Audio News for April 9, 2013

by | Apr 9, 2013 | Audio News

Roger Ebert Dies at Age 70 – Known as the Critic for the Common Man, the popular film critic who could raise or sink the successes of new movies by his thumbs up or thumbs down with his late partner Gene Siskel died of cancer this past week. He had worked at the Chicago Sun-Times for over 40 years and with his weekly PBS and later commercial shows made film criticism a part of mainstream American culture. He said his unique opinions reflected the newspaper reporter he had been and not a formal film student. He kept up his work right to the end, using a computer sound app as his voice and participating heavily on Face Book and Twitter.

Symphony Disconnect in Minneapolis-St. Paul – The symphony orchestras of both adjoining cities a locked out of their halls and will miss that 2012-13 seasons with neither have success at arriving at a settlement. In Minneapolis, Orchestral Hall is refurbished for $50 million, and the hall in St. Paul is undergoing new construction. Plus a new 1100-seat concert hall to be the home of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and costing $79 million, will be built on the site of the present small McKnight Theater.

Opera in a Strip Club – Some live classical music is being performed in unusual venues lately: local pubs, armories, abandoned factories, food courts and train stations. And here’s a new twist on that idea: A former member of Opera Australia is staging La Traviata at The Men’s Gallery in Melbourne, described as “a table-dancing venue.” She says she has a passion for “opera at the lowest level,” has cut out the “boring bits” and even uses erotic dancers alongside the singers.

Internet Radio Up and AM/FM Down in Survey of Youth – Although the amount of time the 13 to 35 age group spends listening to music is nearly the same with both, Internet radio listening is gaining among the youth, while AM/FM listening is declining. There is also a decline in the amount of time consumers listen to CDs and digital music files. In the 4th quarter of last year, music listening time to Pandora and other free and subscription-based Internet streaming services accounted for 23% in the 13-35 group, which was up from 17% a year ago. In the car is where those consumers are listening to more Internet-streamed music, using mostly Pandora and iHeartRadio services plus their mobile phone.

Panasonic Plasma Displays Not Cancelled Yet – Technology blogs have been talking about the possibility of the industry’s top champion of plasma TV technology—Panasonic—may be ready to pull the plug. But there has been no official announcement. Panasonic’s latest models introduced at CES in January offered some of the best pictures since Pioneer’s Kuro models were discontinued. Plasma models routinely win big-screen picture quality shootouts, although LED and LCD and now OLED TVs get all the attention today.

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