The Empty Microphone

The expert on all things classical music, is leaving the microphone. This Friday will mark the moment that Jim Svejda will retire from the KUSC evening program. I’m not sure that I can listen to classical music ever again. 

     Seriously. 

     I am laughing at the absurdity of that thought…silently. The other presenters on that radio station are assets to the genre: wonderfully witty, insightful and contain the pulse of the point on why classical music isn’t just that fancy stuff played in a concert hall. They do an exceptional job, but they are not Jim Svejda. 

     Neither am I.

And I know I should feel nothing but gratitude for the time he’s graced our Los Angeles air waves. The guy has been doing this for over forty years at KUSC…if anyone deserves to retire, it’s him. But we’ve all lost so much these past few years. And this news is just one more bad note we’ve had to play, as we pick up the pieces of life returning to the new “normal.”

     I am a novelist and my books that are soon to be a reality have huge themes in the classical genre. This influence came from Svejda. He made us think…dream and inspire. 

     They say on February 3, 1959 rock and roll died.

      I say, on February 18, 2022 classical music died.

      It will never be the same. But that being said, classical music has the unique ability to rewrite itself…using that magic happy key of C. Well Svejda, we will play on, in that key, because that my friend is the only key that matters today. So, let the band play on…