Bert Kaempfert on Herb Alpert

[martin]

A biography on the famous German bandleader and composer Bert Kaempfert:"Stranger in the night Die Bert Kaempfert Story" has just been released. Kaepmfert was one of the few European bandleaders that made the charts in the US. In 1961 he hit the no.1 spot with the trumpet led instrumental "Wonderland by night" and he would go on to compose major hits like "Spanish Eyes" and "Strangers in the night" that Frank Sinatra would take to no.1 in 1966. Kaempfert's own recordings in a relaxed big band style, where trumpet solos were impotant ingredients, was supposedly an inspiration for Herb Alpert's early records with the TJB. Kaempfert is quoted in the biography,which unfortunately exists only in German: (my translation

"When I met Herb Alpert with his group the Tijuana Brass in Hollywood, he told me: "Bert, if it had not been for you and that you made the trumpet popular again, where would we have been today?" We have become very good friends and he recorded my song "Magic Trumpet" on his album "What Now My Love". I believe the album sold 1,7 million copies in just a few weeks and became an instant no.1. It is unbelieavable how succesful this group is."

The TJB would later record the Kaempfert composition "The Maltese Melody" for TBAC in 1969 and other A & M artists, most notably BMB would also play Keampfert songs. Bert Keampfert himself covered both Mexican Shuffle and Tijuana Taxi on his own album "Strangers in the night" from 1966. Kaempfert passed away in 1980 at the age of 56.

- greetings from the cold north -
Martin

 

[jimac51]

Thanks,Martin,your posts are always good reading on the forum. As an avid MOR radio listener during the '60s,I can tell you how accurate Herb's insight to the future success of the TJB. Bert's "Three O'Clock" and "Red Roses" were early singles I purchased and loved to play over and over. Teenage boys weren't supposed to listen to such unhip music but I was hooked. There is ample evidence that the US airplay for Bert paved the way for Herb's success with "A Taste of Honey". I suspect the book is not filled with horror stories and,since Bert's legacy is almost forgotten in the US today,that book will never make it overe here in English. Just so everyone knows,Fred Moch is the credited trumpet soloist on Bert's many recordings. Like Miles said of Herb,'In three notes... ." Originals,besides those mentioned by Martin,include Al Martino's "Spanish Eyes",Sinatra's "Strangers" follow-up,"The World We Know",Wayne Newton's "Donke Scoen",Nat Cole's "L-O-V-E" and Bert's own instrumental hits of "Afrikaan Beat","Wonderland At Night" and "A Swingin' Safari". A personal favorite is Bert's Christmas recording featuring a memory filled confection titled "Jingo Jango". I believe that Kaempfert was savvy enough to control his own recordings,since they are available in the US via Taragon rather than Polydor or Decca US(both now part of Universal)and are priced a bit high for their actual value. Also,I remember that Bert's daughter had a record company in the late '80s that had some pretty adventuresome jazz from Europe and recorded just as clean as the old man's studio efforts. Mac

 

[Harry]

People who were around in the '60s might also remember that it was Bert Kaempfert's version of "A Swingin' Safari" that was used as the theme for the original daytime version of The Match Game on NBC. I remember bugging my parents to find that record for me, but the best they could do was to find the Billy Vaughan version. Locally to the Philadelphia area (Mac will remember), our local UHF station, Channel 48, WKBS-TV used Bert's "That Happy Feeling" as their station ID music for years. Local movie host at the time, John Carlton, now a DJ on our own WPEN, still plays the song on occasion as a sort of theme song. Of course WPEN plays a few of Bert Kaempfert's songs, "Wonderland...", "Red Roses...", etc. -- and they originated from my very own CD, The Very Best Of Bert Kaempfert on Taragon Records (Polygram Special Markets), a great-sounding CD. If only the TJB stuff sounded technically this good...

Harry
NP: "A Swingin' Safari" - Bert Kaempfert

 

[jimac51]

Harry-Since the Taragon material is special product material,Universal,(current owner of Polygram's holdings) must have a legal hand in it after all. Strange that,as far as I know,no Kaempfert material was available in the US,including individual pieces on compilations,until the Taragon releases. Even during the "Lounge" craze,I didn't see any show up. Polygram had a spotty record of releasing much of its instrumental MOR catalog on CD,but occasionally a Ronnie Aldrich,Montavani,James Last or Ted Heath(a few of their many holdings with deep LP catalogs)would surface. Hats off to Taragon for their efforts,not only in licensing Bert's material but eventually opening up the locked up Joni James treasures(once again,at a fairly high retial),Johnny Mann's Liberty material and,for a while,the only Steve & Eydie material(early Coral sides)till Steve Lawrence worked out a deal with Collectors' Choice(once again,at a $$$ price). Finally, everyone here should be so lucky to have a local,personable nostalgia radio station as Philly's WPEN,950AM,Your Station of the Stars. And they,in turn, are fortunate to have Harry on the payroll,too. Mac

 

[martin]

It is correct that Bert Kaempfert controlled his own recordings and that he had a licensing deal with Decca in the US and Polydor in Germany/Europe. This fact, however, apparantly made Polydor Germany put less of an effort into the marketing of his albums than what they did with his labelmate and personal friend, bandleader James Last who became the dominating name in "Easy listening" in the 70's in Europe, but never saw the success that Kaempfert experienced in the US.
Kaepmfert comes across a very likeable character in the biography, though he was shy and did not appear live with his orchestra until very late in his career. As an arranger/producer he must have been quite superb which is proved by the timeless quality of his recordings. I believe the Swinging Safari album which came in 62 is the best "proof" that his style must have been an inspiration for the TJB sound.

- greetings from the cold north -
Martin

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Lately, I heard "Red Roses For A Blue Lady" during one of those instrumental collection commercials, and I was astounded as to just how much Bert Kaempfert sounded like Herb Alpert. The styles, the phrasing, the tone all were so similar that it really made me think that Bert MUST have influenced Herb a great deal. It's good that they were friends,because they obviously shared a lot...and that's a good thing.


Dan, who just might BUY that instrumental collection, now...

 

[martin]

Again according to this new biography it appears that Kaempfert had little or no jelaousy or envy towards any of his "competitors". On the contrary he seemed to genuinely have appreciated the succes of his colleagues.
He actually discovered and signed the Beatles to their first record contract when as he as an A & R man heard them play in Hamburg. When he was later contacted by the Beatles from England with the request to be released from the contract, he made no fuss about it and "did not want to stand in their way". However, the story continues that when he tried to contact the group on a visit to London later in the sixties their manager denied ever having heard of him. It is really a pity if this very interesting piece of popular music history never will find its way to the English reading audience.

- greetings from the cold north -
Martin

 

[bob knack]

I just watched a video of Kaempfert put out, I'm sure, on Tarragon by his daughter and purchased at a "Collector's Choice" tent sale held at their warehouse in this area recently. I was a big fan too, and the video is well done, but on video... Bert made Lawrence Welk look "hip".

 

[venturaguy49]

as a youngster that grew-up, and aspired to become a trumpeter in the 50's-60's, there were three principle player: Herb Alpert, Al Hirt, and the superb Fred Moch, of Bert Kaempfert fame. I became introduced to Mr. Kaempfert's fine music via an uncle, who know someone that owned a jukebox, and opon learning that I was keen about trumpet, my uncle's friend would give me the spent disks that he removed, in order to replace, and amongst them were a sextet of Kaempert gems, which, when used via a 45 adaptor, were like having an LP. Man, was I impressed with that wonderfull 'ork', as a friend of mine abbreviates orchestra. Before I forget, I'll jump ahead, and mention the one Kaempfert tribut to the T.J.B. that may have gone by the boards: "Talk", from 67, which I believe to be a stylistic take-off of "Casino Royale" Here, Bert offers a trumpet duo in an obviously T.J.B. mode, and neatly counterparted by strident-sounding brass, which clearly emulated the "Casino" arrangement, but far earlier on, one finds performances on Kaempfert recordings that are clearly precursors of Alpert's style, and not only the fine "Safari" sessions, but going all the way back to '61, with an erroniously-titled "Dancing in Wonderland" album, there are several titles that have a recognizably 'Alpert' approach, as had the following "Afrikaan Beat" sessions, which were recorded a month or so later, and delayed for release. Of course, the beauty of Kaempfert's music lies in his unique ability to frequently alter his sound, and the result of which are not only one, but several 'Kaempfert' styles, ranging from super-romantic solos ala the gorgeous "Wonderland BY Night", or the 'Afrikaan'-tinged piccolos that successfully captured the 'penny-whistlers' of South Africa in the 'Safari' performances, but there were yet other flute effects, too. One only needs listen to the wonderful "living it Up" Lp for reference. Then there were Bert's constantly evolving use of strings, which set him ahead of the pack. Nowhere else will one find an ork leader that so freely experimented with their sound, and least of all, their strings...from the dry and vibratoless fiddles on the "Wonderland BY Night" album, to what I call the 'chamber ork' of the
"Lights out..." album...gotta be a real Kaempfert fan to know that one! Then there were the full, nearly symphonic strings, and of course, strings mixed with voices, and strings given a 'mandolin' effect, but Kaempfert was also one to introduce the coolest sax section, which frequently consisted of tenors, exlusively, with a hip and tough quality that was all-
B.K, and then the trombone, solo and collectively, the Kaempfert 'bones were reason alone to dig his music. There's so much to be said of my fav'rite 'easy listening' outfit, that I'd either incurr a wrist injury, or blow this message board's circuit by gong into all the fabulous things that Bert means to me, but the title of one of his records sums it up: Love that Bert Kaempfert!"...got just about all of his c.d.s, and recommend his stuff to anyone that can also dig dynamic and rhymically-stimulating orchestral music.
Warm Wishes,
Steve

 

[William]

Well, this has been an enlightening thread. I'm not really much for hardcore "easy listening" of the Welk/101 Strings/Melachrino variety... Bert Kaempfert managed to strike a really lovely balance that was indeed easy listening in every sense, but which somehow never sounded goofy and unhip to me (like Welk & Co.). I'll never understand how he made easy listening sound so damn cool...


- William

 

[Rudy]

Well, this has been an enlightening thread. I'm not really much for hardcore "easy listening" of the Welk/101 Strings/Melachrino variety...

It seems to be a very fine line between good and bad easy listening. I came to hate most of what was called "easy listening" due to a radio station our office had on all the time. They'd never play the "good stuff", but mostly that mushy piano and strings crap that was just one notch more tasteful than Muzak, and as about as excitement-enducing as a snail race.

They'd occasionally throw in a good one or, egads, even a very soft pop song. If Kenny G had been around back then, I'm sure they would have slipped in one or two of his. I recall they used to play Al Jarreau's "Teach Me Tonight", but would fade it out halfway through the song, just as the sax solo would begin. (What, a saxophone too rowdy for pablum radio??) What bothered me the most was the slaughtering of good pop, jazz, rock and standards at the hands of these string hacks. Especially when the arrangers would write in a wrong note.

And what was the point of glopping up a Christopher Cross favorite of mine, "Sailing", by converting an already soft and easy song into a piano-and-strings nightmare?

I say it's a fine line because some of Mancini's albums like Warm Shade of Ivory skate perilously close to falling into that same Muzak-like rut...although at least his had some sense of musical taste to them, and had other purposes than to lure millions of office workers and dental-office visitors to sleep...

-= N =-
...who needs some sleep...

 

[venturaguy49]

Well, when you get right down to it, if music is dynamic, interesting as well as being engaging, it hardly matters what the category is. My tastes run the gamut from easy orchestra (Kaempfert, Bacharach, and the hipper Mancini), to pop instrumentals (T.J.B., B.M.B., which neatly double as 'ethnic', too, to the better rock (Beatles lead this pack, and Fleetwood Mac, Three Dog Night, and groups that hadn't as aesthetic a sound, but made up for it with neat hooks, and catchy lead parts (Creedence stands out as a prime example...John Fogerty's vocals weren't the smoothest, and in fact, I'd rather that he used a 'black' sound, instead, as a soulfull approach would've given their basically fine style a more polished feel...more cohesive, but it's too late for change, so J.F.'s snarling vocals we'll have to make do with, but gimme a Ben E.King, or an Otis Redding...Sam and Dave, or those more polished singers, any ol' day. Then there's the 'other' kind of soul, which me just loves: R+B, and Doo Wop...man I can listen to that stuff for hours on end, so long as it's programmed well, and that means not harping on selections that share the same chords and arrangements for the bulk of it.
Doo Wop has the advantage of it's romantic tendencies...'tis 'rock and roll' music, and we know the meaning of that ghetto slang and of course can dig the purpose behind it; it's deliberately seductive qualities never fail to cast that certain spell. Of course, there's Jazz, and for me, Cool and Hard Bop rule, and of course, one can't forget Bird, Diz, Powell, and the BeBopperz, or 'Trad. Jazz' ala Sydney Bechet, or Louis Armstrong...lol one [/i]never dares to leave Satchmo out, and of course, in the trumpet division, there's many others. Right off, as another forum discussion, I had mentioned that Alpert's mute sound closely approximates Miles Davis, in particular the 'Harmon' mute, and not just mutes made by that company, but a squat metal one that Miles seemed to use predominently, maybe for it's timbre, but that particular muted style, and style was it, as what I'm getting at is that dark, and slightly disturbing tone, which was also delicate ...THE Davis mute...of "Surrey With The Fringe On Top", or "My Funny Valentine" fame; it is THAT sound which Alpert has a handle on, and it's hard to play...too bad that "Midnight Sun" lacked some Hard Bop, and such, but anyone that can get Mile's basic nuances like that has my admiration! But as for trumpeters with mastery of the mute, few could equal either Jonah Jones, or Fred Moch...both played it all...raw and primitive, or bluesy, romantic, or comical, the aforementioned guys had it all over the others. I can go into Big Band, and Swing, but I'll leave that to someone else and recommend, instead, that we promote our Swing bands of today...the (comparitively) modern bands of Rob McConnell, or Pat Longo...Australia's Ted Wilson, or 'oldtimers' due greater recognition, such as Boyd Raeburn, or Earle Spencer. One can always admire the Duke, Count, Miller, Goodman, and me sure does, but remember that Big Band Swing didn't end with the forties, and so in order to keep it vital, new and progressive outfits must be promoted. I'll leave it with that, so that there'll be plently of angles for others.

Warm Wishes,
Steve
P.S. Rudy, me with dental phobias has never gotten lulled to sleep during an appt....lol so now I'll place me dentured in the glass, drop in a fizzie...Club Efferdent here, and then it's that (we need an emoticon for sleep!)
'Tis time for some Z's <---finally got around to using one

 

[Harry]

I recall they used to play Al Jarreau's "Teach Me Tonight", but would fade it out halfway through the song, just as the sax solo would begin. (What, a saxophone too rowdy for pablum radio??)

Actually, yes. In my first days at the then pop/easy listening Magic 103, I recall stopping into the production studio as our Program Director was editing down the "Easy" single from Lionel Richie/Commodores. That record had an electric guitar solo leading into a soulful middle bridge -- and he totally cut it right out of the middle of the song. (And I do mean "cut" since this was the days of reel-to-reel tape, razor blades, and editing block.)

Sax solos in the middle of songs were routinely ommitted along with raucous guitar sounds.

I believe it was an effort not to offend the little-old-ladies working in the card and gift shops. One misstep would send them lurching toward the radio dial in an effort to find something more "soothing."

Before my days in radio, I worked in a drug store. One of the other employees was an older housewife-type who managed the store's books and kept general order in the chaotic world of the pharmacy. She generally let us younger types to have sway on the radio station selection, but it better not have been too loud or rocky, or else she'd flip it to the soft Muzak-y station. The station I listened to most often seemed fairly acceptable most of the time, with the Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor kind of soft rock - Popular 102, it was nicknamed. This was also the station that played Herb, Sergio, Carpenters and other popular A&M artists of the day, so naturally I gravitated there. I still recall the exact moment in the song "We Could Be Flying" by Lani Hall where this lady would run to the radio and switch the station -- every time! It's that middle organ solo where (I suppose) Clarence MacDonald (credited with keyboards) gets stuck on a couple of high notes back and forth as the orchestra swells in the background. Whenever I'd hear the song start, I'd try to be near the radio so I could turn that part down, and then bring it back up a few seconds later, in order to preserve the ability to listen to that station.

Soft station programmers called those moments "irritants" and tried to avoid them if at all possible.

Harry
...still catching up on Corner posts, online...

 

[Rudy]

Sax solos in the middle of songs were routinely ommitted along with raucous guitar sounds.

So, "Goodbye To Love" with Tony Peluso's rippin' guitar solo wouldn't cut it, eh?

I believe it was an effort not to offend the little-old-ladies working in the card and gift shops. One misstep would send them lurching toward the radio dial in an effort to find something more "soothing."

At the time I heard the butchered song, this was the last "easy listening" station on the dial. So the only other "soothing" option would have been to turn the radio off.

We had two of these stations on the air at one point. One was at 96.3 (WWJ?), and I remember getting a big laugh out of it. I'd heard about a format change, and remember coming in one morning as the secretary turned on the radio the day after the change. 96.3 had turned into WHYT, playing "bad" Top40 hits ("bad" meaning it was one of those pre-programmed out-of-town unrelentless hit-playing stations, complete with talking-head DJs with no personality and echo added to everything). 97.1 was the sole "easy" station after that (Joy FM, WJOI), and they actually hung on for a few years until the smell of big money came to town and they, too, sold out.

Soft station programmers called those moments "irritants" and tried to avoid them if at all possible.

No chance they'd have played anything from Metallica's S&M album, then.

It's ironic that to music purists who like the "real thing", these stations themselves were considered irritants! These stations didn't bother me when they DID play the real thing, but string and piano versions of hit songs just struck me the wrong way. On the bright side, at least the songwriters got some royalties out of the deal.

The only alternative now is a weak little AM station in Canada, CKWW, that plays the nostalgia format. It's just a shame that there are so many oldtimers around who still like to listen to that music, and have no choice but to leave the radio off. Even DirecTV has an easy listening channel, but how many people actually have it, or even think to turn the TV on to listen to music? (Not everyone has it connected to a sound system.)

I wonder if the new satellite radio broadcasters have an EZ or nostalgia station?

-= N =-

 

[Harry]

So, "Goodbye To Love" with Tony Peluso's rippin' guitar solo wouldn't cut it, eh?

You got that right. That was another song I had to watch out for if I wanted to keep it on "my" station.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

So, "Goodbye To Love" with Tony Peluso's rippin' guitar solo wouldn't cut it, eh?

You got that right. That was another song I had to watch out for if I wanted to keep it on "my" station.

I love ya, man!


Dan, saying ..."Hats off to Harry..."

 

[William]

I say it's a fine line because some of Mancini's albums like Warm Shade of Ivory skate perilously close to falling into that same Muzak-like rut...although at least his had some sense of musical taste to them...

Those two Henry Mancini "romantic piano and orchestra" albums--Warm Shade Of Ivory and Six Hours Past Sunset--may have begotten a lot of bastard sons, but the genuine articles were quite good. Like Bert Kaempfert, he managed to get that special je ne sais quoi from the orchestra that almost makes me reluctant to apply the "easy listening" tag to it. It seems to me that back in '69, the sound of Warm Shade would've actually been pretty original. Obviously the style of that album has been cloned literally hundreds of times since then by hacks such as Richard Clayderman, but Warm Shade still holds up--Mancini had the arranging talent to keep the string and chorus parts from sounding saccharine, he was hip enough to keep the rhythm section current, and he exercised enough restraint as a pianist to keep from sounding anything like Roger Williams and his ilk.

Mancini did stray into "bad easy listening" territory at least once, IMO: his version of "I Can't Get Started" with Doc Severinsen. The brass section on that one swings about as much as a wooden post. :|

- William
...with corrected typos...

 

[Rudy]

Mancini did stray into "bad easy listening" territory at least once, IMO: his version of "I Can't Get Started" with Doc Severinsen. The brass section on that one swings about as much as a wooden post. :|

When they first came out, I was quite fond of both the Severinsen albums, partly because he was "that funny guy from the Tonight Show". But the last time I listened to one of them lately, it didn't seem all that special anymore...seemed a bit bland to me. Usually if I want Mancini, I'm grabbing one of the 60's albums. Severinsen? Only have a couple of his, but they're all big-band outings that I've liked.

-= N =-

 

[Sam]

i couldn't help but notice someone mentioning the easy listening/beautiful music format. i live in windsor (obviously across the river from detroit) and i can remember the two easy listening stations right next to one another. 96.3 was WJR and of course the one that hung on for awhile wjoi (joy 97). this stuff is not even music, it was more like zombie radio. i was only 11 years old when 96.3 became WHYT and changed formats. they were intended to be a top 10 only station for the first year and did a good job of it. it might have been annoying, (especially the reverb added to the station) but it was more than a welcome change from department store music. and yes, joy 97 hung on for awhile and did change formats for economic reasons. but it was because that music (if you can call it that) was disappearing. during joy's last couple of years, they had to play more adult soft rock songs because the elevator crap was not being created anymore. musak is gone and anyone who cares about music as an art should be glad. i would rather listen to some quality classical music than hear a bunch of mindless drones trying to recreate soft rock favourites with orchestral equipment. the station we have in windsor on 580 AM is a "big band" format and although i'm far to young to know much of that. it's still better than whatever beautiful music was supposed to be. it's like haunting memories of dentist waiting rooms and department stores when i was a kid. it just plain sucked and i'm surprised it clung on until the early nineties. it was a pure insult to music in general.

 

[Rudy]

i couldn't help but notice someone mentioning the easy listening/beautiful music format. i live in windsor (obviously across the river from detroit) and i can remember the two easy listening stations right next to one another. 96.3 was WJR and of course the one that hung on for awhile wjoi (joy 97). this stuff is not even music, it was more like zombie radio.

Yes, it was zombie radio! Where I worked in the family business, it was very hard to get motivated back in the warehouse, having that sleep-inducing crap gushing out of the speakers. After I'd sort of taken over the warehouse, I used to cut the volume on the speaker and, using an old under-dash cassette player from the car, started bringing my own music in. Two happy days: the day WHYT went on the air, and the day the Joy died. Our Heathkit receiver even had a tiny sticker where WJR was at 96.3 on the dial. I still shudder at the thought!

i would rather listen to some quality classical music than hear a bunch of mindless drones trying to recreate soft rock favourites with orchestral equipment. the station we have in windsor on 580 AM is a "big band" format and although i'm far to young to know much of that.

IIRC, it was billed as a "nostalgia" station, which does include a lot of big band and other genuine "easy listening", but every now and then I'd catch a Sandpipers, or TJB or Brasil '66 song on there. One difference there--they play originals, not horrid orchestral mush. Coverage is spotty on our side of the pond, though, and as always dependent on the weather.

Yes, I'd rather have a classical station on....again, at least it's genuine, and not a bastardization of a stringed instrument. :bigevil: I still remember the uproar when WQRS changed formats, from its long-running classical position to the format-of-the-week. I didn't listen too often, but I wasn't that upset to see it go, not as militant as some of the local classical radio listeners were. It's even more true today than it was five or ten years ago: FM radio is big business, plain and simple. If format "A" doesn't bring in the ratings (and the advertisers), format "B" is brought in to generate a profit. The few classical listeners in Detroit weren't enough to support an entire radio station.

I do give Windsor credit: CIMX (89X) still exists, and still has a musical edge over any other alternative rock station. I do miss The River (93.9), which I can only describe as "adult alternative". They played music I'd never hear anywhere else. Even the Canadian Olympics coverage on channel 9 beats what our US networks offers--they stick more to the sport, and avoid the melodrama. Although they do show a lot more curling than we're used to.

 

[venturaguy49]

Quite possibly the finest 'easy' station was one that broadcast during the 60's, or that's when I became aquainted with which then had a cool show called "Stereo By Starlight", which I became aware of via a radio pub- lication known as "F.M. and Fine Arts"...kind of a t.v.guide for radio it was.
Well, anyway, S.B.S. specialized is chic easy ala Kaempfert, T.J.B. Stan Getz, Brasil '66, Lettermen, and various other sophisticated acts, and for it, it was easily the neatest show, and in my opinion, after haven had the oppor tunity to enjoy such a pleasurable program, so-called 'easy' stations tend to pale by comparison. Today, I cannot remember the broadcaster's call letters, but I'll take it to my search window, and (knock on wood), I'll find out, and with a whole lotta luck, and maybe with the help of the Twilight Zone, Stereo By Starlight may also have an Internet version

Warm Wishes,
Steve

 

[Sam]

hi, i too kinda miss "the river" 93.9 as an adult type alternative station. 96.3 almost seems to fit that type of format now. i used to listen to 89X alot from 1993 up until about '98 when they started to play metallica, which almost seemed hypocritical for them. i'm one of those light metallica fans that didn't like any of it after "...and justice for all" when they overhauled their sound to suit the current music. i was just starting to listen to classical music just over a year before wqrs changed formats. i recently downloaded the sound file of the format change and it's almost kinda sad . november 21st '97 at 5:00pm is when a spokesman for greater media came on and announced that they had to change formats. he stated that it wasn't as much a lack of listeners, but a lack of long term advertisers that was forcing the station to change. after he said his 40 sec. speech, they began playing an opera type duet and during the middle of it the nine inch nails song "closer" was mixed in and a shrilling voice came on and said "this used to be wqrs detroit, now it's a brand new radio station" then another voice says "one day we will meet again. 105.1 the edge" and at that point the first verse of the NIN song started and that was their first song (i'm still wondering what the "one day we will meet again" meant) . this all happened in just over 5 minutes with no warning and very little stunting. they were classical for a little over 37 years and i'm surprised that there is still nothing in detroit for classical music 5 years later. but with good ol shoutcast and a high speed connection, there are a few classical stations broadcasting on the net at 128k so the sound is descent. fm radio seems to be having a hard time anymore and i'm wondering how long it will be around with competition of satellite radio for home and car. of course, the downside to satellite radio is that it has no local feeling to it.

 

[Rudy]

It's a double-edged sword. I prefer the wide programming available on satellite, even via Music Choice (which comes in via DirecTV). But like the classic rock station, I don't think it would be the same without all the old familiar names announcing the songs (Ken Calvert, Steve Kostan, Jim Johnson, Karen Savelly, etc.).

If it's any consolation, I actually went to school with one of WRIF's DJs...Screamin' Scott, who's on the midnight shift weekdays. Ours was one of the few high schools that had an actual live radio broadcasting station. A whopping 10 watts at the time I went there. WPHS...don't know the frequency anymore, but you may be able to receive it where you're at.

 

[jimac51]

I just read this recently-I just don't know where. Aaron Copland was commenting how annoying it was to hear classical music(Brahms,I think) in a bank. The bank manager thought that of all people,Copland would love listening to classical music while waiting in line,instead of 101 Strings and their ilk. Copland commented,"But I need to prepare for Brahms!." There's no pleasing everyone. Mac