Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio 
Summer 2001

        When I got back to work after the AMPPR conference in February, I was on fire! I came back armed with new knowledge from Marilyn Pittman’s classes that would lead me to more effective on-air presentation. I’d made great new friends and contacts and shared in their enthusiasm. I’d gathered so many great free CDs that I had to ship them back home. I also came back with a crazy idea that developed somewhere in the skies between Tucson and Richmond, Virginia. I wanted to write a column about what was new and current in the world of classical music for the WCVE-FM membership program guide.
        One of the biggest problems we as classical music stations and presenters face is the terrible untruth that this music is a thing of the past and that there is nothing new it has to say. I wanted the column to help dispel this myth. Therefore, “Aria” would feature anecdotes about today’s orchestras, ensembles, conductors, and soloists. Members would read about new and upcoming artists (Lang Lang was my first featured artist and because his photo was provided to us at the conference, I had my first piece of artwork in hand for the column!). In essence, the news of the day in classical music would be covered in this column, thus reinforcing in the minds of its readers that there is a reason to keep tuned to public radio, there is a reason to continue to peruse the classical music bins at the music stores, and there is much more to look forward to in the further discovery of this timeless and timely music.
        Noble idea, but how to get it done? Where would I find the source material? How would I deal with timeliness when writing for a program guide that wouldn’t actually reach readers for another two months? It was time to come down from the clouds (literally) and make it happen.
        First I saved every press release sent by record companies. A few ideas have been born from simply reviewing the releases. I already had subscriptions to several classical music magazines, but I began to read them with a new focus. Some great magazines I enjoy are probably ones you already read but include BBC Music Magazine, and Classical Music and Opera News. Schirmer and a few other music publishers send out free regular company newsletters via e-mail and snail mail. I made sure I was on every mailing list I could find. I now make sure to visit record company web sites on a regular basis. 
        Thanks, once again, to AMPPR, I got to meet lots of record reps at the conference who are more than happy to send glossy photos of their artists for inclusion in the program guide. When I needed still more information, I turned to you, my friends on the AMPPR listserv. Many of you sent me some great arts news web sites that I am now checking on a regular basis. They include classicstoday.com, classicalsource.com and artsjournal.com. As for keeping news that will be two months old by the time readers receive it fresh, well, that is a challenge, but it’s one that virtually all publications face, so I decided I’d do my best but not worry too much about it. 
        I often include short passages that aren’t exactly “hard news” but just interesting little stories about today’s music makers. For example, I recently wrote about Lynn Harrell leaving his cello in a New York City cab. It doesn’t really matter if this happened yesterday or a few months ago. Segments like that seem to hold their freshness for a long time. On the other hand, I tried to include a story about Daniel Barenboim conducting Wagner in Israel. When I wrote the article, Barenboim was saying he’d conduct the Wagner unless the Israeli government asked him to come up with another program. By the time proofing of the column came around, Barenboim had been asked to change the program and I had to make a big revision. But even if that proof had come around a day earlier and I hadn’t been able to revise it, big deal. There’s nothing I could have done about it, and I would have had to just let it go. By and large, careful selection will yield stories that will keep well. 
         “Aria” is now going into its fifth month and has become a hit with readers. This column takes time to produce but it is serving its purpose by reminding its readers and its writer that our world is ever changing and that does include the world of classical music.

Bobbie Barajas is Music Director 
at WCVE, Richmond, Virginia