Bukowski and the radio (1 Viewer)

pichon64

Not read nor write
We all know Bukowski loved to hear classical music on the radio. I always wondered which radio station he usually listened to.

I work as a DJ at my country's public radio. We have 4 different stations, and one of them plays classical music 24 hours a day. If you want to listen to it, just go to http://www.sodre.gub.uy/ and click on the following gif:

picture.php


The 'Babel 97.1 FM' station plays mostly jazz, new age and some classical music. 'Radio Uruguay 1050 AM' is our news station, and 'Emisora del Sur 1290 AM' plays our national popular music.

Hope you enjoy the visit... :)
 
here in the bay area in cali there are a couple classical stations. one of them doesn't reach here, and that's the public one - the one without all the fucking commercials. the other one has commercials all the time - it's like any other station. what shames me most is that the bay area, sf, oaktown, sj, doesn't have a public radio station dedicated solely to classical music. there are so many towns and cities across the states that support public classical radio, 24/7 and for the bay area not to have one is a disgrace.
 
In L.A., he used to listen to KFAC I believe. I grew up in LA and I remember "Concerto from Coldwater Canyon" which I think was on KFAC. In "Barfly", there's a scene when you can hear Carl Princi's voice on the radio after they have been playing a Mozart concerto as I recall. KPFK also broadcast classical music back in the Sixties.
 
Hi, bluebottle, our classical radio station is commercial free. We only have some breaks for general information. Another policy we have is to broadcast the entire music. If some Mahler's symphony (is only an example) is 120 minutes long, well, we'll broadcast it to the very last note. We are widely hear on Argentina aswell, because their public radio don't broadcast classical. We also broadcast some 'unusual' (sort of) classical music, like John Cage or classical music from South-american composers.

Thanks a lot David for the KFAC information. I always wondered about that.
 
LA Radio

We all know Bukowski loved to hear classical music on the radio. I always wondered which radio station he usually listened to....

Hi Pinchon,

In the classical market there was KFAC at first, a commercial station that Bukowski certainly listened to and is being played in the background of Barfly in a number of scenes. It's the station he has playing in his own room. In one scene, Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy is being announced by what sounds like either Thomas Cassady or Carl Princi - both legendary announcers whose voices over the years were as famous and as dependable as the music. I was glad to hear those voices again because I grew up with them and they had the allure of culture and a better life.

Later KUSC, a non-profit station, came along and there were informative announcers who usually gave interesting background information on each composer, and I would guess that Bukowski picked up on that and the information may have inspired some of his poems. They would sometimes mention quirky stuff about the composers, such as the Russian composer Borodin's wife who was known for hating her husband's famous music! (He was actually a chemist.) Or they'd mention someone like Hugo Wolf going mad after he'd composed over 200 works of priceless lieder that are still considered works of genius today. Buk wrote a poem about each of them.

One of the great features of KUSC is that it plays uninterrupted music from midnight to 6 AM - or it did at the time - and that would be perfect for Bukowski and his penchant for writing in the wee hours of the night with a couple of bottles as silent companions. I think he did that for years.

There was an overlap of these classical stations until KFAC was sold and went through a change of format in 1989. So Bukowski was still alive at the time of its unfortunate demise, a staple of cultural importance in Los Angeles for over 40 years.

Those who grew up in LA will be familiar with the FM stations I've mentioned if they enjoyed the purveyors of the classics.

Will check out your DJ work!

Best wishes, Poptop
 
There also was KPPC in L.A. back then, broadcasting out of a church basement in Pasadena. They were not strictly classical -- in fact, Firesign Theatre got their start on KPPC, as did Dr. Demento -- but they were "underground" radio and had classical hour blocks.
 
Makes me think of the Bukowski story where about once a week he throws his radio through his window out onto the roof part and every week he has to get a new pane from the hardware store but the radio kept working.
 
Thanks poptop, (hey, it's PICHON and not Pinchon, but... it's ok with me anyway ;)) for the exhaustive information. It's funny, but back in the 80's (when I just got this work) I read a lot of Bukowski on night shifts. At the time we used a lot of old vynil records, so I only have to take care of any 'needle jumps' or dropouts during long compositions, and that left me a lot of time for reading. CD's and now computers (mp3) makes our work a lot easier. I used to think: 'Hank would love our station'.

Thanks also CarversDog and slimedog for passing by :)

PS: A lot of my co-workers get in touch with Bukowski because I read some stories to them using our internal communication speaker system. They LOVE it.
 
Thanks poptop, (hey, it's PICHON and not Pinchon, but... it's ok with me anyway ;)) for the exhaustive information. It's funny, but back in the 80's (when I just got this work) I read a lot of Bukowski on night shifts. At the time we used a lot of old vynil records, so I only have to take care of any 'needle jumps' or dropouts during long compositions, and that left me a lot of time for reading. CD's and now computers (mp3) makes our work a lot easier. I used to think: 'Hank would love our station'.

Thanks also CarversDog and slimedog for passing by :)

PS: A lot of my co-workers get in touch with Bukowski because I read some stories to them using our internal communication speaker system. They LOVE it.

Hi Pichon64,

Apologies... will be more careful about your screen name. Good name. Reminds me of Buk's Hollywood.

Glad you enjoyed the background on LA radio. KUSC is still on the air and available through the internet. Same basic format.

I missed that someone else had brought up Carl Princi's name in Barfly. It's good to know the voice was definitely his.

Great that you are reading some of Bukowski's stories through the speaker system and have the time to do so. May you have many hours to spread the word. Too bad you can't pipe it in live here. The Bukowski Hour. I would imagine that you have the voice for it; it would have made a nice mp3. Cheers.

In L.A., he used to listen to KFAC I believe. I grew up in LA and I remember "Concerto from Coldwater Canyon" which I think was on KFAC. In "Barfly", there's a scene when you can hear Carl Princi's voice on the radio after they have been playing a Mozart concerto as I recall. KPFK also broadcast classical music back in the Sixties.

Hi David,

Thanks for clearing it up that it was Princi's voice. I missed that you'd posted that.

I remember listening to the classics on KPFK as well.

There also was KPPC in L.A. back then, broadcasting out of a church basement in Pasadena. They were not strictly classical -- in fact, Firesign Theatre got their start on KPPC, as did Dr. Demento -- but they were "underground" radio and had classical hour blocks.

The Firesign Theatre... was great. I remember KPPC. Would have listened to it more but it was easier to pick up the closer you were to Pasadena, had a somewhat weak signal compared to others. Lots of variety like you say. Fond memories of the radio days in LA.

For Gerard K H Love,

I read somewhere that you were wondering about the exact location of KFAC on the dial. It was originally at 92.3 FM on the left and 1330 AM on the right. After KFAC folded in 1989 it moved its classical format to KKGO, located at 105.1 FM on the right. KFAC - R.I.P.
 
poptop said:
For Gerard K H Love,

I read somewhere that you were wondering about the exact location of KFAC on the dial. It was originally at 92.3 FM on the left and 1330 AM on the right. After KFAC folded in 1989 it moved its classical format to KKGO, located at 105.1 FM on the right. KFAC - R.I.P. Best wishes.

...Thank you ..I just checked Google and the station I remember from the very early 70s was KACE 92.7 Rock and Roll in Riverside and 92.3 KFAC was the classic station I would listen to when I wanted to relax. Yes, even at 16, I needed to relax.
 
We all know Bukowski loved to hear classical music on the radio. I always wondered which radio station he usually listened to.

I work as a DJ at my country's public radio. We have 4 different stations, and one of them plays classical music 24 hours a day. If you want to listen to it, just go to http://www.sodre.gub.uy/ and click on the following gif:

picture.php


The 'Babel 97.1 FM' station plays mostly jazz, new age and some classical music. 'Radio Uruguay 1050 AM' is our news station, and 'Emisora del Sur 1290 AM' plays our national popular music.

Hope you enjoy the visit... :)
Hi Pichon,
is still working the classic radio station? I've got problem to find it. I told you cause I'm reading Factotum, red Ham on rye and I'd like to know more about Mahler. Thank you.
 

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