Agenda
MPC 40 
Savannah, Georgia, February 13-16, 2002

 
Wednesday, February 13
2-5:30 p.m.  Conference Registration
4-5 p.m. Newcomer Orientation
New to AMPPR’s Music Personnel Conference? Join other “newbies” and a couple of MPC “pros” for a rundown of the conference.
6-8 p.m.  Opening Reception, Sony Classical presents guitarists John Williams and John Etheridge, hosted by Tony Morris of the "Classical Guitar Alive!" program.

 
Thursday, February 14
7:30 a.m.  Continental Breakfast, courtesy of the WFMT Fine Arts Network.
8:30 a.m.  Keynote Speaker Leon Botstein, “Artistic Advocacy: Challenges and Opportunities."
How can we be successful advocates of an artistic vision? Dr. Leon Botstein, the eminent conductor and president of Bard College, is Music Director of New York’s American Symphony Orchestra. His concerts stand out from the ordinary by programming forgotten and neglected works around musical and nonmusical themes. Drawing on his experience with the ASO, and with the annual Bard Festival as well, he will share his ideas about ways of pursuing an artistic vision while serving an audience.
10:00 a.m. Morning Break, courtesy of WCLV.
10:00 a.m.
Marketplace Open Through Noon on Saturday
10:30 a.m. “Artistic Advocacy: Exploration and Response.”
Leon Botstein is joined by panelists active in the arts, who will respond to the ideas presented in the keynote address and present their own perspectives and experiences with advocacy in an aesthetic context. Conference attendees will be invited to raise questions as well. Panelists are David Patrick Stearns, Music Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer; and Mark Mobley, Music Producer, NPR's  "Performance Today."
12:00 p.m. Lunch. WETA presents The Kennedy Center Fortas Chamber Music Concerts.
1:30 p.m. “Defining Public Radio’s Core Values.” Marcia Alvar, President, PRPD
What are public radio’s core values, those qualities listeners consistently equate with our programming? As public radio faces greater competition from new media and increasing pressure to be self-sufficient and entrepreneurial, what values must we keep as our focus and carry forward if we are to retain the trust and support of public radio’s audience? PRPD gathered the producers of public radio’s seven most popular programs to talk over these and other questions. The results were captured in “Defining Public Radio’s Core Values,” a report that articulates a vocabulary of public radio’s fundamental appeal and identifies three crucial filters that successful producers use to set and maintain high standards. 
3:00 p.m. Afternoon Break, Bridge Records presents violinist Gregory Fulkerson .
3:30 p.m. “AMPPR Strategic Planning Session: What Is Our Future?” Bob Goldfarb, Beverley Ervine, and Hal Prentice. 
The AMPPR board of directors created a special committee last spring to talk about some long-term questions: whom do we serve, how can we best serve them, what is our niche in the public radio system, what changes should we consider as we evolve? This is your chance to hear about the committee’s discussions and to share your  thoughts about the future of AMPPR. Help set the  agenda for AMPPR’s next decade!

 
Friday, February 15
7:30 a.m.  Continental Breakfast, presented by Delos Records.
8:30 a.m. “New Audiences for Us.” Christopher O’Riley. 
The internationally renowned concert pianist and host of PRI’s “From the Top” will discuss the ultimate audience development project. Whether it’s on his radio show, which has become “destination listening” for families across the country, or at his concerts, where significant numbers are attending their first recital, O’Riley is teaching new audiences that Duke Ellington was on the mark when he said,“There are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music.”
10:00 a.m. Morning Break, courtesy of Steinway artist Richard  Glazier and Centaur Records. 
10:30 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions

A. “WBJC and Its Evolution Through the Various Stages of Radio.” Jonathan Palevsky, Program Director, WBJC. 
“WBJC has been an amazing success financially and artistically, though it was not always so. Believe it or not, we now do only a day and a half fundraising a year...great for the listener and great for us. I realize not everyone will be able to achieve the things we have done because we all live in different markets and have different challenges. However, WBJC’s success is due to the  success of its programming, and that programming is classical music.”

B. “A Broadcaster’s Writing Toolbox.” Kate Long, Media Writing Coach and Independent Radio Producer.
Public radio broadcasters are writing all the time—promos, on-air scripts, program guides, and now, the internet. How does writing help a great programming idea get on the air, in the program guide, and on the web? Kate Long, an award-winning writer who has produced for “Marketplace” and other public radio programs, shares her insight and skill in getting an idea communicated effectively through writing.

12:00 p.m. Lunch,  courtesy of Angel Records. 
1:30 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
A. “Music & Words.” Leslie Washaw, Producer; Jon Solins, Director of Music Projects, WGBH.
“Music & Words” is a classroom radio project developed by WGBH for the Boston Public Schools. Students listen, write, edit, and perform their own short radio show, combining regular classroom and music curricula in a creative exercise employing the basics of radio production. Program producer Leslie Warshaw  and Jon Solins will explain how the project started, bring sample lesson plans and examples of the students’ work, and lead a discussion about how interested stations can use the project in their own communities.

B.  “Airchecks.” 
Panelists will critique airchecks sent in advance. This session is a chance to hear voices from across the country and to give reactions to different announcing styles. Panelists are Chris Kohtz, Manager, Classical 24, and Robin Gehl, Vice President for Programming, WGUC.

3:00 p.m. Afternoon Break, AW Promotions presents composer Scott McClain and baritone David Arnold.
3:30 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions

A. “Phonics International: How To Tell Szell From Szeryng, Schubert From Ibert, Zoltan From Zauberflote.” Robert Fradkin, Assistant Professor of Hebrew, Russian, and Linguistics, University of Maryland.
“I hardly expect that any given announcer will get excited enough to sign up for Linguistics 101 at their local college, but I do hope that announcers will equip themselves with enough new knowledge to establish a reasonable pronunciation of existing names, to take better educated guesses at new names, and to defend themselves on a principled basis against the attacks of irate listeners who call up to complain about one or another pronunciation.”

B. “Rock, Roots, and the rest: A Panel Discussion on Public Radio’s ‘Other’ Fomats.” David Gordon, Station Manager, WNCW, Spindale, NC, and Chris Heim, Music Director, WBEZ, Chicago.
Public radio is more than classical music and news. There’s great jazz, blues, folk, rock, Native American, new age music, and more on public stations across the country. Panelists will describe how their station developed its format and sound, how their “brand” works in the market, why it’s successful, and wher to find programming resources if you’re ready to try one of these “other” formats.

8:00 p.m. "Performance Today" presents “Concert, Conversation, and Coffee,” with André-Michel Schub and Fred Child.
Join ”Performance Today” host Fred Child and one of today’s leading pianists, André-Michel Schub, for an informal performance-chat. They will survey a range of repertoire and talk about Schub’s many pursuits on- and off-stage, from playing concerts around the world, to running a festival, to long-distance running. Afterward, stay for dessert, coffee, and cocktails with André 
and Fred.

 
Saturday, February 16
7:30  a.m.  Continental Breakfast.
8:30 a.m. “Arbitron and the ‘Portable People Meter’.” Bob Michaels, VP of Radio Broadcasting Services, Arbitron, Inc.
Meet the PPM, as it is called, a pager-size device that its developer, the Arbitron  ratings service, hopes will replace the timeworn standards—diaries kept by target households and boxes that monitor television viewing, usually in homes. The PPM, which is carried by participants, detects codes that TV and radio broadcasters place in their programming using encoders provided by Arbitron. The device “hears” and records the signals. When the PPM is recharged on its base every night, the base sends the collected codes to Arbitron. This eliminates the need for people to track their listening or viewing behavior by writing something down in a diary, according to Marshall Snyder, president of Worldwide PPM Development, Arbitron, Inc.
9:40 a.m.  Morning Break
10:00 a.m. “The New Media Landscape.” Skip Pizzi, Technology Consultant.
The marketplace that radio and television used to own exclusively is now being occupied by numerous new services. Understanding this ongoing migration is critical to survival in the industry. While audiences continue to grow, the dominance of legacy services is threatened. This session will view the big picture, with particular attention to audio providers, and attempt to draw the new map of the media world.
11:30 a.m.  Lunch, courtesy of Public Radio International, “Classical 24,” “Pipedreams,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” and Ivory Classics, presenting pianist Albert Wong.
AMPPR Board of Directors Elections
1:30 p.m. “The Future of Public Radio.” Skip Pizzi, Technology Consultant.
Closer to home, the role that public radio plays is also changing. The importance of public service, audience size, revenue models, content/format choices, and delivery modes are all in play. The divergence from commercial radio continues to widen, and new opportunities for public radio abound. Yet none of these new ventures is without risk. This session will examine the specific options and challenges ahead for public radio (with emphasis on entertainment content) in a still-forming new media environment.
3:00 p.m. Historical Savannah City Tour:
Treat yourselves to the sights of Savannah before returning home. For your visit to the Historic District, we’ve arranged a private group tour on Saturday afternoon. Gray Line tours, officially endorsed by the Historic Savannah Foundation, will meet us at our hotel to begin our ninety-minute excursion into one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the nation. Within this 2.2 square mile area, beautiful streets and squares reveal 260 years of history, eloquently displayed in exquisite ironwork, ancient cobblestones, splendid mansions, and picturesque cottages. Highlights include: Factors Walk, the Cotton Exchange, Trustees  Garden, and Colonial ParkCemetery. Cost is $15 per person. To order tickets, indicate the quantity on the registration form . Payment must be received by January 30, 2002.
6:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception, CBC Records and CBC Radio Music present Finjan Klezmer Ensemble.
7:10 p.m. Closing Banquet, Universal Classics presents violinist Ilya Gringolts .
Closing Banquet Grand Door Prize: Grove’s Dictionaries is pleased to present a one-year, single-user subscription to grovemusic.com, home of the Grove Music Library on the Web. A subscription to grovmusic.com provides access to a fully integrated music resource, including the full content of the acclaimed New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, second edition, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and, coming in early 2002, the addition of The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition. 

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