KING FM: We're Not KUOW
Late last night Seattlest was mingling with the post-concert crowd in the Founders Room at Benaroya Hall. We'd just had our socks knocked off by an Erwin Schulhoff piece in the Music of Rembrance concert commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day. (Which makes Schulhoff's death one more thing we have against Nazis.) According to our notes, try the cheese plate, skip the house Pinot.
We ran into Seattle Symphony conductor Gerard Schwarz, who'd written a startlingly neo-Romantic work (in honor of the late Seattle Symphony cellist David Tonkonogui)--as a conductor he champions the more angular, abstract music of David Diamond. “Are you thinking of trading the baton for the pen?” we might have asked him, if we were pushy, which we aren't. We'll just keep listening.
And we met Bob Goldfarb, Classical KING FM's program director. He told us that a major part of his job is helping listeners tell the difference between an all-classical music station (KING FM, 98.51) and the local NPR station (KUOW, 94.9). People persist in putting the two together. He says he gets emails asking him about “that travel show.” KING FM also streams its broadcast on the net, he told us, to about 5,000 listeners who donate to help pay for the bandwidth. (They're looking for a part-time announcer, too, so if you've got the pipes, stop by and apply.)
Speaking of radio stations that aren't NPR, Seattle's KPTK AM (1090) broadcasts Al Franken's Air America from 9am to noon. Franken was onstage at Town Hall last night with Ron Sims and others, helping liberals laugh again.
While discussing gay marriage, Franken proffered a riddle to Sims. "Which is harder -- being black or gay?" Franken asked."I'm not --" Sims replied, laughing. Franken came back at him: "I know you're not the mayor of Spokane."
Then Franken shared the punch line: "It's harder being gay -- because you don't have to tell your parents you're black."
