Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Radio

Support Classical Music Before Winter Arrives

The day of reckoning is upon us!

October is membership month at WWFM – The Classical Network, and while we have been soft pitching for weeks, today we take to the air waves to rake up the stragglers like so many autumn leaves.

We’ve affectionately dubbed October Procrastinator’s Amnesty Month. Believe me, we know what it’s like to put things off. Often, it’s not so much procrastination as it is simply not having enough time, the needs of the moment generally foremost in our thoughts. But with autumn upon us, it’s time to be like the ant, not the grasshopper, and to fortify ourselves against the winter.

Think of the cozy months ahead, and how we warm your cockles around the clock with music from Abel to Zelenka. You can also warm yourself with our “What Makes It Great” mug. Named for Rob Kapilow’s popular show, the mug answers its own question. Turn it around, and it on the reverse you’ll find the exclamation “You!” It’s because of you that we are able to pay for programs like “What Makes It Great.” We are only as good as our member support. The mug is yours for a contribution to The Classical Network in the amount of $75. If you commit to a sustaining membership of $5 a month, we’ll send it to you for $60 (charged in monthly installments, of course). That $15 in savings will buy you a lot of cider.

The sooner we reach 3500 members, the sooner we get back to uninterrupted music. So lend us a hand, won’t you? Your vital contribution will fortify us as the days grow shorter. Make your commitment at wwfm.org, or by calling 1-888-232-1212.

We can enjoy the fiddling once the stores are full. Thank you, as always, for your warming support!

October 26, 2016
WPRB Thanks & Pledge Drive Extension

I’d like to extend a note of personal thanks to everyone who contributed to WPRB 103.3 FM yesterday morning during Classic Ross Amico. It was kind of a slow start, and then, at a point, when it finally got busy, we were understaffed with telephone volunteers, possibly dropping a few calls, yet we managed to raise something like $1500.

Your support demonstrates not only that you appreciate all that I do, getting out of bed at 4:00 in the morning, putting together an interesting program, interviewing guests from the arts community, and most of all, sharing the music, it also shows that you care about maintaining an independent, locally-based alternative to the bland homogeneity that settles drowsily across the playlists and presentation heard on many other radio stations.

It’s heartening that our contributors have been so generous and, as always, enthusiastic. However, the station still came up somewhat short of its $60,000 goal. Therefore, WPRB is leaving up its pledge page for another week. We won’t be hard pitching over the air, but we will put out the call occasionally, for anyone who really wanted to contribute but either missed the opportunity or could not.

Sorry, the special “Classic Ross Amico” thank you gifts of lovingly assembled CDs are no longer available (well, maybe, if you contact me directly, but you need to make a pledge to the WPRB page); however, the stickers, the downloads, the calendar and the WPRB apparel are all still yours for the taking, for the next week only. Follow the link to make a pledge and claim your gifts:

http://wprb.com/wprb-membership-drive-2016/

I’d also like to thank the labels, performers and distributors who were so kind as to help me secure premiums for the drive: John Baker of Affetto Records, Clipper Erickson, piano, of Westminster Conservatory, Tom Steenland of Starkland Records, Becky Starobin of Bridge Records, Inc., and Gail Wein of Classical Music Communications.

Thanks also to WPRB’s Sandy Steiglitz, Marvin Rosen and Jack Hollingsworth for donating their time and on-air talent and for helping to answer the telephones. Nobody’s too proud at WPRB, unless it be the justifiable pride of sharing unusual music with our devoted listeners. Thank you again for your support!

October 21, 2016
WPRB Membership Drive Last Day Support Classic Ross

This is it – the final day of the WPRB Membership Drive. Hopefully you’ll have something left for the mighty Classic Ross Amico.

Take a gander at our special thank you premiums, lovingly assembled in a photo album on my Facebook page, and pledge your support of independent radio. These gifts will be available only during my time on the air this morning, from 6 to 11 EDT. Quantities are limited, and they are only available to those who phone. My apologies to those who plan to pledge online. I’m thankful to you, too!

Sunday Morning Opera’s Sandy Steiglitz will be my co-pilot this morning, and Classical Discoveries’ Marvin Rosen will be helping me out on the phones. Please call 609-258-1033 and make a pledge in whatever amount. No pledge is too small, but intriguing thank you gifts are available for any pledge over $45.

Help this clean-up batter not to strike out. Listen in at WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com. We’ll be sampling from the thank you gifts all morning long. Thank you for your support, and here’s to another year of great radio, on Classic Ross Amico!

October 20, 2016
Vaughan Williams Special on WPRB This Week

Get ready for the old switcheroo!

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, so Marvin Rosen and I will be switching up on WPRB. For this week only, Classic Ross Amico will be heard on Wednesday, beginning at 6 a.m., and Marvin’s Classical Discoveries will be heard on Thursday, beginning at 5:30.

I hope you’ll join me tomorrow, as October 12 is the birthday of one of my favorite composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams. The widely held perception of RVW as a large, rumpled, bushy-eyebrowed bear-of-a-man roaming the English countryside in search of folk material will be offset somewhat as we hear some of his lesser-played symphonies, in fabulous, under-the-radar performances.

Don’t expect the same old, same old. Sure, there will be plenty of the pastoral stuff we all know and love, but I will be more inclined to play the underexposed “Charterhouse Suite” or “Household Music” on Welsh hymn tunes than, say, the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” or “The Lark Ascending” – lest it be in a moment of weakness, by way of an historic recording, or in honor of the late Sir Neville Marriner, who conducted on one of my favorite Vaughan Williams albums.

We’ll have a chance to hear Vaughan Williams himself conduct, some archival radio broadcasts, and a rare LP from 1977 that, to my knowledge, has never been reissued in any form. I hope also to touch on some of the composer’s operas and piano music and anything else I can think of that never gets done – whatever I can cram to into five hours, I suppose.

I’ve been letting my eyebrows grow wild for the occasion. Join me tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wrpb.com. I’ll be wearing my most rumpled jacket, with cowpats on my shoes, on Classic Ross Amico.

PLEASE NOTE: The WPRB Pledge Drive will commence this Thursday night at 7:00. Please start searching under your seat cushions for change and keep your eyes open for those quarters when you vacuum your car. You’ll want to have $45 in hand, I’m sure, on the morning of October 20, when I’ll be offering dozens of CDs for you to choose from as “thank you” gifts for your pledges of support. Of course, a pledge in any amount will be gratefully accepted – every little bit counts – but wouldn’t you like a nice disc for yourself to commemorate the occasion? I’ll have more on this as the week unfolds. By all means, support your favorite shows in the meantime, but spare a thought for me, won’t you, waiting, all lonely at the finish line, next Thursday. The last thing I want to do is walk home with all these duplicate CDs. Call 609-258-1033 on the morning of October 20, and thank you in advance for your generosity!

October 11, 2016
Arctic Adventure Radio Journey

Once upon a time, a trip to the Pole required dog sleds, pack animals, and an unimaginable surplus of grit. Now all you need is a radio.

I hope you’ll join me this morning on WPRB as we armchair travel to the Arctic, subarctic, and Antarctic, with musical evocations by John Luther Adams, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Paul Moravec, Einar Englund, Nigel Westlake, George Lloyd, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Uuno Klami, Geirr Tveitt, and perhaps even Billy Mayerl. Our itinerary includes stops in Alaska, Lapland, Antarctica, Siberia, and the Arctic Ocean.

We strike camp at dawn. Grab a thermos and some mukluks, and tune in from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Expect a chilly reception, on Classic Ross Amico.

August 18, 2016

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