Anchorage Daily News

On Sept. 16, 1988, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony wafted over the airwaves on FM station 98.1. On Tuesday, KLEF, the northernmost classical music radio station in the U.S., will celebrate its 20th anniversary.

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There are perhaps 20 commercial classical music stations left in the country, maybe fewer. Big markets like Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles no longer have them. Public, non-commercial stations play less classical music all the time. National Public Radio dumped its on-air classical programming (a big reason why the network came into existence in the first place) some years ago.

KLEF's founder Rick Goodfellow, however, has found a successful formula, garnering consistently good ratings and making Anchorage a lot more livable. His wild idea of making a paying proposition out of playing the hits of the '80s and '90s (the 1880s and 1790s, that is) has been assisted by the fact that the local market does not have a traditional easy-listening FM station and that satellite radio -- to which most of the classical audience in the Lower 48 has turned -- cannot be easily received in Alaska.

But attention to detail has something to do with success, too. In the brave new world of automated radio, KLEF has minimal dead air or other glitches. And then there's hard work. Just this year, after two decades of Marconi and Governor's Arts Awards, concertos, requiems, operas, waltzes and baroque flute music, Goodfellow and his wife, Jan Ingram, took their first vacation since signing on.

Happy birthday.

-- Mike Dunham

Juneau thespian to head Perseverance

Juneau's Perseverance Theatre dipped into the ranks of its alumni to find a new managing director at the end of August. The job went to Elizabeth Davis, who grew up in Juneau and began her career in acting, directing, costume design and assorted stagecraft with Perseverance. She also taught school in Juneau for 10 years before going to England, where she recently completed a two-year intensive program at The London International School of Performing Arts.

Davis is the sixth managing director in the company's 29-year history. The pioneering troupe based in Douglas, across the bridge from Juneau, was founded in 1979 by another Juneau woman, Molly Smith, who led it for 19 years before going to Washington, D.C., in 1998 to head the Arena Stage.

-- Mike Dunham

Homer film fest hopes for Moore's next flick

The fifth annual Homer Documentary Film Festival will kick off this week in various venues at the End of the Road. Screenings include "Stranded," about a famed 1972 plane crash in the Andes, Sundance winner "Man on Wire," the Hunter Thompson bio "Gonzo" and "Up the Yantze." An e-mail from organizers suggested they might get to premiere Michael Moore's latest, "Slacker Uprising," in advance of its official Sept. 23 download date, but that has not been confirmed. Check homertheatre.com for updates.

-- Mike Dunham

Seattle conductor to turn in his stick

Gerard Schwarz, who has led the Seattle Symphony Orchestra during its rise to national prominence as well as periods of extraordinary tumult, said Wednesday he would step down as music director when his contract expires in 2011. Talking with the Daily News in 2004, Schwartz said he had conducted all the Mahler symphonies except No. 8, "The Symphony of A Thousand." We note that he'll get the chance to present that gargantuan piece with three performances at the end of this month. Almost worth catching the plane for.

-- Mike Dunham

Cliburn winner in Fairbanks

Also worth making a trip for on Oct. 26, Alexander Kobrin, Gold Medal winner in the 2005 Van Cliburn competition, will solo with the Fairbanks Symphony in Brahms' First Piano Concerto. Tchaikovsky's "Winter Dreams" Symphony will share the bill. It's all part of the orchestra's 50th-anniversary season.

-- Mike Dunham

Third Friday art show

Several galleries east of Lake Otis Parkway will start Third Friday events to spread the city's artistic wealth through the month.

Third Friday events will allow people to take their time at downtown exhibits the first Friday of every month and then get a taste of the east-side scene a few weeks later.

The monthly Third Friday events will begin this week with the exhibit "Ad Hoc" by curators John Wilcox and Theodore Kincaid, opening with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at Out North, 3800 DeBarr Road (279-8099); a statewide invitational show of abstract paintings by more than 20 Alaska artists, opening from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the MTS Gallery, 3142 Mountain View Drive (274-0156); and a show in Kimura Gallery at UAA.

-- Dawnell Smith

Irish dancers thrive

Dancers from the Irish Dance Academy of Alaska took second and fourth place at the North American Irish Dance Championships in Nashville in July. The school sent two teams, representing Alaska for the first time in the competition, which draws teams from North America and overseas. The 16-hand choreography team took second place, and the eight-hand ceili team was fourth. Noreen Wescott directed the teams in association with The Tony Comerford School of Irish Dance.

-- Dawnell Smith

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