New Scenery, New Sounds
It’s the first day of July, and the ninth day of our residence in Suite 200 of the Hampton Opera Center. If you’ve visited the All Classical Portland Facebook page recently, then you’ve no doubt seen some of the photos and video that I’ve posted as we packed up equipment, documents and 25,000 Cds, and moved into this beautiful new space. Or, maybe you haven’t? Well, here’s an illustration…
The old FM booth, where your hosts made radio for over 20 years at Benson high school:
Now, to Master Control, facing the Willamette River and with a view of the new Tillicum Crossing bridge:
Some of you know that I’ve worked at “89.9 FM” for a long time. I use that term, because the station, while consistently classical for 30 years, originated as an outgrowth of the KBPS high school radio program at Benson. That’s where the station broadcasted from, until June 23 of this year. The station ceased to be licensed to Portland Public Schools in December 2012, after nearly a decade of fundraising to pay off the license. Free and clear, we still inhabited our studios on NE 15th, on the school’s campus, and rapidly feeling less and less a part of the scenery there. It was time for a new home.
When I started at KBPS, my “office space” consisted of a file drawer and a mail slot. When we moved out of the gym wing (early history, here) , and into the newly-built facility in 1992, I graduated to having a two-door cabinet and some table space. Wow! Well, in 1997, I did get a desk, in a room shared with three of my colleagues:
Now, thanks to the generous contributions of many dedicated listeners, some of whom I will probably never meet, but am eternally grateful to; and also to the vision of our managers and hard work of engineers, this is the loom where I now weave the sounds we hear each day:
The second floor of the Hampton Opera Center is the new home for your hosts, staff and volunteers of All Classical Portland. It’s the place where “we love this music” more than ever.
Thank you, for helping to make it a reality.
