Wayback With The Journal: In 1990, KCAM Featured A Locally-Produced World-Class Music Radio Show Out Of Gakona

WAYBACK IN THE ARCHIVES 

Classical Music From Gakona, Alaska Over KCAM Radio 

Local Dentist's Husband, Larry Bedford, Once Worked At The San Francisco Symphony 

FROM THE JOURNAL

November, 1990 

COPPER RIVER COUNTRY-It's dinnertime all over Copper River Country. And in glowing cabins and trailers that dot silent river bluffs, lowlands, and lakesides, Copper River people are listening to the soothing strains of Mozart, Schubert and Mahler, brought to them over the radio with a commentary by Larry Bedford…

Larry Bedford lives in Gakona. His wife, Marisa, is known throughout the region as the local dentist. But Larry is known for his love of music.

For the past two years, he's hosted the evening "Concert Hour", which airs at 6 o'clock.

It's a simple format: lots of good music, with a little explanation in between. "I've geared it to an Alaskan audience - people without concert halls," says Larry. "I like to limit what I have to say to just something that gives you a handle on things."

Larry Bedford started the show two years ago. Like many Copper River people who came from somewhere else, he has a sizable professional background. He was once an administrator and orchestra librarian who booked the guest artists for the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. He worked with virtuoso Arthur Fiedler and the San Francisco Pops as a road manager. He worked in television — trying to build a repertory theater, and eventually producing national commercials for Folger's Coffee and others. And he is former Vice President of the Cornish College for the Arts in Seattle.

Over the years, he collected thousands of classical recordings, many of them gifts from the artists. It's from these recordings that he chooses the works he'll play. Most are easy-to-listen to, enjoyable pieces. A vast majority are from 18th and 19th century Austria, where rich patrons funded dozens of great musicians.

"It's a wonderful outlet for me," says Larry. "I enjoy doing the program. It's very demanding. There's really a lack of adequate music education in schools; there's no concert hall, (but) classical music can be enjoyed fully as much at 6 as at 60. This started as my attempt to make a contribution to the community. This is the only thing I really knew about."

The staff at KCAM Radio is proud of the Concert Hour's quality, and the show has been syndicated in Southeast Alaska and Valdez - and KCAM staff say it would probably have an even wider syndication if the radio station had the ability to tape in stereo.

Meanwhile, Larry Bedford has a growing number of listeners who can enjoy the great music of western culture — while simultaneously enjoying life in the Great Land.