WCPE 89.7 FM

I started listening to WCPE 89.7 when I was in high school and was embarrassed to tell my friends that I listened to classical music. Now, I am so grateful for it. It started as something to turn on when I was stressed or had a headache and didn’t want to deal with anything else on the radio. Then it became something to have on while I studied in college, then it became something I turned on when they played operas or symphonies I was interested in hearing. Now, I listen while I am at work, and the pups listen to it all day while they are at home alone.
89.7 runs strictly off of donations from its listeners. We donate yearly because I know how we benefit from it. It is therapeutic and just a great background to have instead of turning the tv on when you get home. It’s a healthy and welcomed alternative from the norm. My pups agree!

Awful, awful programming here. Boring, banal, completely uninteresting selection of either old warhorses or third-​rate baroque composers, sub-​par performances, and often they only play one movement of a composition! This, paired with the overly saccharine tone of their inane announcers (who often pronounce composers’ and performers’ names incorrectly, whilst telling you how «woonnnnderful, relaaaaxing classical music helps you through the day») makes me avoid this station at all costs and turn to my LP collection to hear decent classical music. No wonder classical music is fairing so poorly in the US with media outlets such as WCPE as their only representatives on the airwaves. Anyone interested in serious music should look elsewhere.

You have to admire WCPE. They play classical music all of the time, not as part of their broadcast schedule. WCPE makes their programs available for other stations across the country, for local cable systems, and streams it across the internet for all to enjoy, as I am right now in my hotel room.
They do all of this as a listener supported station. There are no government grants or commercials keeping this station on the air. A couple of pledge drives and the hard work of a small paid staff and a lot of volunteers make this musical treasure available for all of us to enjoy.

For a self confessed music addict I’m completely ignorant about classical music. A friend of mine plays for some of the orchestras in the state and often plays different pieces for me, and is often talking about the lives of various eighteenth century composers, often at length and in great detail.
What I do know, however, is that classical music is excellent for me to listen to when I’m writing. Oftentimes rock music leads me off on thoughts completely unrelated to what I’m working on, while electronic music and metal make me feel frazzled and frenzied. The only things that are really left for me to listen to are Jazz and Classical. Jazz is a crapshoot because of the whole free jazz thing and the atonal squawks and honks that can come with it, and so I’ve found that classical music is the best thing for me to listen to while writing. Unfortunately, I don’t really know much about it and I’m not really eager to start buying tons of random classical CDs.
The good news is I don’t have too. WCPE (89.7 FM) plays great classical music 24 hours a day, with minimal DJ talking. When DJs do talk, it’s mostly just to tell you what they just played or what they’re playing next (I’ve noticed way to many stations that don’t even bother to tell you what they’re playing, it’s highly annoying). WCPE also steams their radio programs via the internet, so even when I’m travelling I can hear some great «thinking» music. This is one of the best stations in the area if you’re a fan of classical.