Many people in today’s culture might question the survival of two important pieces of our democracy: journalism and classical music.
Interlochen Public Radio (IPR) is one of the organizations keeping those two things alive here in northern Michigan.
Today’s speaker, Peter Payette, has been with the station since 2000 and has been the executive director for about a year and a half.
IPR has two stations: IPR News Radio, which focuses on bringing fact-gathering journalism, and Classical IPR, which focuses on classical music. Their area covers Ludington and Manistee all the way to the Mackinac Bridge, covering Petoskey/Charlevoix areas.
IPR News Radio brings on-the-ground news stories that inform listeners about topics and issues facing the world, country, and local area.
While there are many great traditional news outlets in the region, Peter says IPR tries to find different ways to cover important local topics, bring real lives into their news stories in audio form and dig deep into the research.
For example, when the State of Michigan was considering opening up the Great Lakes to commercial fish farming, IPR staff traveled to Canada to explore existing fish farms so that listeners understand how the farms actually work and what they could mean for our area.
Peter says their listeners have high expectations about the quality of news and storytelling. They expect the same quality as National Public Radio.
IPR wants Classical IPR to be the “hub of the musical community” in northwest lower Michigan. Peter says it’s really an arts organization, not just a music station. They “insert themselves into things that are happening, musically.”
For example, listeners could hear the Baroque Choral Festival live from Corson Auditorium, or recent performances of the Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. They even covered the Baroque on Beaver festival on Beaver Island. IPR Classical highlights Interlochen Center for the Arts musicians and events, like when Rob Dillon’s Third Coast Percussion is in town.
Peter played us a clip from their morning “Kids Commute” show which helps engage kids into classical music and, from there, IPR draws kids to more engaging events like the “kids conductors” event at Winterlochen.
Thanks for the very interesting presentation, Peter! Thanks for bringing high-quality journalism and classical music to our area.
Guest Presenter Peter Payette