Due to budget problems, WFMT-FM 98.7 won’t be carrying live broadcasts of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra this summer.
Instead, the station will air a 13-week series, starting July 10, of historic CSO performances drawn from the 12-CD archival set issued for various Radiothon premiums over the years.
“Amoco still is underwriting the series,” says WFMT program director Norman Pellegrini, “but it wanted to reduce its percentage. We hope to find a co-sponsor soon. We had a few on the line, but nothing’s come through yet.”
Amoco “had told us two years ago (it) wanted to cut” funding, Pellegrini says. “It still has a commitment to the series, however.”
CSO executive director Henry Fogel says WFMT’s financial decision, while curtailing the live peformances, still will leave “our presence on the radio 52 weeks a year. I don’t regard this as a serious development. The (CSO) still will have the longest and biggest syndication of any orchestra on the radio.”
In the late ’60s, the CSO distributed a transcription service itself, says Pellegrini. “They really weren’t organized enough to do it,” he adds. And, “in all honesty, there probably wasn’t as much interest in (conducter Jean) Martinon as there was in (Georg) Solti, which is when we started syndication.”
In the early ’70s, the New York Philharmonic received sponsorship from Exxon Corp., “and that was the model,” says Pellegrini. “Underwriting in those days was readily available. Amoco has been sponsoring (the CSO concerts) fully since 1976. But it doesn’t want to bear the total burden (now) of bringing the Chicago Symphony nationwide.”
With the prospects of finding another underwriter difficult, Pellegrini and Fogel have tapped into the resources of the WFMT Fine Arts Network.
“The stations are being asked to help out,” says Fogel, “but I don’t believe we realistically expect enough money to maintain a 52-week series.”
The CSO is trying to stave off the fate of the big symphony orchestras in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, none of which has live concerts on the air these days.
While Pellegrini plugs the gap with recordings, he doesn’t sound hopeful about finding the funding to resume a 52-week schedule in the near future.
“We had a few (sponsors) on the line,” he says, “but it’s darned hard to get them to commit. In the Chicago area, the corporate community has been tapped for $100 million-half for Lyric, half for Chicago Symphony-to rebuild their various facilities. Finding underwriting now is just a killer.”
Adds Fogel: “I can’t say I’m wildly optimistic.”
Political football: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a liberal media watchdog group, releases a report Wednesday disputing dozens of statements made by conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, who is heard locally on WLS-AM/FM and seen on WFLD-Ch. 32. The FAIR report ends by challenging Limbaugh to a debate on his credibility. . . . Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) and the major broadcast television networks plan to unveil the system Wednesday that ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox Broadcasting will put in place to assess TV violence.
Hear and there: WLUP-FM 97.9 plans an all-day “Loopstock” festival, featuring performances by Kevin Matthews with Ed Zeppelin, Buzz Kilman and the All Bubba Blues Band, and Johnny B. and the Leisure Suits as well as appearances by Garry Meier and Danny Bonaduce, at Poplar Creek Music Theater July 30. . . . Chicago-based Major Networks has signed local lawyer Susan E. Loggans to host a daily two-hour talk show on its Major Talk programming subsidiary.
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