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Bach, Beethoven and Brahms to return

Planned radio station to have all-classical music format

By ALLISON STEELE
Monitor staff

Concord

For the first time in almost three years, Concord's radio airwaves will again hum with the sounds of strings, horns and woodwinds. A small nonprofit group plans to bring a classical music station to town, filling a void left when New Hampshire Public Radio dropped the genre from its programming.

The station hopes to be on the air by October.

The project was developed by Harry Kozlowski, program director for the Concord radio stations WJYY and WNHI, along with local musician and composer Patrick Hebert and a handful of other music enthusiasts. New Hampshire Public Radio also gave the project a boost by offering the new station full use of its classical music library. In addition, the two stations have agreed they will promote each other on the air.

"It was a generous offer, and much more than we expected," said Kozlowski. "We hadn't even gotten to asking about their library before they suggested it."

"It's really hard not to be supportive of a project like this," said Mark Handley, president and general manager of NHPR. "There are a lot of people out there who are going to be really happy about this."

The station, WCNH-LP at 94.7 FM, will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To keep operating costs low, there will be no studio and few frills. Hebert will design the playlists. Kozlowski will act as station manager and the main voice and will read most station announcements. All music will be programmed a day in advance, and audio files will be transmitted to an unmanned network from a computer in Kozlowski's home studio.

"It's going to be a very small project with a community group that does not have deep pockets," he said. "So we're trying to do this in a way that's sustainable."

Highland Community Broadcasting must raise $25,000 to get the station set up. Soon, the group will begin a fundraising drive that may include a concert, and members will approach local groups and businesses that support the arts. Kozlowski estimates that WCNH will cost about $50,000 a year to run. The group will not be able to sell commercial time, but plans to keep it going through listener donations and corporate sponsorship.

New Hampshire Public Radio stopped broadcasting classical music in February 2000, after research and surveys indicated that listeners were most interested in hearing continuous news and talk shows.

"We did it with some reluctance," said Handley. "And we spent quite a few years trying to find a way to run two separate stations that addressed both of those audiences. But at the time, there were no more frequencies available. So we're really pleased about this."

The project to create a classical station was born soon after NHPR dropped the classical programming. At the time, Kozlowski's daughter was taking piano lessons with Hebert, who lamented the loss.

That same year, the Federal Communications Commission created a new class of low-power radio stations, a class specifically designed for community groups. Seeing an increase in the number of unlicensed stations popping up, the commission decided to make it simpler for people to create smaller stations.

Kozlowski and Hebert decided to form Highland Community Broadcasting and applied for a license. Last month, the FCC granted the request.

Currently, any radio listener in Concord with a yen for Bach or Beethoven has few options. Boston's classical station can't be heard past Manchester on most radios, and it's equally difficult to catch a clear signal from National Public Radio affiliates in Vermont and Maine, where classical music is still broadcast.

Once operational, WCNH-LP should be heard clearly in Concord, Penacook, Bow and Hopkinton. Move north and, Kozlowski acknowledged, it might catch some interference from Mount Washington's transmission signal.

Kozlowski's long-range plans for the station include broadcasting recordings of local concerts, and he's also hoping to start spotlighting young, local talent.

"You can read about the star quarterback on a high school team, and go watch him play," he said. "But it's harder to hear about a young person who's a really talented musician. We'd like to be able to give people that chance."

And Concord is a good market for a classical radio station, Kozlowski said. Many who live in Concord and its surrounding communities have an appreciation for the arts, and are hungry for more culture.

"There certainly are a lot of people who've missed the music," he said. "And this won't only be classical, it'll be nonstop classical."

Friday, August 22, 2003