By Diana Brement, JTNews Correspondent
It’s fortunate that Classic-KING-FM’s new program director, Bob Goldfarb, has been a frequent visitor to Seattle, otherwise he might have been put off by the storms that blasted through western Washington last month.
“It’s funny,” he said on the phone from his office, “when I got here on Nov. 3, it was sunny and the sky was a brilliant blue. But I knew from having worked here that I should savor those days.”
Goldfarb, who was hired to replace the recently retired Peter Newman, had been consulting for Seattle’s only classical music station for a year and a half.
“I’d gotten close to the station,” says Bob, “and the idea of carrying out the ideas I’d helped develop was, frankly, irresistible.”
A native of Connecticut, this Harvard Business School graduate comes to Seattle from three years in L.A. where he worked for KUSC, the University of Southern California’s public radio station. There he directed not just programming, but day-to-day operations as well.
His position at KING offers different challenges. To begin with, KING is a commercial radio station.
KING’s programming is “100 percent focused on this community,” observes Goldfarb, who adds that this provides an advantage and makes programming easier.
Goldfarb expects the station will continue to improve on its history and success while upholding its place as a major part of the cultural life of the community, “and maybe attract more listeners,” he adds.
“When I was considering locating,” says Bob, “I had to ask how large the Jewish community was. I never imagined I would be able to attend two Jewish events in my first week here and meet people as well.”
Seattle has certainly met Goldfarb’s Jewish expectations. During the first weeks of November, although he was flying back and forth from L.A., apartment hunting and attending an out-of-town bar mitzvah, Bob managed to catch both the first Nextbook lecture by Michael Chabon and the Seattle Symphony’s performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Kaddish” symphony.
Calling himself a “city person,” Goldfarb adds that he plans to live close to downtown and will probably attend the Capitol Hill minyan of Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath.
The new program director says outside of work he enjoys attending cultural events, concerts, theater and film. He is delighted to find such a vibrant arts community here. In fact, he seems downright impressed.
“I think, per capita, Seattle must have one of the most lively [arts] scenes of any city’s,” he states. “There is nearly as much to do here as in L.A.!
“In the time I’ve been here,” he continued, “I’ve been able to find something interesting to do almost every night, and I haven’t begun to go to museums yet!”
Goldfarb started out in radio as the morning host at Boston’s all-classical WCRB and eventually became its music director. From 1986 to 1989 he was vice-president for programming and operations at KFAC in Los Angeles, another classical station. He managed stations on both the east and west coasts, and worked for National Public Radio in Washington before starting his consulting practice.
Bob is also active in the recording industry, having directed operations for Teldec Records, a Time-Warner label, and represented many European labels in the U.S. He has been executive director of the American Composers Alliance in New York and continues to consult with composers and performers.
Despite taking on this demanding job, Goldfarb also plans to continue a small sideline. He writes a “blog”—an Internet public diary—called “In Media Res” for Artsjournal.com, an arts news Web site. Goldfarb says he treats his blog, which looks at the interrelationships between the media, culture, and society, more like a newspaper column than a stream of consciousness.
“By nature, I’m not a person who wants to talk in public about how I spend my time,” he says, “but I do like to talk about aspects of the media.”
He says his column has given him the discipline and exercise to frame his thoughts on current media affairs, and in many cases, “it’s helped me think through an issue.”