KFAC: Requiem for a Radio Station; Part 1

This program was originally broadcast on Thursday, September 21st, 1989, on KCRW. To me, it is such a shock. That it has not even hit home yet. When a radio station changes format, people take it personally. We received a phone call about the closing of the station, and there were so

many of us that felt as though the member of a family had died. We cluster together and we reminisced and we nearly cried. But to have a trip down from under me the way it was and now the way is being jerked out from under the public of Los Angeles, I feel a great sense of betrayal. Yesterday at 2:00 in the afternoon, a musical voice fell silent, KAFC turned off its microphones forever and classical music lost its home of some 40 years. Join me for the next three hours as one radio station says goodbye to another. I'm Nicola Lubich and this is

KFAC Requiem for a radio station. If you tune in to ninety two point three FM today, you'll hear soft pop rock, not Mozart. KFAC was sold earlier this year to Adalius Media Conglomerate for 55 million dollars. And in the end, commercial classical radio in Los Angeles could not support the inflated price. And KFAC fell prey to economics and arbitrages. Well, I think that is the story, it's a lot of money and it goes right down to

dollars and cents, that's what the sale of KFAC is all about. It's money and it's greed. The lack of hue and cry from the community has indicated a less than ongoing attitude regarding cultural icons seemed to me to be a matter of art meets commerce and arts loses in the first round teakle and it shouldn't really have been that easy. It's not really up to the community, is it? They didn't take a vote, had they taken a vote, we'd know what the result would be. There would still be KFAC on the air as a classical music station. It is a tremendous loss to Los Angeles. It's a scary prospect to only have one classical music station in town. Today, we mourn the loss of a radio station, but we celebrate the

legend and the legacy. But most of all, we remember we remember the voices that brought us that beautiful music for almost half a century. It's not the programing that will be remembered, it's the legend and the legend is Princi Dixon, Cassidy Crane and the rest. It all started in December of 1943 when this voice and this music first came into our homes when? Good evening, friends. This is Thomas.

Welcome to your gas companies, regular to our evening concert of the world's finest music. The evening concert offered for your enjoyment by the Southern California and Southern Counties gas companies brings you the best music available for broadcasting Monday through Saturday from 8:00 to 10:00. To me, KFAC is really Thomas Cassity. Because he had that stately dignity without really giving you the feeling that he thought he was better than you were because he knew this music, and so it was just the familiarity of hearing him day in and day out and year in and year out doing particularly at the gas company program. I always thought he was the head of the gas pump. Thomas Cassidys evening concert is the pillar upon which classical music

broadcasting existed in our city for a long, long time. I recall when I first won the audition to do the evening concert program after they told me I was selected and I walked out the door, I said, now what the hell do I do? So I spent the next 43 years trying to figure out that whole thing. And it was always a challenge. Every day was a challenge and a challenge that I dearly loved. But many people don't remember that crazy. At the beginning, we had the only two classical programs which I did, and that was the evening concert and musical masterpieces. And of course, one of the tasks I had was to collect that library for the things to be used on the evening concert, and they all went into the JFK Library. And in those days they weren't the little simple CDs that you can stick in

your hip pocket. But they were fabulous. 12 record albums at times that took up the whole space of this large room we had for the library. And this is what we had as a basis for what KFAC became. The ultimate thing in that regard was that in 1945, E-L Kord, who owned radio station KFAC, incidentally C stands for Auburn Cord, was bringing a guest through KFAC, a potential buyer, and Carl Smith was escorting them. And they went into the record library with all of these states around the walls and he said, my gosh, watch this. Carl said, well, those are the records that Cassidy uses on his two programs. What do you mean to programs said? Well, the evening concert musical masterpieces. Wow. Why don't we make use of our investment? He said. Pelleted said, What do you mean? He said, Look at the investment we have here.

Why not use them on the air? So we we'd have to change our whole program. I don't care. That's how we started becoming a classical music station. While the old KFAC was somewhat stuffy and condescending, its dependability and its lack of familiarity was in many ways like the liturgy of a highly organized religion, like Catholicism or Episcopalianism. Thomas Cassidy was always the same from year to year. He never told you about his vacation or an accident occurred on the freeway or the troubles he was having with his wife, if he had any. Thomas Cassidy just introduced the music with a stateliness in the dignity that was comforting. Thomas Casati really was like a priest of a

high priest of classical music. You had a very special you personally had a very special style of announcing, which, in my opinion became the standard for all announcers and particularly in public radio. I mean, a dignity, a sense of separation, but a familiar voice that one could somebody compared you to an Episcopal bishop or someone feel like someone said to me one time, I always hear your voice wrapped in a tuxedo. I love it. And yet this was never my approach. You know, my approach has always been that, hey, I found a great new recording. Let's listen to it in time. Do you have a great new recording for us? Is not new. It's new on a CD. But it's one of the great recordings of the past of Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the symphony, number nine in D Minor by Beethoven.

And on this recording are some of my favorite vocalists, such as Eileen Farrell and Merriman and John Pierce and of course, the great Robert Shaw Chorale. And this is with Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony. And we hear a portion of the final movement. Even though we are ending an era, we must remember our Ode to Joy in the past. That is the old for. And that is why by

the time we get of. On the. We've heard excerpts from the final movement of the symphony number nine and D Minor, the

choral symphony by Beethoven with Eileen Farrell, soprano and Merriman mezzo soprano Jan Pierce, tenor Norman Scott Baso, the Robert Shaw Chorale and the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini. One of the great recordings of this. And fortunately for all of us, this recording is now available on a compact disc. All the scratches are gone. I couldn't have done it better myself. Thank you, Nicola. Have you always wanted to be an announcer? That was not my original intention. Of course, I copied all of the great announcers when I was a youngster because I listened to all of the great programs of classical music as a boy. But you see, when I was a youngster on my own here in Southern California, I used to sing around. I used to be a pop singer. Really? Yes, that that I used to do that. Please lend your little ear to my pleas, lend a ray of cheer to my pleas.

You know who used to sing that one? Well, we all imitated the bingo, but I received a scholarship because people had heard me sing. They set up a scholarship for me at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. And in my presenting of all the programs I did through the years, a gas company, the musical masterpieces and especially luncheon at the music center. My whole impetus was to repay those people who had started me off in the right direction. Well, we know you have. I mean, that would be the understatement, I think. Thomas Cassidy was kind of the voice of kind of authority that let me know it was all right to be listening to classical music, and he explained it to me in a way that I could understand and relate to and not feel that I was the oddball kid who was listening to classical music while doing the homework at Beverly Hills High School. And somehow it made me appreciate classical

music in a way that my mother tried to make me appreciate it. But because it was mother and because I was a teenager that didn't quite go, it seemed to be a European peculiarity and I wanted to be American. But Thomas Kassidy convinced me that it was OK to be American and love classical music through the years. People would say, well, the kids don't listen to stuff there. But it's amazing the tremendous response we had from young people who listen to Chaouki on a regular basis. Many times we were assigned by the music appreciation classes as special listening for their courses. It's interesting because we're always told that classical music is for older people, that the audience is getting older, that it isn't attracting young people today. Would you go along with it? That's propaganda. That is and has always been propaganda from the other side of the broadcasting spectrum.

What they are doing here is by saturating the market with this kind of presentation to the young people, they are closing their minds to the atmosphere and the depth and the importance of a different kind of listening that can shape their whole life. That's really true, too. I mean, I listen to the radio in my car and KFAC in particular, and I can remember driving through Big Sur, horrible drive in the dark and suddenly hearing you announce a child this cello, I think it was Bob and I had never really heard it or paid attention to it before. And suddenly this wonderful music I sang into the night and it changed the whole driving. The thing about that is when you try to impede the young people from hearing great music, great things, or of seeing great acting, seeing great people. In other words, if you control their spectrum and point them

into a BAINO atmosphere all the time, you are going to get the kind of young society we have today. But one of the things I always tried to do through all of the years was to keep up with the young thought in music, in other words, to search out the young artists who were coming along and to play their recordings. And if there are any young people in the audience who want to know whether they could understand Bach, all I can say is we would like you to listen to this excerpt from the Bach Suite for solo cello, as played by the young violin cellist Yo-Yo Ma. We have just heard the prelude to the sweet no one in my book

has performed by the great Young vielen cellist Yo-Yo Ma. What a name for a cellist. Sounds like a giant panda to me. I tell you, one of the great joys through the years was meeting and knowing many of these great performers, I'm sure must have been. And I'll tell a story about my dear friend Gregor Piatigorsky. He is the only artist that I can be sitting in the auditorium waiting for something to be when he walks on stage, sits down, lifts his bow, and I would hear music. What a tremendous amount. A wonderful mean about him that made you say, oh, this is going to be something great. And, you know, it really was. What were some of the highlights at you from your years at KFAC? I know you did the Hollywood Bowl. Oh, yes. We began broadcasting the World concerts in 1952, and I think the last one we did was in 1973.

Now we are going to to take part of an air check that you did for when the New York Philharmonic came. Oh, yes. Well, I think I may be wrong, but I think this is the only time the New York Philharmonic Orchestra was broadcast from outside of New York. So we have a first on that broadcast and a first in many ways. And to me, it was a great joy to have a chance to broadcast that concert radio station. Cephas now takes you to Hollywood Bowl for a special evening concert. This is Thomas Cassidy speaking to you from Hollywood Bowl Tonight, Radio Station QPAC joins with the Hollywood Bowl Association for a special evening concert, the first stereo concert ever to be broadcast live by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. This is the first of a series of three countries to be presented in the world themed amphitheater by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein. We will hear more about the other two concerts during our intermission feature.

We are happy to be able to present to our listeners an opportunity to hear this concert, stereophonic lead, as well as the regular broadcast transmission. So now is the time to reacquaint you with the proper setup for stereo reception. The stereophonic effect can best be received if you live in an area where you can receive this program over Kippax AM and FM transmitters, one of two specially placed microphones on the Hollywood Bowl stage will carry the concert to his armband at 13 30 killer cycles. The other two bases for the band at ninety two point three microseconds to hear this concert with nearly as much dimension as if you were in the bowl itself. You imply both an AM and FM receiver down. You place both but back to the same wall, about seven to 12 feet apart by tuning in both sets to capacity and having equal volume level on each. You will hear the concert with a remarkable 3D effect. You may, of course, hear the concert as a normal broadcast on the receiver you regularly use.

Tonight's concert by the New York Philharmonic will have as soloist the brilliant young pianist Andre Watts. Mr. Bernstein has programed the symphony number three by William Schumann in this concerto, number one in Major to be played by Mr. Watts and conducted by the associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Now here comes Leonard Bernstein on stage, and he's coming to our KFAC microphone. My dear friends, I'm not about to deliver a lecture on the wonders of the list deflowered concerto, I wanted only to say that I don't customarily abandon the podium in the middle of a concert, as I'm about to do, but this is a rather special occasion since we have with us not only the miraculous Mr. Watts, the 16 year old boy who flew across my horizon like a son this past year, but another authentic genius, Seiji Ossawa, who has been conducting as our assistant in one capacity

or another for some years now, and who I think is one of the few great discoveries of my life. And I didn't want you to miss the privilege and pleasure of hearing him as well. And so it's with pride that I turn the podium over to Sergio Sauer and Andre. What's. And we might add that Seiji Ozawa is all of 126 pounds of conducting Dinamo, he will hear the concerto number one in E flat. Perhaps you could give us the Kassidy touch and intro a last piece of music

for our listeners. All right. You know, we had a concert with Walter Guzik at Hollywood Bowl. He asked me if I would take him to the upper regions of the bowl so he could look at what was happening on stage as the orchestra opened with the overture. We went completely to the rim of the ball and just as we got to the top, a full moon was rising. He looked over that and he sat down and shook his head. Mr. Cassidy, I have never experienced music in a more beautiful setting. So we walked back down stage and he went to win Rockeymoore and he said, Mr. Nakamura, would you excuse the orchestra after my concerto, which said, yes, we can do that. So as the applause was ringing for his Beethoven concerto that night, the orchestra quietly left the stage and just at the right time, the full moon made its appearance over the rim of the bowl as his fingers touched the piano and came out. What we are going to play Clair de Lune.

This is KFAC Requiem for a radio station on Kacie RW, I'm

Nicola Lillibridge. Gail, I can tell you, grew up in California, in Los Angeles, what party KFAC play in your life? A tremendous part. It was the only classical music station that I listen to as a child, even as a teenager. In fact, when I received news that I had won an internship at USC in 1976, I still couldn't hear QSI where I lived. So as a fledgling lousy pianist

and as a person who has been obsessed by music since about the age of six, it was part of my life and in a very important way. And I think I learned a lot musically and probably without knowing it, without realizing what direction I was going into. I learned a lot radio wise from KFAC, the tremendous dignity, the great love for music in the voice of Tom Dickson, say. And Fred Crane had had a real effect on me. Tom Dickson loved the music and the audience loved him full of fun and laughter, his enthusiasm was contagious, his informality endearing, and his mistakes were memorable. He was our special friend for over 40 years. Good afternoon listening to you. I'm Tom Dickson here at KFAC,

all set to be your host from now until 7:00 this evening. We have all kinds of bundles, oodles of good music for you, works by Beethoven, busy Tchaikovsky. But we're going to start with my all time favorite, the composer to whom I am addicted. I am an addict for Mozart. So let's get off on the right foot with the overture to his very funny opera, The Marriage of Figaro. In this performance, Sir Colin Davis conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra without the chorus. We've just begun this afternoon's presentation of music on KFAC,

lasting until seven o'clock this evening with the Overture to the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, the BBC Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Sir Colin Davis. I would listen with a kind of a sweet feeling when Tom Dickson would screw up names of of composers and record labels and this it never bothered me because he was so unaffected and so on pompous. One day he asked for a name for his program. And I remember coming home and saying, well, you know, I'll send in a postcard. And I wrote it, why don't you call it Music and Mistakes with Tom Dickson? And then I put parenthetically sent in with gentle humor. Then I got a call a day or two after that and one of my friends says, turn on KFAC. Tom's in hysterics. The Tom Dickson was cracking up saying, I just got this card for necessarily Heilprin in Santa Monica, saying I ought to call it music and mistakes. And then he said, I'm so sorry, sir. I must have been so tired that day and thereafter for the next six months or so,

every time you screwed up, he'd say, I'm sorry, Cirilli, I had a bad night or this went on. It was a charming little bit. Finally, one day I had the nerve to go in and meet this guy. I'd never met him up to then. So driving down to KFAC, I just went in spontaneously and when I was sent back to where he was and I saw him in front of what looked like a jumbo jet. With all these these cuts in and out, I thought, no wonder the guy screws up who can get it clearer. And so I said, Tom, I'm Cirilli. So he stopped the radio, says, folks, I finally met her and he made a whole thing of it. So we became good friends. Certainly, oh, my God, yeah, that was the start of a nice, long friendship.