Frank Dominguez

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A Message on WDAV’s Commitment to Public Media For All

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Think back to the summer of 2020. The uncertainty of the pandemic wasn’t the only thing we were experiencing. That was also when the nation witnessed massive public protests decrying the murders of unarmed Black citizens by police.

As a public media organization with a classical music format, our obvious role was to provide an oasis from the discord. We responded by continuing to play the timeless music that was a source of comfort for our listeners, and by adding a new feature: the twice-daily Pause for Reflection providing an opportunity to reset and refresh with the help of a calming, beautiful piece of music.

But we also felt the need to do more. The moment called upon us to demonstrate our commitment to the value and worth of all our listeners, including people of color who might feel unseen and unheard. Our answer was to create programming that reflected the contributions of people of color to classical music. That’s when the NoteWorthy feature was conceived.

Three times a week, we highlight a work by an overlooked musician of color, or a woman composer or artist from another marginalized group. These selections, by and large, were already in our library, being dusted off perhaps once a year for Black History Month or some other observance. Now our intent is to showcase these overlooked artists regularly. And not just when the NoteWorthy feature is scheduled, but also throughout the mix of classical music we present every hour of every day. The work to diversify our playlist is ongoing, and it continues to introduce listeners to worthwhile composers from every culture, race, ethnic group, gender identification and sexual orientation.

In some ways, that was the easy part. Much more laborious is the effort to look inward, to the structures and practices and systems that make up WDAV as an organization, the better to assure that we are treating our staff equitably, and that they and our Community Advisory Board reflect the diversity of our community. This work is ongoing, and it receives guidance from the policies, values and aspirations of Davidson College, the institution which holds our broadcast license.

WDAV also exists within a system of media organizations that are bound by the ideals and mandate of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 which was enacted to provide everyone in our nation access to the highest levels of quality programming, whatever their race, ethnicity, or economic means.

These factors led us to membership in Public Media for All, a coalition of organizations and professionals brought together to support, inspire, and hold each other to our commitments. As I wrote in September of 2021 upon joining the organization:

“WDAV’s participation in Public Media for All is a way to assure that our station is accountable to our professed commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. As a leading station in the classical music format, we feel a responsibility to model for other stations like ours how they may embrace and accomplish DEI work. We also seek to be true to our stated mission to ‘build community through classical music,’ and realize that this is only possible if our programming, staffing and business practices fully reflect the nation we live in and the region we serve, and respect the diversity of ethnicities, cultures, and perspectives they represent. We believe fervently that pursuing these objectives will make our station stronger, will serve our audience better, and will uphold the highest ideals of public broadcasting.”

This work has at times been challenging, but it is always inspiring. With each new step we take, the promise of a future that truly fulfills our ideals and values becomes more real. You can click here to read our Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Statement, as well as the Action Items we have undertaken as part of this commitment.

Frank Dominguez

Frank Dominguez,
General Manager
November 10th, 2022

89.9 WDAV Classical Public Radio

WDAV Makes History

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Well, something happened recently that has never happened before. I’m sharing the news here because as someone who follows WDAV, you are a very important part of this story.

On Thursday, February 24th, while eating my lunch at my desk as I usually do, I got the monthly email informing me that the latest radio ratings report for WDAV was available. I opened it dutifully, prepared to scan it for insights to share with the management team here at the station about how the station performed in January 2022 as far as numbers of listeners, the amount of time they spend listening to WDAV, and when that listening occurs.

I glanced at the first page of the Market Ranker, as the report is called, which lists all the radio stations in the Charlotte region in descending order based on each station’s “share” of radio listening in the area. I found that I had to really focus and look closely to make sure I wasn’t misreading what I saw, because I was completely unprepared for what the ranking showed.

In the most recent ratings report from Nielsen Media, WDAV ranked as the Number 1 station in the Charlotte radio market based on its share of 6.5 percent, with an average of 6,100 listeners tuned in each quarter hour and averaging 102,900 individual listeners over the course of a week.*

This was exciting enough in its own right, because it had never happened before in all the years that WDAV has existed, though in recent years we have occasionally been in the top 10. But the next day, industry publications noted that this was not just a first in our area. It turned out that this was the first time a classical music station has ever led its market in the modern era of radio ratings!

We’re delighted that so many radio listeners in the Charlotte region care about classical music and turn to WDAV to experience it. Public media like WDAV isn’t traditionally driven by the ratings, but this landmark does serve to demonstrate the impact we have in the community, and the special way in which we engage with our listeners. According to this Nielsen survey, on average WDAV listeners spent seven hours and thirty minutes a week with the station – and a significant number of our audience of almost 103,000 individuals spent much more than that! It’s a commitment of time and attention that is in marked contrast to the relationship most people have with radio these days.

It’s very heartening for everyone who works at WDAV, whether on air or supporting our programming behind the scenes, to know that the effort has earned the station this milestone moment. But we are also very aware that without the loyalty of our listeners, it simply would not have happened.

Frank Dominguez

So, I write these words with deep appreciation for your role in WDAV’s ongoing growth over more than four decades. Because of it, we can continue to provide this timeless and enduring music in the coming weeks, months, and years. We truly couldn’t do it without you.

– Frank Dominguez, General Manager

*Nielsen Topline Radio Ratings, January 2022, Charlotte Metro, Persons 6+, Monday – Sunday, 6 a.m. –Midnight, Average Quarter-Hour Share and Audience, and Weekly Cume.

NYC at night commemorating Nine Eleven.

Reflections on 9/11

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by Frank Dominguez

None of us who experienced September 11th, 2001 will ever forget it. The 20th anniversary of the event this year brings the memories back with special force. Many reflections on this milepost will mention how the world changed that day. For my part, I think of it also as an event that defined in many respects the future direction of WDAV.

On that unimaginable morning, I happened to be on the tarmac at Charlotte-Douglas airport on a flight waiting to take off for Baltimore. I was a newly minted program director traveling to attend my first public radio conference in that capacity. The plane never left, of course. An announcement informed us that all flights were cancelled, and we were directed to leave the plane.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I was annoyed as I entered the skywalk back toward the terminal. Why should all flights be canceled because of an accident? I don’t believe the announcement specified what had happened, but somehow that was the impression I had formed.

It was only as I walked through the terminal, and saw the images on the television screens around which crowds with nowhere to go had gathered, that the unthinkable reality sunk in. When it finally had, I found a pay phone (remember those?) and called the radio station, fired up with the initiative of my newfound status as PD.

At the time, we carried NPR newscasts during the morning and afternoon commuting hours, and my idea was that we should increase them to hourly while the information regarding the events continued to come in. Fortunately for me, our general manager at the time, Kim Hodgson, had something more to suggest.

“I think we have to give some thought to the music,” he told me. I braced myself, expecting Kim to say that we should discontinue our classical music format temporarily to join the continuous NPR news coverage. On the contrary, what Kim proposed was that we adjust the music programming to the circumstances. “People are going to need a break from this horrifying coverage,” he said to me. “We need to give them something calming. It’s not the time for Offenbach’s Can-Can.” I will always be indebted to him for that sage advice.

Over the next week, we strived to provide an oasis from the devastating images with a mix of sacred classical selections as well as introspective pieces. As the days went by and our leaders urged us all to go on with our lives, we gradually shifted back to our usual, upbeat sound. Eventually, even Offenbach returned. But we had been changed.

We put off on air fundraising that autumn as late as we possibly could. When we finally began, we didn’t know what to expect. Instead of resentment or indifference, though, listener/donors responded with exceptional generosity. It seemed every contributor had a comment about how the classical music on WDAV helped them get through the most awful national catastrophe most of us had ever experienced.

While nothing that nightmarish has happened since then, the world has given us all too many shocks in the intervening years, not the least of them the pandemic we’re still living through. And even when things are relatively calm, individual listeners are always experiencing personal calamities, along with the mundane highs and lows that are part of life.

9/11 taught us what an important role classical music plays in the lives of our audience, and the profound responsibility WDAV has in sharing this music with them. That is a lesson that, like the day itself, we will never forget.

—

Pictured: Main image by © rabbit75_ist via Canva.com

Whittington Pfhol Auditorium at the Brevard Music Center

Summer Festivals Play On(line)

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By Frank Dominguez

As the pandemic drags on in the Carolinas, the arts continue to feel the repercussions. Particularly hard hit are the regional summer music festivals that have been a haven of culture for both locals and vacationing visitors for many years. With customary creativity, these festivals have pivoted to present virtual programs in the spirit of the in person festivals.

Given how long WDAV has benefited from close partnerships with An Appalachian Summer Festival in Boone, the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, and the Brevard Music Center and Summer Festival in the western Blue Ridge Mountains, we feel an obligation to keep their presence front and center with our listeners.

Every Wednesday at 10 a.m. during the month of July, we feature a different classical music performance from An Appalachian Summer Festival, many of them featuring the acclaimed Broyhill Chamber Ensemble.

The Eastern Music Festival, helmed for decades now by the distinguished American conductor Gerard Schwarz, enjoys a similar showcase on WDAV Tuesdays and Saturdays at 10 a.m. beginning July 14th through the 28th. We’ll share concert highlights from the festival that have previously aired on our weekly concert program, Carolina Live.

Our strongest ties are with the Brevard Music Center, which shares Davidson College as a “parent” in common with WDAV. The college is where music professor James Christian Pfohl first hosted the summer music camp that eventually moved to Brevard in the 1940s. It has grown to be one of the premier music centers and festivals in the nation. For more than a decade, WDAV has produced a concert series drawn from festival performances. A retrospective of the best of Open Air Brevard is available on WDAV Saturday evenings at 6 through August 15th, as well as on demand at our website.

Information about the online offerings of all these festivals is available at the WDAV Events Calendar.

The St. Lawrence String Quartet plays Haydn's "Emperor" quartet during the Bank of America Chamber Music series

Spoleto at Home

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Pictured: The St. Lawrence String Quartet plays Haydn’s “Emperor” quartet during the Bank of America Chamber Music series. Photo by William Struhs.

By Frank Dominguez

I didn’t travel to Europe for the first time until 2012, when I accompanied a group of WDAV supporters on a trip to Paris and Provence. Immersing myself in the history, food and culture of Europe was an experience that is still vivid in my mind.

Before that, I experienced that kind of euphoric heightening of the senses regularly without plane travel – in fact, just a few hours’ drive away – at the annual Spoleto Festival USA.

With Charleston, SC, providing the historic atmosphere and gourmet cuisine, the festival provided the cultural stimulation any arts lover covets, with a kaleidoscopic array of theater, dance and music of all types.

For me the highlight was always the incredible classical music, with performers from around the globe presenting chamber music concerts twice daily, rarely heard operas, and the types of orchestral programs that are simply not practical for our beloved regional orchestras to present most of the time.

The Spoleto Festival USA has been the site of some of the most intense memory making of my artistic life. So while the news of the festival’s cancellation this year because of the pandemic came as no surprise, it was nevertheless an intensely sad moment for me, and I expect for many of WDAV’s listeners who are also fans.

That’s why we’re bringing them highlights of past festival performances virtually, every Wednesday at 11 a.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. through June 6th, to coincide with what would have been the festival’s run this year.

And for die hard festival lovers, the news is even better, as Spoleto at Home offers free digital programming for audiences to enjoy in lieu of the 2020 season.

Until we can again contemplate the prospect of crowds in Charleston’s French Quarter, these offerings provide a wonderful way to keep alive the spirit of one of the nation’s most distinctive cultural events.

Remember to tune in to WDAV Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m. through June 6th to hear highlights of past festival performances. Broadcast from the Spoleto Festival are made possible by DaisleyLegal.

Thumbs up glove over keyboard. Courtesy of Myelita Melton.

Keep Calm and Carry On

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By Frank Dominguez, General Manager and Content Director

The current public health situation has affected us all, and WDAV isn’t immune – no pun intended… Okay, maybe a little bit intended; it helps to keep things light, right?

While the pandemic is no laughing matter, WDAV is committed to keeping our listeners calm so they can carry on. That’s why we significantly abbreviated our Spring Campaign. We realized that, with all the unusual circumstances and stresses everyone is encountering right now, the need for the respite that only classical music can provide is greater than ever.

Like all of you, we’re taking extraordinary measures to stay healthy, precisely so we can continue to serve you. Immediately after the early conclusion of our fundraiser, we sent the office staff home, with instructions to work remotely for as long as necessary. Since then we’ve been forwarding phone calls to personal cell phones, conducting meetings via Slack, and sending program logs and other documents to printers remotely.

Even the on-air staff is taking the steps necessary to work from home. As I write this, we’re training on newly acquired USB microphones and other gear that will let us host from makeshift studios where we live. While announcing in your jammies may sound like fun, working outside the studio is actually much more complicated and cumbersome than you might imagine. But we feel the extra effort is worth it. This is no time to deprive you of Your Classical Companions.            

Which brings me back to that interrupted fundraiser. While it was incredibly successful, and we stand by our decision to end early, we did fall short of our $235,000 goal by about $14,000. Since then many generous listeners have been going online to contribute, or sending renewal mailings back with their gifts enclosed, so we’re hopeful we’ll be able to close the gap. But if you haven’t yet made your contribution to WDAV, we hope you will now. You’ll be doing your part to assure that we can “carry on” with our mission to build community around classical music.

Photo by History in HD on Unsplash

Music for the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing

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When it comes to heavenly bodies, none has provided more musical inspiration than the moon. The most frequently celebrated element of the earth’s satellite is its light, an aspect captured by composers as diverse as Beethoven and Debussy.

Numerous selections evoke the calm of night, while others imagine fanciful travel to the moon, and the wonders that await there. The phases of the moon stir the musical imagination in some of these works, as do the places from where we see it.

Most striking about this list is the number of romantic songs, from opera arias and choruses, to lieder and vintage Americana. We’re pleased to offer this contemplative sampling to observe the anniversary of the adventurous lunar landing fifty years ago.

  1. Beethoven – “Moonlight” Sonata
  2. Daniel Elder – “Ballade to the Moon”
  3. Elgar – In Moonlight
  4. R. Strauss – Moonlight Music from “Capriccio”
  5. Otto Nicolai – Moon Chorus from “The Merry Wives of Windsor”
  6. Debussy – Claire de lune
  7. Stella Sung – Dance of the White Lotus under the Silver Moon
  8. Lu Wencheng – Autumn Moon on a Calm Lake
  9. Dvorak – “Song to the Moon,” from “Rusalka”
  10. Frank Bridge – “Moonlight,” from “The Sea”
  11. Offenbach – Overture from “Voyage to the Moon”
  12. Haydn – “What a Delightful World,” from “The World on the Moon”
  13. John Williams – “Over the Moon,” from “E.T.”
  14. Schubert – “An den Mond” (“To the Moon”)
  15. Joe Burke/Benny Davis – “Carolina Moon”
  16. Mili Balakirev – “The Crescent Moon”
  17. Richard Rodgers (arr. André Previn) – “Blue Moon”
  18. Eric Whitacre – “Goodnight Moon”
  19. J. Strauss, Jr. – “From Earth to Moon: Blue Danube Waltz,” from “2001: A Space Odyssey”
  20. Brahms – “The Moon Veils Its Face”
  21. William Walton – “Moonlight,” from “As You Like It”
  22. Nico Muhly – “Moondrunk,” from “Three Moon Songs”
  23. Alexandre Desplat – “New Moon,” from “The Twilight Trilogy”

Endless Summer of Music

WDAV’s Endless Summer of Classical Music Playlist

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Classical music is ideal for enhancing the summertime state of mind. Many of the compositions in our Endless Summer of Classical Music playlist capture the gentle, lazy, dreamy nature of the season.

Others celebrate the sights, sounds and sensations of being out of doors at this special time of year. Ubiquitous summer thunderstorms featured in works by Vivaldi and Haydn, while other selections idealize the special character of summer nights.

Perhaps most evocatively, summer memories are stirred by works such as Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” as well as themes from some memorable film scores. Whether encountering this music on WDAV, or listening to this playlist, we hope you’ll be refreshed and inspired by the selection and the season.

  1. Mendelssohn: Scherzo from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
  2. Grieg: Lyric Piece No. 2, Op. 71 “Summer Evening”
  3. Delius: “Summer Night on the River”
  4. Vivaldi: “Summer” Violin Concerto from “The Four Seasons”
  5. Alfven: Swedish Rhapsody No. 1 “Midsummer Vigil”
  6. Samuel Barber: “Knoxville: Summer of 1915”
  7. Mark O’Connor: “Summer” Concerto from “The American Seasons”
  8. Copland: “Midsummer Nocturne”
  9. Michel Legrand: Theme from “The Summer of ‘42”
  10. Edward MacDowell: “Summer Idyll”
  11. Emile Waldteufel: “Summer Evening” Waltz
  12. Frank Bridge: “Summer”
  13. Gershwin: “Summertime” from “Porgy and Bess”
  14. Robert Muczynski: “Serenade for Summer”
  15. Dmitri Tiomkin: “The Green Leaves of Summer” from “The Alamo”
  16. Prokofiev: “A Summer Day”
  17. Arnold Bax: “Summer Music”
  18. Arthur Honegger: “Summer Pastorale”
  19. Samuel Barber: “Summer Music”
  20. Leroy Anderson: “Summer Skies”
  21. Max Steiner: Theme from “A Summer Place”
  22. Astor Piazzolla: “Verano Porteño” (“Buenos Aires Summer”) from “Four Seasons in Buenos Aires”
  23. Berlioz: Villanelle from “Le nuit d’ete” (“Summer Nights”)
  24. Tchaikovsky: “June: Barcarolle” from “The Seasons”
  25. Haydn: “Summer” from “The Seasons” Oratorio

Be sure to listen for these selections throughout the summer on WDAV or find our playlist on Spotify.