Celebrating 50 years of WXXI's Classical 91.5

By Evan Dawson,

Published December 30, 2024 at 3:55 PM EST

Five smiling people wearing headphones sit around a table in a radio talk studio: a woman front left has long dark hair and is wearing a sleeveless black dress; a woman front center has long blonde hair and is wearing a dress with shades of purple and purple tights and black shoes; a woman back left has short blonde hair and is wearing glasses and a blue top; a woman back center has short white hair and is wearing glasses, a green top, and a black sweater; a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing a blue vest, a blue shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

1 of 3 — (foreground) Mona Seghatoleslami, Brenda Tremblay, (background) Ruth Phinney, and Marianne Carberry on Connections.jpg

(foreground) Mona Seghatoleslami, Brenda Tremblay, (background) Ruth Phinney, and Marianne Carberry on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Monday, December 30, 2024

Megan Mack / WXXI News

A smiling man wearing a yellow baseball hat with sunglasses on top of them and a light blue jacket. He is standing in front of a mountain and under a blue sky with clouds.

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David Dial

Provided

A smiling man with short brown hair and a brown and grey beard wearing glasses and a brown t-shirt. He is sitting behind a studio microphone.

3 of 3 — Dave Glerum.jpg

Dave Glerum

Provided

A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.

Fifty years ago this month, WXXI-FM 91.5 hit the airwaves. Before it became the region's home for classical music, it was a mix of music, talk, news, and early NPR programming.

We take a tour of our history with our WXXI colleagues, and we look ahead.

Our guests:

Ruth Phinney, program director for WXXI Classical 91.5
Brenda Tremblay, morning host and producer for WXXI Classical 91.5
Mona Seghatoleslami, music director and afternoon host for WXXI Classical 91.5
Marianne Carberry, Saturday host of WXXI Classical 91.5
Dave Dial, WXXI-FM station manager in 1974
David Glerum, WXXI music director from 1978 to 1988

*Notes:

To access a transcript of this discussion, please click here.
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