Leon Botstein received his doctoral degree from Harvard University in 1985. Since 1975 he has been President of Bard College, where he is also Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities. He is also a prominent writer on music and history and in 1996 received Harvard’s prestigious Centennial Medal for his scholarly work. 

He has published extensively on music and culture for numerous collections and journals. He is the editor of The Musical Quarterly and a contributor to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition (2001). His edited volume, The Compleat Brahms, was published by Norton in 1999. He is currently at work on a new book, The History of Listening.

Leon Botstein is music director and principal con-ductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and founder and co-artistic director of the Bard Music Festival. 

Skip Pizzi is Technical Manager for Worldwide Television Standards and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington. He previously served as Audio Technical Manager for the Microsoft’s Media Services Department. Before he joined Microsoft, Skip spent seven years with Primedia/Intertec Publishing as Technical Editor of Broadcast Engineering magazine and Editor-in-chief of BE Radio magazine. He currently serves as Executive Editor for BE Radio. He also provides new-technology consulting services for public broadcasters and performance venues around the world. 

Earlier in his career, Skip spent thirteen years as a technical director, engineering supervisor, and technical training coordinator at National Public Radio, where he was involved in the production of numerous award-winning programs and the creation of many technical training projects. He currently serves as a member of the Distribution and Interconnection Committee of NPR’s Board of Directors. 

His book, Digital Radio Basics, was published in 1992. He is currently at work on contributions for McGraw-Hill’s upcoming Interactive TV Survival Guide. He studied Physics, International Economics, and Fine Arts at Georgetown University and graduated in 1975.

Marcia Alvar cofounded PRPD and served as its first national chair from 1987 to 1990. She has successfully programmed a variety of public radio stations, including WBFO in Buffalo, KTOO in Juneau, Alaska, and KUOW in Seattle. From 1990 to 1997 Alvar hosted “Upon Reflection,” a weekly television interview program which aired on Seattle’s PBS affiliate. Before joining PRPD as its president in 1998, Alvar helped design and launch “The Savvy Traveler” for Marketplace Productions.

Robert Fradkin is assistant professor of Hebrew, Russian and Linguistics, and Hebrew Program Coordinator in the Department of Asian and East European Languages and Cultures, University of Maryland.

Bob Fradkin has been a consultant to AMPPR since 1995; and his book, The Well-Tempered Announcer: A Pronunciation Guide to Classical Music, Indiana University Press, 1996, was intended for our use.

His purpose is to encourage broadcasters in the news media and the arts to become more aware of the languages and cultures of Russia, the FSU, and Eastern Europe so that they can provide the public an accurate pronunciation of names and places and factually correct references to other matters of culture. He explains to an English speaker how best to approximate that sound within the phonetic bounds of otherwise English broadcasting.