Classical Music Back,

WSKG President Tells

Fans In Cooperstown

As Of Noon Thursday, 105.9 Will Be

All Music, 91.7 Will Remain All-Talk

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

COOPERSTOWN – At 5:05 this evening, an e-mail went forth from WSKG, the Binghamton-based PBS station, to Cooperstown members with the message:  As of noon tomorrow (Thursday), Classical music is back.

At that moment, WSKG President/CEO Greg Catlin was at the Village Library of Cooperstown, briefing a dozen fans of Classical music who had lobbied him to change his mind after WSKG’s two local channels – 91.7 and 105.9 FM – both switched to an all-talk format three months ago.

At it happens, the Cooperstown area will have it all:  91.7, which covers most of Otsego County, will remain all-talk.  But the 105.9 transmitter is localized around Cooperstown, and that will air “WSKG Classical,” which except for some NPR news broadcasts at the top of the hour, will be just that.

“You spoke out.  You let us know.  And we want to let you know that we listened,” said Catlin, adding, “We need your support.”

The gathering applauded, and assured him that support would be forthcoming.

“Our check is on the counter at home,” said Gary Kuch, the Otsego town justice and Clark Scholarship Foundation director, who attended with his wife, Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch.  Catlin joshed that he’d stop by on his way out of town to pick it up.

A special fund drive for WSKG Classical is planned next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, he added.

Also attending was Carol Beechy, the Bassett doctor who is the area’s representative on the WSKG board.

For decades, WSKG had provided a Classical format.  After a survey of the Cooperstown market found respondents favored all-talk by a 2-1 margin, the station abandoned Classical music on Sunday, Feb. 3.

That stirred up a hornet’s nest of Classical fans, said Catlin.  Asked to gauge the numbers of complaints, he demurred.  “Dozens?” he was asked.  “Much more than that,” he replied.

After the uproar, a second survey was taken that found support between Classical and all-talk to be evenly split, Catlin said.

He acknowledged that Cooperstown is “unique” in its dedication to the arts, including the musical ones, manifest not only in the Glimmerglass Festival (formerly “Opera”), but in the Cooperstown Music Festival and other manifestations.

To the particular delight of attendees, Catlin said Cooperstown’s Sam Goodyear will continue to broadcast Sunday afternoons.

“We grew up with him,” said Katie Boardman, a CGP professor with expertise in traditional music and music director at First Presbyterian Church.  “We all talk like him.”

While Internet coverage is spotty outside the county’s population centers, Catlin reminded the gathering that both formats are also available on WSKG.org, there’s a mobile app, and listeners may also connect through Amazon’s Alexa service.

That’s the way broadcasting is going generally, radio and TV, he said: By 2023, more than half of American households are expected to be live-streaming rather than watching TV.