Classic FM

Broadcast area	National
First air date	7 September 1992
Frequency	99.9 MHz - 101.9 MHz
Format	Classical
Owner	GCap Media
Website	www.classicfm.com

Classic FM is the United Kingdom's first national commercial radio station, broadcasting classical music in a popular and accessible style. Image File history File links Classicfm_logo. ... September 7 is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... GCap Media plc is a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. ... Website - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ...

Overview

Classic FM broadcasts nationally on FM and digital radio and is available internationally by streaming audio over the Internet. The abbreviations FM, Fm, and fm may refer to: Electrical engineering Frequency modulation (FM) and its most common applications: FM broadcasting, used primarily to broadcast music and speech at VHF frequencies FM synthesis, a sound-generation technique popularized by early digital synthesizers Science Femtometre (fm), an SI measure of length... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Streaming media is just-in-time delivery of multimedia information. ...

Classic FM's definition of what constitutes classical music is somewhat idiosyncratic: the station plays several modern film scores, but not the Savoy operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, for example. A film score is the background music in a film, generally specially written for the film and often used to heighten emotions provoked by the imagery on the screen or by the dialogue. ... W. S. Gilbert Sir Arthur Sullivan Librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) collaborated on a series of fourteen comic operas in Victorian England between 1871 and 1896. ...

Its presenters include Nick Bailey, Simon Bates, John Brunning, Katie Derham, Lisa Duncombe, soprano Lesley Garrett, baritone Aled Jones, Henry Kelly, pianist Myleene Klass, David Mellor, John Suchet and Natalie Wheen. Past presenters include Stephen Fry, Paul Gambaccini and Mike Read. Simon Bates (born Birmingham, 17 December 1947) is best known for being a disc jockey in the UK and New Zealand. ... Katie Derham presents the ITV Lunchtime News, and the news for London on ITV. Derham has a BA (Hons) in Economics from Magdalene College, Cambridge. ... Look up soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Lesley Garrett, CBE (April 10, 1955 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire) is an internationally renowned English soprano singer. ... Baritone (French: baryton; German: Bariton; Italian: baritono) is most commonly the type of male voice that lies between bass and tenor. ... Aled Jones, (born 29 December 1970, Llandegfan, Anglesey, Wales) is a Welsh singer and television personality who first came to fame as a boy soprano. ... Henry Kelly (born 17 April 1946) is an Irish television presenter and radio DJ. For the recipient of the Victoria Cross, see Henry Kelly (VC). ... A grand piano, with the lid up. ... Myleene Angela Klass (born April 6, 1978, in Norfolk) is a classically-trained pianist, and former member of the British manufactured pop group HearSay, who achieved four top 10 singles, two of which were UK Number 1s. ... The Right Honourable David Mellor (born 12 March 1949) is a British Conservative politician and barrister. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: almost no content, doesnt indicate notability If you disagree with its speedy deletion, please explain why on its talk page or at Wikipedia:Speedy deletions. ... Stephen Fry on the cover of his autobiography (US Edition) Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English comedian, author, actor and filmmaker. ... Paul Matthew Gambaccini (born April 2, 1949, New York) is a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom. ... Mike Read (born March 1, 1951) is an award-winning broadcaster from the UK, renowned for his work on both radio and television. ...

Classic FM is known for its annual Hall of Fame, comprising the 300 most popular pieces voted for by the listeners. The Number 1 spot was occupied consistently for many years by Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. However, more recently Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto have taken first place. College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana. ... Photograph of Max Bruch Max Christian Friedrich Bruch (Cologne, January 6, 1838 – Friedenau, October 20, 1920) was a German composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including a violin concerto which is a staple of the violin repertoire. ... The Concerto No. ... Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: , Sergej Vasil’evič Rahmaninov, April 1, 1873 (N.S.) or March 20, 1873 (O.S.) – March 28, 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. ... Sergei Rachmaninoffs Piano Concerto No. ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was one of the most significant and influential of all composers of Western classical music. ... Mozarts Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 was written in 1791 for the clarinettist Anton Stadler. ...

History

The idea for a national, commercial FM network devoted to classical music originated with the management at GWR group, an entrepreneurial group of UK commercial radio stations. It had been operating a trial programme on its AM frequencies in Wiltshire and Bristol, testing audience reaction to a regular drive-time programme of popular classical music. It proved very successful and the company's CEO, Ralph Bernard, and programme director, Michael Bukht, drew up the plans for a national station. Meanwhile Brian Brolly, formerly the CEO of Andrew Lloyd Weber's Really Useful Group, had a similar idea in 1990. After failing to raise sufficient funds for the project Brolly's consortium was approached by GWR Group and the two merged. The UK Government had decided to award several new national radio licenses and invited tenders. Brolly had brought the idea to Rick Senat, the long-serving head of business affairs in London for Warner Brothers and current owner of Hammer Films. Initially rejected by Warner Brothers, Senat showed the project to the President of Time Warner International Broadcasting, Tom McGrath, himself a former classical musician and conductor. Time Warner agreed to back the project but was prohibited under then current UK law from owning more than a 25% interest. GWR created a business plan which was supported by its major shareholder, DMGT publishers of the Daily Mail. An internal dispute over ownership of the licence was resolved and the consortium was completed after Time Warner agreed to back GWR's plans for the station. As time was running out to raise the £6m needed to launch the station, the GWR investment team spent two days presenting to and finally persuading private investor Sir Peter Michael to back the plan with a 30% investment. The founding shareholder group that launched Classic FM was GWR (17%), DMGT (5%), several other smaller shareholders and the two largest shareholders, Sir Peter Michael and Time Warner. Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and located at With a population of 400,000, and metropolitan area of 550,000, it is Englands sixth, and the United Kingdoms ninth, most populous city... Brian Brolly: Innovative Entrepeneur. ... Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born March 22, 1948) is a highly successful British composer of musical theatre. ... The Really Useful Group (RUG) is a international company set up in 1977 by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. ... This article is about the year. ... Warner Bros. ... Hammer horror refers to horror films produced in the late 1950s through the 1970s by the British film studio Hammer Films. ... Time Warner Inc. ... Tom McGrath Tom McGrath (also known as Thomas B. McGrath, born 1956, married), though little known outside of Hollywood, has been an important, behind-the-scenes player in re-shaping the modern media landscape throughout his entertainment career. ...

The Radio Authority had granted an exemption so that Time Warner could hold more than 25% provided a UK citizen/corporation was larger in the shareholding group. The station rejected the "BBC Radio 3" style of presentation and took as its model New York's WNYC and WGMS in Washington, D.C., with their more populist mix of talk, light classical music, new artists and crossover classical records. BBC Radio 3 is a domestic UK BBC radio station, which devotes most of its schedule to classical music. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... WNYC are the call letters for two public radio stations in New York City. ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., with regard to the surrounding states of Maryland and Virginia. ...

During the station's test transmissions between July and September 1992, Classic FM broadcast a continuous soundtrack of birds singing and other countryside sounds. The "birdsong" test transmissons became a famous landmark of British radio and attracted many newspaper articles and comment prior to the station's launch, including one live comment during BBC Radio 4's Test Match Special when commentator Brian Johnston referred to listening to the birdsong, much to the fury of BBC management who were fearful of Classic FM's impending launch. The birdsong recording was made in the Wiltshire garden of the station's chief engineer who is also credited with the idea of using the soundtrack as test material rather than playing back to back music which would otherwise have been expected. Consequently, the sound and style of the station remained a complete mystery to listeners, critics and rivals alike until it launched at 6am on 7 September 1992. Brian Alexander Johnston (June 24, 1912 - January 5, 1994) (known as Johnners) was a cricket commentator for the BBC from 1946 until his death. ... September 7 is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

Today GCap Media, the UK’s largest radio station ownership group, owns the station. Classic FM moved to its current studio location, the 2nd floor of 30 Leicester Square in March 2006. The first programme to be broadcast live from there was Mark Griffiths' programme on Sunday, 26 March. GCap Media plc is a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (86th in leap years). ...

(Source: Radio & Records, Billboard magazine, The Times) Radio and Records (R&R) is a weekly trade magazine that tracks radio airplay from the various genres including Pop, Country, R&B and many others. ... Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ...

Playlist

At the heart of Classic FM's identity from the start was its playlist of popular classics. At launch it was compiled over the first few years by Robin Ray who over a period of time brought 50,000 items of music into the playlist, and personally awarded each a star rating assessing its popular appeal. These ratings proved remarkably accurate when subsequently tested by audience research. They immediately marked the station out from Radio 3, which tended to broadcast less popular works. However, the influence of Classic FM in popularising classical music (which had long been seen as a dying market) has had an effect on the music choices of other radio stations, including BBC Radio 3. Robin Ray (1935-1998) was an actor, musician and broadcaster, the son of comedian Ted Ray. ...

Classic FM accepted an idea by Quentin Howard (who, at the time, was Programme Director of GWR and acting Chief Engineer of Classic FM) to use a computerised playlist system rather than producer-selected music for each show. Selector software developed by RCS Inc in the United States, which had previously been used only for pop music, was adapted for Classical music by Howard, Robin Ray and others to include many more fields and categories and deal with many more rotation rules to create a playlist from the 50,000 listed tracks.

As Mr Justice Lightman stated when deciding a copyright dispute over the playlist in favour of Robin Ray against Classic FM, This articles section called History of Copyright does not cite its references or sources. ...

"A detailed categorisation of each track of music in [Classic FM's] library fed as a data base into Selector enabled Selector to select the individual track for any hour of the day in accordance with any choice of programme made by reference to a combination of categories by a programme director. The particular advantage of the Selector system was that it enabled [Classic FM] to provide a balanced rotation of music, composers and performers and to reflect in the frequency of choice of track and in the choice of time when it was played its popularity and mood, and to avoid repetition or the personal preference of the presenter influencing the selection of the music played on the air."

Nowadays nearly every radio station in the world uses Selector, or similar computer packages like Powergold for the same effect.

Classic FM currently has a music team who create playlists for the station, commission music research with listeners as well as choosing the repertoire for the station's CDs, magazines and concerts. The current Head of Music is Joanna Wilson.

Composer in residence

Classic FM named a composer in residence in 2004, Joby Talbot. Talbot created a brand new piece of classical music, scored for up to five instruments, each month for the year of his residence. The compositions were also premiered and playlisted on Classic FM. The twelve compositions form part of a larger piece, released on a CD entitled Once Round the Sun on May 23, 2005. Joby Talbot (born 1971) is a British composer. ... Once Around the Sun is a CD of classical music composed by Joby Talbot. ... May 23 is the 143rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (144th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Classic FM named Patrick Hawes composer in residence in 2006. Patrick Hawes (born 1958) is a British composer. ...

Other media

Classic FM also runs a digital TV channel playing classical music videos, Classic FM TV. Digital television (DTV) uses digital modulation and compression to broadcast video, audio and data signals to television sets. ... Classic FM TV is the world’s first 24-hour Classical Music Channel, available free-to-air on satelite, Sky Digital and Cable TV services, the channel is also available on the Internet. ...

Classic FM publishes a monthly magazine, Classic FM Magazine, which presents news and reviews.

Ownership

The station is owned by GCap Media.

External links

• Classic FM website
• Classic FM Magazine website