MPR opts for its own classics Morning show filled by staff, not outsiders

BANGOR – After conducting a national search for a new host for its classical music morning program, Maine Public Radio has decided to use the talent it already has on staff.

Charles Beck, who is currently vice president of radio services and has been with MPR since 1980, will take over behind the microphone on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, spokeswoman Rhonda Morin confirmed Thursday.

Rounding out the week will be Barry Darling, another familiar MPR voice, and newcomer Elena See.

Cost savings figured into MPR’s decision to fill the position in-house, according to Morin.

Leitha Christie left the position at the end of March after almost three years. She replaced Dave Bunker, who left in August 2001 after six years.

“We were really sad,” Morin said of Christie’s departure. Christie gave her notice of resignation in February, but stayed on through the end of March.

“It was very kind of her to stay with us through the transition period,” Morin said.

MPR conducted a national search for Christie’s replacement, “but we were not satisfied with the caliber of the applicants,” Morin said. The station reviewed the qualifications it was seeking, and decided to look at its own staff.

“We have a talented staff with decades of experience,” she said, including Beck, Darling and See. Listeners and supporters of the station suggested filling the position from within, she added.

“You already have the best of the best on staff,” is what radio managers were told, Morin said. “We are actually tapping into something that was asked of us for some time.”

The move also made good fiscal sense.

“We have to be mindful that we are funded by state appropriations,” Morin said.

A clarinetist, Beck holds a degree in music and is now taking graduate-level courses in music history. He has produced, hosted and developed classical music programs for MPR, Morin said.

Beck, who lives in Belfast, will remain vice president of radio services.

Darling’s radio experience dates to 1958 when he worked as a part-time disc jockey for WGUY in Bangor. He joined Maine Public Broadcasting in 1997 and then began producing MPR’s “Speaking in Maine” series. Darling also hosts the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival Concerts for “Maine Stage,” and since the fall, has been hosting the Sunday morning classical music program.

Darling lives in Bangor and operates a recording business specializing in the recording of classic pipe organs.

“He has a lifelong interest in performance and recorded chorale music,” Morin noted, calling Darling a “seasoned radio vet.”

See, hired in 2003, is working on a master’s degree in English literature at the University of Maine. She plays clarinet in a community orchestra and plays the piano. See worked at Minnesota Public Radio for more than two years as an assistant producer on the “A Prairie Home Companion” show.

While each will develop their own style in the music they play, Morin said the programming will continue to be overseen by Beck, with input from listeners.

“There will be no change in the quality of the programming,” Morin said.

Classical music is played 9 a.m.-noon weekdays, and 6-8 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

All the station’s music programs are produced in the Bangor studio, which is where the music library is housed.