Bob began his radio broadcasting career in
December 2005 as a volunteer announcer at
WCPE, a 24-hour, non-commercial classical music station near Raleigh, North Carolina. Impressed by his linguistic skills and knowledge of classical music, the station hired Bob in September 2006 to be weekend host of Sleepers, Awake! its six-hour overnight program. Bob continues to host this show most Fridays and Saturdays from midnight until 6:00 a.m., while also hosting the Opera House on Thursday evenings. WCPE is at 89.7 FM locally
in central North Carolina, and is streamed online at http://www.theclassicalstation.org.
Since December 2008, Bob has been the host of the WCPE Opera House, heard every Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone. The show features full-length operas and operettas mostly from the station’s extensive collection of CDs. Bob carefully chooses each opera for broadcast, including a recorded encore performance once a month hosted by the late Al Ruocchio, who began and nurtured the program from 1980 until his death in 2007. Visit http://www.theclassicalstation.org/opera.shtml.
With an extensive background in opera performance, music librarianship and European languages, Bob is perfectly suited to hosting the Opera House. He draws upon 40 years’ experience as an opera singer, ten years as a classical music librarian, and seven years living in Germany. Bob also has extensive personal library of CDs, LPs, DVDs, and books about opera and other forms of classical music.
Bob introduces each opera, summarizes the plot, and identifies the characters and their performers. When time permits, he provides complementary performances of arias or scenes from operas by the same or related composers. His versatile approach appeals across the board to
opera neophytes and connoisseurs alike.
Bob began his radio broadcasting career in December 2005 as a volunteer announcer at WCPE, a 24-hour, non-commercial classical music station near Raleigh, North Carolina. Impressed by his linguistic skills and knowledge of classical music, the station hired Bob in September 2006 to be weekend host of Sleepers, Awake! its six-hour overnight program. Bob continues to host this show most Fridays and Saturdays from midnight until 6:00 a.m., while also hosting the Opera House on Thursday evenings. Heard locally in central North Carolina at 89.7 on the FM dial, WCPE is streamed online at http://www.theclassicalstation.org.
The complete current Schedule of Opera House presentations, with principal performers and a brief plot summary, is available on the WCPE website at http://www.theclassicalstation.org/opera.shtml.
Links - The following opera sites may be useful or interesting: