This is Why We Stream Online

WCLV was the "classical pick" in The New Yorker's "Goings On" blog, posted yesterday.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/goingson/2010/07/quick-pick-15.html

Today's WCLV Pop Quiz

A "pop quiz" can be just the thing to rouse the waking brain. On WCLV, occasionally I spring a pop quiz on "First Program" listeners from 6-10 am. "Close your books, put your pencils down, no talking to your neighbor," is the routine introduction.

Today's was an elevation quiz: Which of these three Cleveland-area cities has the highest elevation -- Richmond Heights, Broadview Heights, or Bedford Heights?

Congratulations to the first three listeners to get it right: Dale Obran of Avon, Leslie Mason of Fairview Park, and Lily Petrila of Westlake. They correctly guessed that Broadview Heights was the highest. According to City-Data.com, the elevation of Broadview Heights is 1,150 ft. Bedford Heights comes in second at 1,040 ft, with Richmond Heights third at 880 ft.

I've given this quiz, using different area cities, for years. We always get a blizzard of calls. The first time I used this question, the WCLV switchboard was flooded with callers asking us to look up the elevation of their cities. I finally had to make an on-air announcement asking callers to stop calling us. I gently suggested that they call their public library reference departments.

After all, librarians know everything, and if they don't, they know where to look it up.

More Cain Park

Purple coneflower snapped behind the WCLV broadcast booth at the Cain Park Arts Festival last weekend in Cleveland Heights. Cain Park is landscaped in a rather comfy style. The City of Cleveland Heights maintains it.

Some years ago, in an on-air interview from Cain Park, I asked one of the arts festival administrators whether what I had heard was true: That Cleveland Heights was like the U.N. He said, "Yes."

It's Very "Cleveland Heights"

A snapshot of the bike rack at the entrance to the Cain Park Arts Festival in Cleveland Heights, last Friday through Sunday. WCLV broadcasts from the festival every year, but this year there seemed to be many more bikes out front. I noted this to a friend who replied knowingly, "That's very 'Cleveland Heights.'"

In my nine years of remotes at WCLV, Cain Park has always been one of my favorites because it's among the best-organized events. On Saturday, July 10, we had hot, dry and breezy weather. Many of you took us up on our offer of free WCLV "personal air conditioners," old-fashioned paddle fans, at the 104.9 broadcast booth.

The staff at Cain Park line up artist interviews for us. We always ask for samples so we can describe the art for you on the radio. During my afternoon shift, I chatted with a Pennsylvania man who carves spoons out of cherry wood, a Cleveland Heights photographer who loves shooting in black and white, and a couple of local brothers, a woodworker and a ceramacist, whose starkly different styles suggest yin and yang.

Blossom-ized

A tranquil night last night at the Blossom Music Center as the Cleveland Orchestra under Tito Munoz played a program featuring the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Giora Schmidt, who went to high school with Mr. Munoz, was the soloist. Also on the program were the "West Side Story" Symphonic Dances, and Elgar's "Enigma" Variations.

Arriving early to Blossom concerts is always a good idea, but give yourself a few extra minutes to stroll the gardens.

We're Witnesses, All Right

If the Cleveland Cavaliers' owners, administration and players listened to WCLV 104.9, they'd have won their championship by now.

So what will happen to the building-sized wall portrait of LBJ downtown? Will they re-paint the arms so that they wave "Bye-bye?"

Harvey Araton in the New York Times says it well: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/sports/basketball/09araton.html?_r=1&ref=sports

You Gotta Have Art

Nature's art in the form of a lively magenta Monarda, also known as "Bee Balm" and "Oswego Tea."

This Saturay, July 10, WCLV 104.9, streaming on wclv.com, will broadcast live from the Cain Park Art Festival, located at the corner of Lee and Superior in Cleveland Heights. I'll be on the air live 1:30 to 4 interviewing artists at the WCLV tent. My WCLV Midday colleague, Mark Satola, our resident photography expert, will do the same from 11 to 1:30. Stop by -- I've always wanted to know what YOU look like.