Work in nonprofit broadcasting, both on-the-air and behind-the-scenes, has been the core of my professional life for 17 years.

A close-up of a broadcast microphone with a "Classical KING FM 98.1" flag and a radio studio out of focus in the background.
Broadcast microphone in the main studio of Seattle’s Classical KING 98.1.

Classical KING 98.1

Sunday Sunrise

Most recent in my radio experience was three years hosting on Classical KING 98.1, one of Seattle’s oldest broadcasting entities and one of the only public radio stations on the west coast dedicated exclusively to classical music.

I introduced music on KING on Sunday mornings from 5:00 to 9:00am. The heart of the shift was Sunday Sunrise, a two-hour showcase of choral music from 6 to 8.

I also served as a fill-in host for almost every shift in KING’s weekly schedule at one time or another. Whether with a Bach cantata on Sunday mornings or (as a fill-in host) a Mahler symphony on a Tuesday night, I was always delighted and so honored to be able to share music with hundreds of thousands of listeners in the Pacific Northwest.

Hear examples of my announcing on Classical KING below, mostly from Sunday mornings and all from late 2022 or early 2023.

I worked at KING as Assistant Program Director from 2019-2023 and was a host 2020-23.

Breaks

Introductions to music.

Clara Schumann, a rare multi-tasker

Joseph Haydn’s “A Star is Born” moment

What’s that hiding behind the organ? It’s (the music of) Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel!

Don’t confuse this composer with the U.S. president who died 30 days after his inauguration

Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s elaborate wedding present

Robert Schumann, driven both to illness and back to health by his music

With Arvo Pärt’s “The Beatitudes,” everything old is new again

Giovanni Gabrieli, the composer inspired by architecture

Haydn’s inspiration from “up there”

“Scoped” Air Checks

Each of these air checks contain all breaks from a single air shift combined. Each clip is about 22-25 minutes.

September 4, 2022
Jan. 29, 2023

Please note: in the audio files embedded above, the presence of background noise, as well as over-modulated “pop” sounds, skips, and other momentary disruptions, are a result of flaws in the “audiologger” hardware used to capture these recordings and are not due to production or technical errors with the broadcasts themselves.

A wide-angle view of the main broadcasting studio of a radio station.
The main broadcast studio of Seattle’s Classical KING 98.1.

KNOM Radio Mission

From 2006 through 2019, I hosted daily and weekly shows of many different varieties on KNOM Radio operating out of the sub-Arctic town of Nome, Alaska. Every shift was an opportunity to connect to an incredible and often overlooked corner of the world. My on-air work was on top of my off-air duties as KNOM’s Web & IT Director (2018-19), Web Director (2011-2018), Outreach Director (2009-11), and Producer (2006-09).

Most of the KNOM shows I hosted were music-focused, and I created two of them: Classically Late, which ran 2009-11, and KNOM Jazz, 2009-15 and 2018-19.

Spot Production & Musical Journalism

Working at KNOM also gave me the opportunity to create new radio modules or “spots”: one- or two-minute pieces on a variety of subjects that the station broadcast throughout its daily schedule. Many of these, also, were focused on different kinds of music.

Symphony & Swing

Below are a few examples of Symphony and Swing: a “magazine”-style radio module series I created that explored different topics in music, especially classical and jazz genres. I wrote, voiced, and produced these spots from 2008 through 2010.

“New” Recordings of Long-Dead Pianists
Player pianos aren’t just quaint curiosities anymore. With some advanced technology (and heavy doses of computer analysis), modern player pianos are now making records — and breathing new life into long-cherished recordings by the likes of Glenn Gould and Art Tatum.
Allen Toussaint Returns Home
A native son of New Orleans makes a musical homecoming.
Antonio Vivaldi: Not a Summer Person
Not every artist’s conception of summertime is a positive one. In one composer’s musical imagination, summer is a “languishing” time of “scorching heat,” the buzzing nuisance of mosquitoes, the threat of thunderstorms.
Paul Simon, J.S. Bach, and an Enduringly Useful Melody
What do living songwriter Paul Simon and 18th-century composer J.S. Bach have in common? They both borrowed the same melody. Talk about an “oldie but a goodie.”
John Philip Sousa, Cheese Connoisseur (and Composer)
Strike up the band! And learn a little bit about John Philip Sousa.
A Soundtrack for Going the Distance
The soundtrack of the Oscar-winning “Chariots of Fire” is iconic. Where did that unique sound come from?

Audio excerpts above are copyright either Classical KING 98.1 or KNOM Radio Mission.