Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Trojan horse in reverse

We have all heard the legend of the Trojan Horse. The Greeks make a gift of a large wooden horse, in which are hidden Greek soldiers. The Trojans bring the horse through the gates of the city. At night, the Greeks climb out, open the gates, and the Greek army pours in, bringing the lengthy Punic War to an end. Thus arose the famous saying "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!"

A couple of weeks ago, I welcomed the news that KDFC was going non-commercial. Sure, they'd need to give up their long-established frequency (102.1), but KDFC would move to a couple of other frequencies, one in the North Bay, which would also serve the East Bay, and one in San Francisco. Living in the Berkeley Hills, I thought that we would have a choice. This would mean that my listening life--mostly on NPR and KDFC--would be commercial-free. These changes would occur thanks to the generosity of USC. As a Cal supporter, the folks from the "University for Spoiled Children" are not my favorite college football team, but Hey, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth...

I don't think that KDFC is an ideal Classical Music station. I miss KKHI. I enjoy the baroque and other pleasant instrumental music on KDFC, but it's not exactly challenging. No vocal music. Some pop opera tunes, but forget Berg and Bartok. There's plenty of music in our lives, thanks to the Berkeley Symphony, the Berkeley performances of the San Francisco Early Music Society, Philharmonia Baroque, and the New Esterhazy Quartet, and assorted Cal Performances offerings.

So we tried both new frequencies. We can hardly hear the San Francisco station, and the North Bay version sounds like a fading station one hears on a long car trip into the boonies when one is desperate enough to tune into Rush Limbaugh or Country Western. It would be far worse in the South Bay.

Yes, beware of Trojans bearing gifts.

1 comment:

  1. They are working on it.

    From their website:

    South Bay and Peninsula: It is heartbreaking to us that we will not immediately have a signal that serves the Peninsula and the South Bay. We are already looking to buy a station in this region and the great news is that the University of Southern California has offered to buy a station if we can find one. We have hired two brokers to contact stations and ask if the owners are willing to sell. We wish we could give you a timeline but we are not in control of when a station will come on the market. We have reports from some listeners in the South bay who have been able to pick up 89.9, but the coverage there is spotty.

    East Bay: Some listeners in the East Bay are receiving our 89.9 FM signal (and/or our 90.3 signal,) but others are not. We have a plan to upgrade 89.9 soon and that should help, but we have to wait for the FCC to approve our purchase of the station to start the upgrade. Until then we do not officially own the stations. As soon as they give us the word, we will upgrade 89.9 and that should help. We are also looking for stations we could potentially acquire in the East Bay to round out our coverage in the region.

    San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley: We can ultimately get you a good signal on 90.3; however, we have to wait a couple of months for the FCC to approve our purchase of the stations. Once they do, we can upgrade 90.3 FM and move the transmitter and antenna (it is currently on top of a building at USF), and solve your signal problems. Many listeners in your area are able to hear 89.9.

    Daly City, San Bruno, South San Francisco, Pacifica: We can ultimately get you a good signal on 90.3; however, we have to wait a couple of months for the FCC to approve our purchase of the stations. Once they do, we can upgrade 90.3 FM and move the transmitter and antenna (it is currently on top of a building at USF), and solve your signal problems.

    http://www.kdfc.com/pages/9075228.php?

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