New Year's Classical Resolutions

The start of a new year always seems to present an opportunity to improve oneself. If you're reading this post, then chances are you:
1) Listen regularly to WTJU's classical programming
2) Know how to use a computer

If you'd like to enjoy classical music more in 2013, both of those skills will come in handy.

Resolution 1: Listen to more classical music on WTJU
 - We don't air classical music all day long, but you don't have to remember the schedule to know when to tune in. All of our programs are recorded and stored online, ready for you to replay at your convenience. Go to our tape vault (under the Streaming tab), and select the show you want to hear. You can even pre-sort by genre, so only classical programs display on the list.

So if you're a late riser, you can still enjoy all three hours of Dawn's Early Light. Just go to the tape vault on our website and press play to listen through your computer, smartphone, or tablet.

Resolution 2: Learn more about classical music
 - There are quite a few on- and off-line resources, but two of the easiest to use are also the most popular (and confidentially they're the ones we use quite a bit, too) -- Wikipedia and YouTube.

While Wikipedia can have accuracy issues, its entries about classical composers, famous works, and style periods are generally pretty accurate (although somewhat abbreviated on more obscure composers). And if the Wiki entry doesn't have the info you want, the websites cited at the bottom of the article usually will.

YouTube is more than just funny videos about cats in bags and dogs on skateboards. A surprising amount of classical music is available on the site, a good deal of it in good quality audio. Perhaps you're curious about the symphonic music of Joachim Raff. A quick search on YouTube will pull up several of his symphonies, concertos and chamber works. All available for you to listen to for free (like Raff's 3rd Symphony, below).


Resolution 3: Be a better member of the WTJU listener community
 - OK, I'm pretty sure no one will actually make such a resolution, but they should. WTJU is here to serve its listeners, but can only do so with support from said listeners. You don't have to wait for a fund drive to pledge your support to the station -- you can do it anytime 24/7 on our website.

So when you go access the most recent episode of A Time For Singing or Classical Cafe to play back, why not make a side trip via the Donate Now button?

Our resolution is to continue to improve the quality of the service we provide you, and improve the quality of the classical music we present.

Here's to a wonderful new year to us all.

WTJU's Changing --

Big changes are coming to WTJU, and they'll be here in August.

We are at a juncture in the life of 53-year-old WTJU where change is needed in order to build listenership, student involvement and revenue. This is your invitation to help shape the station.

Our current schedule is being revised, and the future of classical music at the station -- and how it fits into this plan -- is up for discussion.

You can be part of that discussion. The University of Virginia has set up a forum where listeners (like yourself) and station volunteers (like me) can have their say. And your voice does matter.

One of the features of the change is to make the schedule more consistent by moving each genre to its own part of the day. That means that at the very least, our evening classical programming will go away.

Already slated to be canceled:

The Early Music Show, our self-produced program of medieval and renaissance music.

Five-Star Edition, which featured outstanding contemporary and archival performances of the basic repertoire.


Eventide, with Andrew Pratt - lush, romantic music for evening listening


A Time for Singing - An Shaffer's long-running show (over 20 years) showcasing the great opera singers.

Portrait of the Artist - Our weekly look at a great composer, performer, or ensemble.

Mitchell with Music - The avuncular John Mitchell's long-running program of classical music and artist interviews.

What happens to our morning classical programming? And our Sunday afternoon opera? And our other programs? That depends, in part, on you and your response to the forum's survey.

Now is the time for all good listeners to come to the aid of their music. Because come August, everything changes. Participate in the forum, and have a say in the direction of that change.

WTJU Forum

Operating Instructions

Friends of mine who live outside WTJU's coverage area expressed an interest in listening to my show. "No problem," said I, "just go to WTJU.net and click on the Listen Now! button."

Well, it turns out there was a problem -- sort of.

Said friends are Mac users. Now if you've visited our live streaming page, you'll see two options for streaming. The PC option's pretty easy. Just click on the Windows stream, and your computer will play the stream through it's built-in Windows Media Player.

Mac users can't do that, of course (unless they're running Windows in Boot Camp, but the folks who can do that will not be puzzled by our streaming page in the first place).

For all you Mac types, you need to use the Og Vorbis stream. When I first looked at the page, I was not at all happy with the thought of having to download a media player just to get the stream.

But fortunately, you don't have to do that. The Firefox 3.5 browser has an Og Vorbis player incorporated into it. So in Firefox you just click on the Og Vorbis stream, and voila!

Not using Firefox as your browser? My personal opinion is that it's worth downloading and installing. First off, it's one of the more secure and stable browsers around. Secondly, it's customizable.

My Firefox browser has the current weather forecast in the bottom toolbar, a button to show my Twitter feed in a side window, colored tabs, customized background and font set, a switch to emulate Internet Explorer 7 (for those sites woefully behind the times), and a number of other things that make my work day easier.

But more to the point, it will allow you to listen to WTJU easily.

So to all my Mac friends (and perhaps you, too), I say: love your taste in computers (I rock a PowerBook myself). Download or upgrade to Firefox 3.5 and start enjoying some good radio for a change!

Spreading the Word

Question: How would you grow an audience for WTJU?

Answer: -- ?

I'm firmly convinced that we have yet to reach our full potential audience. Sure, other stations in are market are playing classical music, but their programming is based on a different aesthetic than ours. A colleague of mine who worked at a public radio station in Las Vegas years ago summed up their classical programming this way:

"Most of our major donors are plastic surgeons. So we've been told to program classical music that would sound nice in a plastic surgeon's waiting room."

And I don't think that's a particularly unusual programming concept. Maximize listenership by keeping the music appealing to the broadest possible audience. Recognize that most people just want classical music for pleasant background music as they go about their day.

Nothing wrong with that -- it's serving the needs (although sometimes I think its the perceived needs) of the audience.

Our classical programming runs a little deeper, pushes past the comfort zone, and basically is music by -- and for -- folks seriously into the genre.

Classical music has always been a niche market. Classical record (now download) sales account for about 7% of the market. So if WTJU's programming is appealing to only a portion of that market, how big can we expect our audience to be?

Well, that depends. Most of our announcers are, I think, invitational in their presentations. Don't know Bach from Offenbach? No problem. Just listen. You might hear something you like. And that's what it's all about. Exposing folks to this amazing body of music -- most of it virtually unheard on other stations.

So how do we get the word out? Well, we twitter, we blog, some of us Facebook. We stream on the web, and do everything we can to make our station as accessible as possible. But folks still have to discover us in some fashion.

And that's where you, gentle reader, come in. Chances are you're a regular listener to WTJU. Have you told your friends about us? Have you blogged about WTJU? Chatted about us on Facebook? Twittered us? Mentioned us in any social network?

Your recommendations have weight. If you believe in what we do, please spread the word. And don't forget to include our links!

website: WTJU.net
audio stream: http://cli.gs/WTJU

- Ralph

Welcome to Classical Music at WTJU!

As the Music Director for the Classical Department, I want to welcome everyone to the WTJU Classical Blog! Many thanks to Ralph Graves for blazing the trail, and making me feel welcome to the medium. We're hoping that listeners can come to this blog, read about their favorite station, favorite DJ's, and respond in ways to help us improve, and keep the music playing. After all, we are all volunteers, and we do what we do (volunteer) for the joy of it.

WTJU doesn't happen in a vacuum - and we'd like to include our listeners in to the WTJU Classical family. Even if all you want to say was, "I really liked hearing that," we'd love to know about it.

You can also follow us on Twitter, if you've got a preference. As always. WTJU.net is the way to stream WTJU live, check out the schedule, see upcoming events, check out the Sunday Opera schedule, pledge your financial support (year-round!), and search playlists. There's a lot packed into our website, so take your time to browse around.

I look forward to hearing from you!