''Exploring Music'' is an internationally syndicated radio program featuring

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, with commentary and analysis by host

Bill McGlaughlin William McGlaughlin (born October 3, 1943) is an American composer, conductor, music educator, and Peabody Award-winning classical music radio host. He is the host and music director of the public radio programs ''Exploring Music'' and '' Saint ...

. It is a daily, one-hour show with a single in-depth theme each week. The show, which debuted in 2003, is produced by

WFMT WFMT is an FM broadcasting, FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk music, folk. The station is managed by Window to the World Communications, In ...

Radio Network. ''Exploring Music'' is in many ways the heir to the late

Karl Haas Karl Haas (December 6, 1913February 6, 2005) was a German-American classical music radio host, known for his sonorous speaking voice, humanistic approach to music appreciation, and popularization of classical music. He was the host of the classi ...

' popular long-running show, ''

Adventures in Good Music ''Adventures in Good Music'', hosted by Karl Haas, was radio's most widely listened-to classical music program, and aired nationally in the U.S. from 1970 to 2007. The program was also syndicated to commercial and public radio stations around th ...

'', expanded and updated for a 21st-century audience.Williams, David
"'Exploring' Replaces 'Adventures': Bill McGlaughlin Takes a Deeper Look on Classical Music Radio Program."
''Sunday Gazette-Mail'', July 30, 2006
/ref> As of 2013, ''Exploring Music'' airs on 55 U.S. radio stations and has over 400,000 live listeners weekly.von Rhein, John
"McGlaughlin to be 'Exploring Music' Under the Stars Here."
''Chicago Tribune'', June 27, 2008; reprinted in ''Metromix Chicago.''Music Institute of Chicago 2008 Awards
Music Institute of Chicago 2008 Gala In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, ''Exploring Music'' airs on

ArtSound FM ArtSound FM (callsign 1ART) is a community radio station broadcasting to Canberra from studios in the suburb of Manuka. Its format is fine music and arts programming. ArtSound was established in the early 1980s under the name Canberra Stereo ...

in Canberra at 9AM,

3MBS 3MBS was the first FM (frequency modulation) radio station in Victoria, Australia, and began transmitting to Melbourne and surrounding areas on 1 July 1975. Since then it has operated successfully as a non-profit community-based organisation broa ...

at 9 AM, and on 4MBS at 7 PM. The show is also listenable worldwide via on-demand

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

of all its past and current shows.Listenable Archived Shows
at ExploringMusic.orgRamey, Corrine
"Radio’s Bill McGlaughlin delights in making waves for classical music"
''The Classical Review''. July 15, 2013.

Program description

''Exploring Music'' delves into a wide variety of topics in classical music, and each five-program, one-week series has a single theme. Weekly themes have included weeklong studies of the music of dozens of

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

s, explorations of various

cultures Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

, styles,

forms Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data * ...

, and time periods, and dozens of other topics and areas of exploration. A very small sampling of weekly topics includes such themes as: Over two dozen classical composers — e.g.

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

, Bartók, Grieg,

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

, and

Bernstein Bernstein is a common surname in the German language, meaning "amber" (literally "burn stone"). The name is used by both Germans and Jews, although it is most common among people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. The German pronunciation is , but in E ...

— have also had weekly themes devoted exclusively to their lives and music. These programs are intimate biographies which include the composer's early life, education, historical and musical influences, personal life, and emotional and musical development, plus numerous musical pieces each day. Several composers, including

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

, and

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

, have had a two-week theme devoted to their lives and works.

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

have each had several series centered around their works. Approximately one week per month is devoted to the life and works of a single composer. ''Exploring Music'' is geared to all ages and to any level of musical knowledge. Host Bill McGlaughlin guides the listener into the music through various means: revealing the stories behind compositions, adding analysis and illustrations at the piano, exploring the interlocking nature of music and ideas, referencing the historical context of pieces and trends, and also giving his insight as a professional musician, conductor, and composer. Each week McGlaughlin weaves a deepening narrative around the topic at hand, and aims to make exploring classical music fun. "Drawing people inside the music seems the clue to me," he says. "Human beings are wired for delight when we figure something out."Burkholder, Steve
"Chicago Classical Music Chat with Bill McGlaughlin."
''Chicago Classical Music.'' March 8, 2007 Occasionally music from other genres — such as jazz, ethnic/world music, folk/traditional music, or pop standards — is aired, to liven up the discussion and illustrate points. The piano is another tool McGlaughlin frequently employs to get concepts across. Of his original decisions about the show's format, McGlaughlin says, "It’s very hard to talk about music on the radio unless you can hear a sound, so I said I need a piano. Instead of saying 'a

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two com ...

,' I can play it. I wanted to make certain that what you could hear was prominent."

Inception and history

In 2002, Steve Robinson, Vice President of

Radio Network, approached

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

-winner

to host a new daily radio show, which would showcase and explicate great works of classical music.Manning, Bryant
"Bill’s Excellent Venture: Radio Host Brings Arias and Masses to the Masses."
''Time Out Chicago.'' Issue 175: Jul 3–9, 2008 McGlaughlin had spent 22 years as host and music director of ''

Saint Paul Sunday ''Saint Paul Sunday'' is a Peabody Award-winning weekly classical music radio program that aired from 1980 to 2007, with encore broadcasts airing through 2012. It was hosted by Bill McGlaughlin for its entire run. At its height, it was America's ...

'', the nationally syndicated weekly

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

performance and interview show. His credentials also included decades as a professional musician, conductor, and composer. Regarding his choice of McGlaughlin as host, Steve Robinson stated, "As far as I'm concerned, no one can top Bill in the way he conveys his passion for music on the radio." Development of the new program was funded by a special grant from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, in November 2002.''Exploring Music'' Official Site – Bill McGlaughlin
The show debuted nationally on October 6, 2003. ''Exploring Music'' in essence replaced

' long-running show, ''

'', since the aging and retired Haas had recorded no new episodes of his show after 2002. When encore broadcasts of ''Adventures in Good Music'' ceased entirely on June 29, 2007, ''Exploring Music'' gained an even wider national listenership, as it was then scheduled in the retired show's time slot on many radio stations. In 2013, after repeated requests from listeners and following years of negotiation with recorded-music copyright lawyers, ''Exploring Music'' reached ground-breaking legal agreements which allow it to stream any of its past shows on demand from its site.

Popular and critical reception

McGlaughlin's highly informed, yet relatable and enthusiastic presentation has appealed to radio audiences of all ages, including younger listeners. According to ''Chicago Tribune'' music critic John von Rhein, "Bill McGlaughlin's folksy but informed manner as host of the popular radio series ''Exploring Music'' has pulled thousands of listeners into the classical experience." Executive Producer Steve Robinson reported in 2007: :The e-mail is always over the top. In my 40 years doing classical music radio I've never seen anything like it.... The letters range from a person who had never heard a string quartet before and wanted to know where to buy one, to a listener who graduated from

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

and found ill'scomments on

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

to be enlightening! As of 2013, ''Exploring Music'' had over 400,000 listeners to the live show.

Honors

Host and music director Bill McGlaughlin received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 from Fine Arts Radio International, which stated that, "''Exploring Music'', with its weekly thematic concept, provides the classical radio listener with both in-depth education and compelling radio listening, a balance that is rarely achieved." The show also garnered Bill McGlaughlin and producer Steve Robinson the Dushkin Award from the Music Institute of Chicago, in 2008. In 2011, in presenting McGlaughlin their Lifetime Achievement Award, the Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio noted that "Bill McGlaughlin’s incredibly knowledgeable but always inviting and warm presence can ... be heard on ''Exploring Music'', a daily program begun in 2002 in which he guides listeners to discover the heart, soul and humor of the music he plays."

Production and distribution

Since McGlaughlin lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and the

production studio is in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, production of ''Exploring Music'' occurs in two locations. After choosing a topic, McGlaughlin does extensive research at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, and via his own resources such as the 30-volume ''

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

''.Ward, Charles
"McGlaughlin Brings Voice to Chamber Choir: Q&A"
''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

''. April 25, 2008.Strauss, Elaine
"Exploring & Celebrating the Uncommon Music"
''U.S. 1''. June 3, 2009. The Chicago producers collect 30 to 50 hours of relevant music selection samples, with their liner notes, from WFMT's extensive library in Chicago, and send them to McGlaughlin — by making low-resolution

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

files of them, burning them onto DVDs, and

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

ing them. In New York, the team at radio station WQXR also combs their music library for more possibilities, and places the audio into

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

for McGlaughlin to review. After sorting through and choosing which music selections to present, and finalizing his research and ideas, McGlaughlin then records the voice-track portion of the week's five one-hour shows, in the studios of WQXR in New York. The recording session is monitored in real time in Chicago via either

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. Wo ...

or telephone. This allows McGlaughlin, his New York recording engineer, and the Chicago producers to interact freely, as if they were all in the same recording studio. McGlaughlin often voices the same narration section multiple ways, attempting to find the most concise and entertaining way to present the information, which also gives the producers editing options when they finalize each show. The voice-track audio files for the week's five shows are then sent to Chicago, where they are edited for time, and the high-resolution music selections are added in. This

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

process involves making artistic choices regarding which of Bill's narration samples to use, and how to present and place Bill's piano examples, snippet examples from CDs, and the musical pieces themselves. Choices are also made with timing in mind; extra movements or an extra unannounced musical snippet at the end of the show are added if a show runs short. Once each program is completed, a CD is made and given to the WFMT

uplink In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or shar ...

department. The show is then distributed to radio stations around the country three ways: Physical duplicates are made of the master CD and shipped and the show is uploaded to the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) server for automatic internet distribution. Listeners nationwide and even worldwide are then able to hear ''Exploring Music'', either broadcast on their local radio station, or via the internet through any one of over 30 online radio stations.

Listening options

''Exploring Music'' airs daily on 55 public and commercial radio stations in the U.S. In

, ''Exploring Music'' airs on

at 9 AM, and on 4MBS at 7 PM; in

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

it airs on KPRG at 10 AM.KPRG program grid
/ref> As of May 2013, ''Exploring Music'' also offers the option to stream any of its past and current programs

on demand On-demand or on demand may refer to: Manufacturing * Build-on-demand * Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production * Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until an ...

on its website. The on-demand archive includes a search function which can search for terms and names throughout all series and episodes, and also includes a feature which can separate the music from an episode from McGlaughlin's commentary and vice versa."''Exploring Music'' on Demand"
Interview with Brad Cresswell. WGTE. Playlists for every episode of ''Exploring Music'' since its inception are available on the program's official site.

Footnotes

External links

''Exploring Music'' Official SiteStation listingsOn-Demand Streaming of all past shows''Exploring Music'' via Streaming AudioPlaylists 2003 to present
{{Music topics American classical music radio programs American public radio programs Music education Music journalism 2003 radio programme debuts