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Recent Articles
Chamber Folk Music on "Echoes" Chamber Folk Music on "Echoes" Posted: 2010-03-08 12:02:29
This Wednesday "Echoes" sits down with Aryeh Frankfurter to preview his recent CD featuring a Swedish keyed-fiddle called the Nyckleharpe. We will also have a live collaboration between guitarist Paul Speer and synthesist Paul Lawler. This is a broadcast you should be sure not to miss. Tune in at 8 p.m. every Wednesday evening on our HD-1 stream. "Echoes" can also be heard each weekday at 7 p.m. on our HD-2 stream. If you don't yet own an HD radio, our HD-2 stream can be easily accessed through the radio in the top right corner of WMUK's home page.
The Enso String Quartet Live with Cara Posted: 2010-03-10 08:41:57
This Thursday morning at 10 a.m., Cara Lieurance will sit down in the studio with the famed Enso String Quartet. The Quartet (featuring Maureen Nelson, violin; John Marcus, violin; Melissa Reardon, viola; and Richard Belcher, cello) has earned its place in the ensemble world claiming victories at the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Since its inception in 1999 the United States based Enso Quartet has been acclaimed for their performances in major concert halls throughout the Americas and Europe. They will be playing a program of 20th century music for the Fontana Series this Friday at the Wellspring Theatre in the Epic Center in downtown Kalamazoo. The quartet will be playing live in WMUK's Yoshimi Takeda Performance Studio and talking with Cara about Friday's concert.
For more information about the concert and ticket information, visit Fontana's website.
Curl up and Read Together with "Arts & More" Posted: 2010-03-10 14:46:12
This Friday on WMUK's "Arts and More" segment, the community based reading initiative "Reading Together" and the Kalamazoo Public Library picked the novel "Snow Falling on Cedars." Author David Guterson talks about his book and how it was influenced by another literary classic "To Kill A Mockingbird." Also, a look at the USA Curling Nationals being held this week at Kalamazoo's Wings Stadium. Lorraine reports from one of the draws in the men's competition. Tune in this and every Friday morning at 7:50 a.m. to explore the arts, cultural and remarkable activities that are happening in and around our local communities.
Morning Edition continues "The Long View" Posted: 2010-03-10 08:30:18
"The Long View," Morning Edition's occasional series featuring conversations with people of long experience, continues with an interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Thursday, March 11 and Rabbi Harold Kushner on Friday, March 12. Tune in to WMUK on your morning drive for compelling stories from these insightful personas.
HD signal is back on the air Posted: 2010-03-05 13:48:15
Friday morning we were relieved to have our HD broadcast returned to the air after a couple of days' outage. (Thanks to all our HD listeners for their patience!) These kinds of malfunctions occur rarely, but when they do, they give us fits. When you have engineers as good as ours, its difficult to explain to the casual listener why something isn't working the way it should. The broadcast equipment chain is very complex, and in my 30 years in radio (10 as station manager of WMUK) some of the causes of failure I've seen have been bizarre. But this one takes the cake. I've asked Mark Tomlonson to provide you the following report:
In my nearly 30 years as a radio Chief Engineer, I have had transmitters go down due to wind (WAYT 1981), fire (WMUK 1991), and flood (WIDR 2005), but I had never lost one to a fly. Until now. It is not unusual for insects, especially swarming insects, to give radio engineers fits. This was no swarm; it was a lone, individual, single housefly.
The device at WMUK that the fly brought down was the box that changes the HD-1 and HD-2 audio into HD Radio. Without it - no HD. This device is no more than a Linux computer running a specialized program. Like all computers this one has a hard-drive. There is nothing special about the drive; we replaced it with one we had at the station.
What you may not know about hard drives is that one side is usually left open for cooling. In the HD device this open cooling space was mounted facing a panel. The fly in question crawled between the hard drive and the panel, and came into contact with the power leads for the disc itself. This ended the life of both the fly and the hard drive.
It all seems so simple in retrospect, but I never would have guessed going in that this was the source of the problem
WMUK is back on the air full strength and with both HD streams. Requiescat in Pacem, Musca domestica.
Classics in Concert Posted: 2010-02-24 14:43:16
Currently featured in the WMUK music widget is NPR's "Classics in Concert." Click on the "Classical" button on the right hand side of our home page and choose from one of 5 recent concert performances. These include British soprano Kate Royal singing Mahler with the L.A. Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra performing Berlioz's "The Childhood of Christ," Gustavo Dudamel leading the L.A. Philharmonic this past October, the Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble playing a concert of by Bach and his associates, and Dutch violinist Janine Jansen taking on Tchaikovsky's Concerto. Listen to some of the best classical music on the air and on the web from your friends at WMUK.
WMUK to participate in Partnership for Hunger Relief during Spring Pledge Drive Posted: 2010-02-08 09:13:27
With a focus on service to our community, WMUK's Spring Pledge Drive will feature a unique partnership with Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes and the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. The Partnership for Hunger Relief is designed to raise dollars for funding WMUK programs while addressing the problem of hunger within the Kalamazoo area through a separate gift from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes. WMUK's Spring Pledge Drive begins on Saturday, March 20 and runs through March 26.
Kalamazoo Community Foundation has agreed to make a gift to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes equal to 10% of dollars pledged or donated to WMUK before the Spring Drive. This offer is extended for the first $150,000 raised by WMUK and could result in a $15,000 gift to Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes. If the station can raise $150,000 in pledges or donations to WMUK, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation will donate an additional $5,000 to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, for a $20,000 total. All donations made by listeners will go only to WMUK. All contributions from the Foundation to Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes are separate gifts over and above WMUK Spring Pledge Drive dollars.
Pre-drive mail-in contributions and pledging on-line at wmuk.org will be significant factors in helping WMUK reduce pledge hours while raising the funds necessary to buy programs such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered. WMUK's web ticker at wmuk.org will feature up to date results of the station's fundraising effort now through the drive and provide updates on the Partnership for Hunger Relief.
Funds raised through WMUK's pledge drive will help pay for acquisition costs of quality programs from NPR (National Public Radio), PRI (Public Radio International), the BBC and American Public Media. The Drive also helps to cover costs associated with local program production. How to listen on-line Posted: 2009-10-06 12:07:35
The radio image beneath our banner is a web-based audio player that will allow you to listen to either our HD-1 or HD-2 service. Just click on the HD-1 or HD-2 buttons to listen to the respective stream. This will open a new collapsible window that will stay active until you 1) close the window or, 2) click the green "ON" button (which then turns dark and switches off). If you prefer using your own media player, you'll see links to connect to either stream in the player's window.
The "Weather Advisories," "School Closings" and "Special Coverage" lights will be bright when conditions warrant. Click on the text next to the light to open a new window with weather updates, school closing information, etc.
Below the radio is a second frame that identifies what's currently playing on HD-1 or HD-2. Beneath that information there are two other widgets. The one with the NPR logo lets your hear the latest NPR hourly newscast. The lower button will start an on-line only music stream that is described in the small window to the right of it. These special music streams change weekly and come to us from NPR. They offer First Listens to new albums, live concert material, and holiday music mixes. |
