Laura Cobb
By Katelyn Larson
Classical music is back. Or rather, Bach. After almost a year of silence, the once terrestrial Radio Bach station is now broadcasting online, live from the college.
Founded in 1959 by classical music lovers, the then hugely popular station broadcast on FM radio in Kansas City. In 2000, the station moved to AM and its audience plummeted. After ten years of slowly moving along, Entercom, the broadcasting company under which Radio Bach ran, decided to cut the station altogether.
This caused a problem for more than just listeners and employees at Radio Bach. Several organizations in the Kansas City arts community relied on the station as a way of advertising. The fact that the college took on the project of Radio Bach’s revival is greatly appreciated by the art groups in town, according to Patrick Neas, program director.
“They’re losing more and more ways to get their message out,” said Neas, of the art groups. “This is for them too, a great opportunity.”
In addition to working with Radio Bach for more than twenty years, Neas writes a weekly column that appears in the Sunday paper of the Kansas City Star.
One of the biggest goals Neas said he has for Radio Bach is to implement ways for students on campus to become more involved with the project. Having been a classical music lover himself since high school, Neas knows there are people in our generation that share his love for it.
“What I love most about working with Johnson County Community College, is that I can utilize the people and resources the campus has to offer,” he said.
One of the ways the college and Radio Bach are teaming up is through promoting events at the Carlsen Center. Emily Behrmann, general manager of Performing Arts at the college, has advertised upcoming events at the Carlsen Center through Radio Bach for years. According to Neas, she played a key part in presenting to the college the idea of keeping Radio Bach alive, but as a web streaming station.
“Other college departments have that option, now that Radio Bach exists again, to advertise events across the campus,” Behrmann said.
Many other faculty members have been a huge help in making Radio Bach possible. According to Vincent Miller, director of the Educational Technology Center, potential partnerships growing out of the project will benefit the college and students in many ways.
“The station’s local history and depth of listener loyalty provide the college with an opportunity,” Miller said. “To connect our students with an initiative that is important to the arts community across the metro region.”
To learn more about Radio Bach and to listen online, visit radiobach.com.
Contact Katelyn Larson, reporting correspondent, at klarso27@jccc.edu.