John Burk

I listened to radio a lot when I was a kid. I used to announce my parent’s 78s and 45s and I would read news magazines out loud, trying to sound like John Cameron Swayze. Then my Great Aunt Inez moved to Ireland and gave me her classical LPs. When I was a student at Northern Michigan University, the kid who did the evening classical show on the college station graduated, and I got drafted to replace him because everyone had heard that opera stuff coming out of my dorm room. Years later, when my son was grown, I realized I had the freedom to move anywhere in the world I wanted. I came to Portland right away. I feel that All Classical FM is where I’m supposed to be.

John serves as weekday evening host from 6 to midnight. He also hosts Northwest Previews which airs Thursdays at 6 p.m.

Ed Goldberg

Ed Goldberg was born in the Bronx and grew up in New York City and Long Island. He lived in Washington, D.C. for 18 years before moving to Portland with his wife in 1991. Music has always been a big part of his life. He started collecting records a year before he had a record player.  Ed has published four detective novels, the first of which won the Shamus Award, and is editing his next book. He will bring his movie reviews and author interviews to All Classical in the autumn. Ed teaches occasionally and has taught courses in jazz history and the Marx Brothers’ movies.

Ed is a regular from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays, and also hosts Saturday Matinee from 10 to 2 p.m.  while the Metropolitan Opera is in hiatus.

Robert McBride

Robert is on the air weekday afternoons from 1 to 6 and Saturday nights from 8 to 10. The Saturday program is Club Mod, which explores 21^st-century music as well as older music that was modern for its time. Robert  joins conductor Carlos Kalmar for the Oregon Symphony’s preconcert conversations and enjoys other public speaking appearances in the Portland area. A former percussionist, Robert grew up in Moscow, Idaho, and graduated from the University of Idaho with a music composition degree. He still writes music occasionally, and will unveil of new piece in honor of John Cage in March of 2012. Robert’s career has given him the opportunity to live and work in four states and the District of Columbia. He joined Portland’s All Classical team in 2000.

Andrea Murray

Andrea has been producing and hosting public radio programs for more than 15 years. Prior to joining the All Classical staff, she spent 6 years as the arts reporter for WETA in Washington, where she produced and hosted a cultural magazine called The Program and also substituted for regular classical music hosts. She’s also done freelance work for several NPR magazine programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Studio 360.

Andrea produces Northwest Previews, which airs Thursdays at 6 p.m. Listen to Andrea on weekdays from midnight to 5 a.m. and on weekends from midnight to 7 a.m.

Brandi Parisi

Prior to coming to All Classical in 2008, Brandi Parisi was afternoon drive host at K-Mozart in Los Angeles. A New Orleans native, she’s been a reporter, producer and host at stations in Atlanta and Orlando and, for 6 years, was a nationally-syndicated host on Minnesota Public Radio’s Classical 24. Brandi has also produced and hosted programs for Public Radio International, and for several years was producer and host of the Minnesota Opera broadcasts for Minnesota Public Radio. Though she started as a flute performance major, out of respect for real musicians, she switched paths after sophomore year in college. Brandi has degrees in communications and philosophy from Ohio University and Purdue University. She teaches philosophy at Portland Community College and yoga at several spots around Portland.  After living in twelve states, she feels home.

Brandi serves as morning host from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays.

John Pitman

A Portland native and graduate of Benson Polytechnic, John is responsible, as Music Director, for making sure that the enormous body of work the station presents is heard with the right balance of all the styles, musical periods and moods that classical music offers. When not at work, John enjoys attending concerts, traveling, reading, bicycling around town with his wife and growing vegetables in summer.

Though serving principally as music director at All Classical, John also fills in as on-air host during the week as needed.

Edmund Stone

Edmund grew up on an English farm and toured in Romeo & Juliet before moving to Scotland, where he reviewed films for BBC Radio and Thompson Publications. Moving to Los Angeles in 1980, he covered the Academy Awards and narrated more than 1,000 educational audio cassettes. Edmund continues his voice work in commercials, and also serves frequently as emcee for various events. A vegetarian, he is an avid gardener. When not indulging that passion or a corresponding ardor for classical music, he expresses his love for all animals. In 1997 he co-founded In Defense of Animals-Africa which operates a chimpanzee rescue center in Cameroon, West Africa.

Edmund writes and hosts The Score, a nationally syndicated film music program, which you can hear every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Christa Wessel

I love exploring Oregon’s nooks and crannies. Since arriving here in 2007, I’ve fallen particularly hard for the Owyhee desert in the far reaches of Southeast Oregon, the rolling high hills surrounding the Deschutes River, and the magically blue waters of Crater Lake.  I love camping and hiking but haven’t yet become the toughened sort of Portlander who will trudge out in the rainy season… so instead I spend the winter months sheltered inside our area’s concert halls soaking up local culture.

Another of my favorite hobbies is Divaville (http://divaville.org), a radio show I host on KMHD 89.1.  As much as I love celebrating those old jazz vocalists, though, classical music will always be my first love.  I had once hoped to be a professional French horn player – I attended Northwestern University with that aspiration, but after I realized how much practicing would be involved I ended up graduating with a degree in Arts Administration instead!  I still tootle, though… I play 4^th horn for the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra (http://sunnysidesymphony.org).

You can hear Christa weekdays from 9am-1pm, Saturdays from 5am-10am, and as the host of Played in Oregon on Sundays at 1pm.