- Performance Today
"Performance Today" is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the
United States , with about one million listeners on 230 stations. [cite web | author= | title=Performance Today | url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4 | publisher=National Public Radio | date=2006 | accessdate=2007-08-10] The program, created byNational Public Radio (NPR), went on the air in 1987. For most of its first two years, under hosts Kathryn Loomans and Liane Hansen, it combined classical music with numerous and wide-ranging arts features. In 1989, the focus shifted exclusively to classical music. NPR produced and distributed the program from Washington, D.C., for just over 20 years.American Public Media took over as the program's producer and distributor in January 2007 and moved the production to Saint Paul, Minnesota.cite news | author=Vivien Schweitzer; Matthew Westphal | title=NPR Performance Today Host Fred Child to Follow Program to American Public Media | url=http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/5563.html | work=Playbill Arts | date=10 Nov 2006 | accessdate=2007-08-10]Fred Child has been the program's host since October 2000, and remains as host after the move to American Public Media. Prior to Child, Martin Goldsmith hosted for nearly ten years; he left in October 1999. [cite press release | title=NPR's Martin Goldsmith to Step Down as Performance Today Host | url=http://www.npr.org/about/press/990920.goldsmith.html | publisher=National Public Radio | date=20 Sept 1999 | accessdate=2007-08-10] During Goldsmith's tenure as host the show grew from 40 stations to 230, with weekly listeners reaching 1.5 million."Performance Today" builds its two-hour daily broadcast mostly on recent concert performances from around the world. Some stations broadcast only one hour of the program. The show also airs in-studio recitals, music-related interviews, and the weekly "Piano Puzzler" featuring composer
Bruce Adolphe .The show also periodically presents the segment "What Makes It Great?" with
composer andconductor Robert Kapilow . Although "What Makes It Great?" presents live full-length concert evenings and series throughout North America, Kapilow's program has become a recurring event at New York'sLincoln Center and it is the only media outlet to have ever had such a relationship with the venue.References
External links
* [http://performancetoday.publicradio.org Performance Today] official Web site
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