Toulouse is the program director and host of Classical Music Indy’s signature program, Classical Music with Michael Toulouse. His syndicated program airs on WICR as well as other stations. “I’ve been around long enough to witness a lot of change in broadcasting, but no matter what the current technology is, people will always be communicating,” Toulouse says. “That’s our real job and our bigger mission—communicating about the music.” Covering central Indiana’s classical music scene gives Toulouse a strong local following, but he also hears from people who follow from afar through online listening and syndicated broadcasts of his show. “As I speak into the microphone, I want people to have the sense that I am talking directly to them, that I’m a companion, listening along with them.”
CULTIVATING AN APPETITE FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC
Radio isn’t dead.
For Classical Music Indy and other like-minded organizations that want to spread passion for classical music, radio stations like WICR make natural allies. Radio and online listening are still the most popular ways to consume audio, and they make classical music affordable and accessible to everyone. Radio’s classical music audience has been stable for the past five to seven years, and stations that play it are committed to recruiting new fans.
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“Our challenge at WICR is the same as any performing classical music group,” Uecker says. “We have to find ways to get younger audiences to listen to the music, and we hope some of them will develop a love for it. It’s not that young people don’t like classical music; they just don’t know it.” In the local market, one of the most visible champions for giving people their first taste of classical music is Kyle Long, host of a public radio program at WFYI, Cultural Manifesto. “My show isn’t tied to any particular genre or time period,” Long says. “I will have a classical musician or composer in the same episode as a rapper from the community. I am trying to engage a wide audience and encourage people to open up and listen to things outside their typical diet of music.” As America’s broadest and most inclusive path to classical music, public radio has a growing audience, especially among listeners who are bored by corporate dominance and generic ideas. Their craving for local content gives Long creative freedom to explore arcane topics and to mine the local music ecology. “The same impulse that drives people toward the local food movement is driving them to the kind of radio programming we’re doing at WFYI and the kind of programming Classical Music Indy is doing, as well.” ■
On our 50th anniversary, we celebrate radio’s power to share music that stirs our imaginations, gives us refuge and transports us to places we’ve never been before. Keep reading and see how the digital age is changing the way we listen and expanding our taste in music.
My Music. My Story. MUSICAL SCORES AREN’T JUST FOR MOVIES. HERE’S HOW YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS ARE CURATING MUSIC TO ACCOMPANY THEM THROUGH EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE.
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by Crystal Hammon
I listen to various types of music, but R&B and Hispanic are my favorites. I’ve grown up listening to R&B, and I started listening to Hispanic music when I became interested in Hispanic culture. When we’re in the car, I listen to the radio. At home, I listen to a playlist I have set up in SoundCloud. I listen before school and when I get home in the afternoon until late at night. I turn to music when I’m sick or when I’m in a good mood. Usually, it makes me feel happy. Favorite groups: Migos and Destiny’s Child. TAMILA W.
a fifth-grade student at Christel House Academy West
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