Thank you to Il Vicino Wood Oven Pizza in Colorado
Springs for hosting this fundraiser for KCME, and
thank you in advance for your participation! And,
don’t forget, in order for KCME to receive the
donation from Il Vicino for your meal, you have to
print out the flyer below and present it to your
cashier when ordering.
Thank You for Providing Classical Music to
Thousands
~ Melissa Anthony
Over the last months,
KCME donors just like you
have not only raised the
Spring Membership Drive goal
of $185,000, but you’ve
exceeded it and continue to
donate! Your contributions
will result in over 2,300 hours
of classical music being
broadcast
into
your
When she is not hosting an event for
KCME, Melissa Anthony is hard-atwork finding ways to increase KCME’s
membership and getting young
people interested in classical music.
Classics for Kids
is funded in part by:
The George White
Education and
Cultural Trust
and:
community and many others.
Thank you for your amazing
commitment to keeping
classical music alive and
available to all!
Because of your
generosity, thousands of
classical music fans in your
community, around Colorado,
and throughout the world
have access to the classical
music that broadcasts over
the KCME air waves 24 hours
per day, seven days a week.
You never know who will be
tuned-in to KCME just when
they need the calm and
peace of classical music in
their life. Thank you for this
gift you’ve given the world
through your donation to
KCME.
V O L U M E 2, I S S U E 7
KCME/KMPZ
Cla ssi ca l Ma tt ers
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And my favorite Opera is…
If opera is quintessentially
an Italian art form with an emphasis
on lyrical melody, and the Germans
represent a form of lyric theater
with the emphasis on the orchestra
(read: Wagner’s Music Dramas), it is
the French who firmly established
two other types of opera: Opéra
comique and Grand Opéra.
Although Opéra comique
originated as a form of comic opera
– more or less spoken farces with a
few songs tossed into the mix – it
later became a form of serious
opera that merely indicated the
inclusion of spoken dialogue. And it
was the French inclination for stage
spectacle and a fondness for ballet
that gave rise to Grand Opéra –
huge, sprawling, five-act operas
based on historic subjects that were
sung throughout. No spoken
dialogue was permitted at the Paris
Opera House.
Quite a number of foreigners
composed French opera: Christoph
Willibald von Gluck, Gioachino
Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and
Giuseppe Verdi to name just a
few. In fact, it was Rossini’s final
opera, Guillaume Tell, written for
Paris in 1829, that began the trend
for grand opéra. But the composer
most closely associated with that
particular genre is the German
Giacomo Meyerbeer, whose
grand opéras were all the rage
during the first half of the
V O L U M E 2, I S S U E 7
~ Robert Bruce
nineteenth century. Although
immensely popular in their day,
operas such as Robert le diable, Les
Huguenots, and Le Prophète have
not worn particularly well.
Among French composers
who excelled at the lighter, tuneful
type of opéra comique we find
Adolphe Adam and DanielFrançois-Esprit Auber, while
such later composers as
E mmanue l
Chabr ie r
and
Ambroise Thomas found some
success in this genre as well. Many
French composers wrote successful
operas, including Léo Delibes,
whose exotic Lakmé is still popular
thanks to the lovely “Flower Duet”;
Camille Saint-Saëns, whose
Biblical opera Samson et Dalila is
performed often; Hector Berlioz,
whose Les Troyens is performed
with some regularity while La
Damnation de Faust, described by
its composer as a “Dramatic Legend
in Four Parts” is often staged, but is
more likely to be encountered in the
concert hall. Twentieth century
composers Claude Debussy and
Maurice Ravel each contributed to
the operatic repertory: Ravel’s two
one-act operas L’Heure espagnole
(Spanish Time) and L’Enfant et les
sortilèges (The Child and the
Charms) can often be found on
conservatory stages, while
Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande is
one of the few twentieth-century
operas to claim a foothold in the
K C M E / K M PZ
repertories of virtually
opera house in the world.
every
But my favorite French
opera? Well, I am fond of Roméo
et Juliette by Charles Gounod,
but of his operas it is Faust that
I’d be more inclined to say is my
favorite. I have a soft spot for the
operas of Jules Massenet, and
while I do enjoy Manon, Werther,
and Thaïs, I don’t think any
would count as my favorite.
Jacques Offenbach composed
many delightful light operas, but I
still might consider his one
serious opera a favorite: Les
Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of
Hoffmann) – if it weren’t for
Georges Bizet, that is. Les
Pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl
Fishers) boasts what I think is
one of the most gorgeous
melodies ever penned by man –
the tenor/baritone duet “Au fond
du temple saint” – but of all these
operas, it’s Bizet’s Carmen that
stands out. Its combination of
glorious melodies, exquisite
orchestration,
fine
characterization, and intense
drama make it far and away one
of the greatest operas ever
written. It’s long been a fan
favorite, and it certainly ranks as
my favorite French opera.
C la ssi ca l Ma tters
Page 4
Classical Music Ramblings
~
Just received a rather
strongly worded memo from the
office reminding me that this
newsletter is about classical music
and “should not be used as a
soap box for paranoid ramblings.”
That being said, I have a
cousin (sigh).
He’s “different."
Not “special", just “different."
Andrew Jackson Stonebender. Not
sure which side of the family he
hales from, since neither side
Hey, I’m nothing if not a wants to claim him. My Grandpa
team player (although the once offered to trade AJ for a 13
“paranoid” part was kind of year old hunting dog and two draft
picks to be named later.
mean).
He used to leave me
So here goes: KCME plays
voicemails
on my phone like this
great classical music! All day and
all night! You should listen! And one: “Hey Mike, great idea!! In
The Sound of Music, substitute
become a member!
“Bagel Bites” for “Edelweiss”.
There. That’s out of the Cool, huh?”
way. Now on with the show:
It was inevitable, I
Just about everybody has suppose, that AJ would one day
relatives they are not proud discover the internet and the
of...skeletons in the closet, black w o n d e r s
of
electronic
sheep, surfers in the shallow end communication. I got this one last
of the gene pool, folks who week: “went on a blind date last
couldn’t buy a clue with Donald night. she told me that I am NOT
Trump’s checkbook...you get the the most unattractive man she’s
idea.
ever met. This might be the real
Mike Pennington
thing!” Or this: “just got the
banana slicer I bought on Amazon.
Man, this thing is life changing!”
Or: “it occurs to me that they
should make wine bot t les
bigger...that way there’d be
enough for TWO people.” Or, most
disturbingly, this: “when selling a
used coffin, you should remove the
previous occupant...its just good
manners.”
See what I mean? Its like
watching a train wreck in slow
motion...you want to turn away but
you just can’t.
Anyway, I’m going on
record as saying I’m saving all of
AJ’s emails in a special file, just in
case he does something that, you
know, gets me subpoenaed as a
character witness.
Michael Pennington is the
midday host at KCME, and
also the resident humorist.
Chance the Gardener and Erik Satie: The Sublime Simplicity of Being There
~ Keith Simon, Evening Announcer and Production Assistant
The list of great motion pictures that feature classical music in their soundtracks is much too long to
mention, so I’ll concentrate on one of my favorites. Based on a novel by Polish writer Jerzy Kosinski, Being
There was released at the end of 1979, starring Peter Sellers in what he called his favorite role, that of
Chance, a simple-minded, sheltered gardener whose quiet demeanor is misinterpreted as wisdom and
eloquence. This case of mistaken identity results in a series of unlikely adventures.
Although a funky version of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra plays early in the film, depicting
Chance leaving the cocoon of his garden, entering the unfamiliar and intimidating world outside, the music
that stayed with me well after the movie ended were the two Gnossiennes by French composer (and general
iconoclast) Erik Satie. The Gnossiennes and Gymnopedies by Satie have long been some of my favorite
compositions. What impresses me about these pieces, aside from their sheer beauty of melody, is the
sparsity of notes used by Satie.
It’s the same gentleness and eccentricity of the Gnossiennes that lends itself so well to the character
of Chance, a middle-aged man who sees and interprets the world with the eyes and mind of a child.
Chance’s adventures in Being There elevate him, eventually, to celebrity, and at the end of the movie (spoiler
alert!), there is talk of Chance being nominated for President of the United States. The final scene of the
movie (not in the book, though) has a well-dressed Chance walking on water. One of Satie’s Gnossiennes
accompanies the scene to great effect. If you’ve never seen Being There, I recommend it. Not only do you
witness the genius of Peter Sellers, but you also see a perfect visual accompaniment for Satie’s Gnossiennes.
V O L U M E 2, I S S U E 7
KCME/KMPZ
Cla ssi ca l Ma tt ers
Page 5
Spotlight on Corporate Sponsors
It takes all kinds of support to bring you the classical music
you love to hear on KCME-FM. One of those important areas
of support is corporate sponsorship. Please let the following
corporate sponsors know that you appreciate their support of
the community by patronizing their businesses and telling
them you appreciate their support of KCME-FM. Follow the
links to their businesses by clicking on the logo of your choice.
If you know of any companies that you visit frequently that
would be a good sponsor of KCME, please ask them to contact
Jeanna Wearing at KCME’s business office 1-800-492-5263.
V O L U M E 2, I S S U E 7
KCME/KMPZ
Classics for Kids
is in need of sponsors
to continue its efforts
to bring classical music
into the classroom.
Please call Jeanna
Wearing today at
KCME-FM’s business
office.
1-800-492-5263.
Cla ssi ca l Ma tt ers
Page 6
Cheyenne Mountain Public
Broadcast House, Inc.
1921 North Weber Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
Phone: 800-492-5263
Fax: 719-578-1033
E-mail: [email protected]
www.kcme.org
KCME-FM began in 1979 as the dream of a small cluster of people who
believed that Southeastern Colorado should have a full-time classical radio
station in the area it was licensed to
Where to listen:
serve.
Charles “Bud” Edmonds,
Colorado Springs/Pueblo/
Willard Smull, and John Bennett
Manitou Springs: 88.7 FM
undertook the laborious task of
Cripple
Creek/Victor:
89.5 FM
applying to the FCC for a permit to
operate a public, non -profit, Woodland Park: 93.5 FM
educational station from Manitou Salida/Buena Vista: 88.1 & 89.5 FM
Springs, and on Christmas Eve, 1979
Cañon City/Florence/Penrose: 91.1 FM
KCME-FM went on the air for the first
time.
Today, KCME broadcasts Summit County 89.3 FM
classical music 24-hours a day at 88.7 FM and on its translators, with the
majority of its funding derived from the voluntary contributions of
foundations, corporations, and individuals in the community. KCME/KMPZ
wants to meet the expectation of excellence that classical listeners have,
both with regard to quality audio sound and current levels of radio and
broadcasting technology, as well as the presentation of classical music by
on-air announcers that can be compared favorably with any other
professional classical music station in the industry.
KCME is always looking for volunteers.
Please call 800-492-5263 to sign up today!
July Trivia Questions: This 20th Century American composer had his ashes scattered
after his death from Alzheimers. He incorporated elements of jazz and folk music into his
classical compositions. He famously said: “To stop the flow of music would be like the
stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.”
June Trivia Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!
Become a Business Member today! Log on to KCME.org and sign up
and write your own description of your business, and hear your name
and city announced on air each week for the duration of your
membership. Six-month and one-year memberships are available.
ATTENTION WEB LISTENERS! Classical KCME now has a total of 700 streams
available for our worldwide internet audience.
Classical 88.7 KCME is pleased to announce that we now have an additional 500 internet streams available
through IcyShout, a local Colorado Springs service provider, which offers exceptional audio quality. Apple
OS users may listen to our streaming audio by using the Apple iTunes player, if the Apple device has the iTunes
player installed.
For complete information go to kcme.org and click on LISTEN.
V O L U M E 2, I S S U E 7
K C M E / K M PZ
C la ssi ca l Ma tters
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