At KUSC-FM, Love Is in--and on--the Air

On Sunday night, with Valentine’s Day just hours away, KUSC-FM (91.5) intends to surround listeners with love when “Love Is in the Aire” introduces the classical public station’s new weekly magazine series “Thornton Center Stage.”

“Center Stage” arrives under the joint auspices of KUSC and its sister institution at USC, the Thornton School of Music. Thornton is fully funding the program. Produced by Walter Zooi, who is also director of communications and marketing at the 116-year-old school, the show began an informal run on the station Jan. 8 “until the kinks [were] worked out,” KUSC General Manager Brenda Pennell said.

Alan Chapman, KUSC’s morning host, brings his vast knowledge of classical music and his comfortable style to the new series as its host, this weekend providing some lighthearted talk of love.

“Shakespeare said, ‘Music is the food of love,’ ” he offers. “Henry VIII said, ‘I love music. Where’s the food?’ Music is a powerful reflection of the passions.”

Of course, love will speak primarily through the music--from a three-minute snippet of Telemann’s early 18th century comic opera “The Patient Socrates,” to Jerome Kern’s “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” with offerings from Mozart, Jules Massenet and the Gershwins.

“That’s partly why Walter Zooi came to me,” said Chapman, who is also the series’ senior editor. “He said, ‘I know that you know about the music and can talk meaningfully about the music, but you’re not going to be hopelessly serious. You’re not going to be dead.’ He wanted some humor around the edges.”

Still, the undertone of this collaboration between station and school, the city’s oldest cultural institution, is altogether serious. By featuring performances done by one of Thornton’s dozen or so ensembles--the Thornton Symphony Orchestra, the Thornton Early Music Ensemble, the Thornton Classical Guitar Ensemble, the Thornton Wind Symphony--the series showcases the school and its work. Musical fare will also be drawn from recordings by current and former faculty and student composers and performers.

“It’s our mission to demonstrate the excellence of the music-making going on at the school,” Zooi said. “[We want] to make the Thornton name synonymous with Juilliard. Everybody knows Juilliard, and they were founded in 1905.”

So on Sunday, you’ll also hear “Three Elizabethan Madrigals” (1942-59) composed by Halsey Stevens, who was on Thornton’s faculty. George and Ira Gershwin’s “Our Love Is Here to Stay” will be performed by faculty member Shelly Berg from his CD “The Will.”

With archival recordings going back decades, both Chapman and Zooi note that there’s no dearth of material. And that includes the recordings of such stellar Thornton graduates as mezzo soprano Marilyn Horne, baritone Thomas Hampson and Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor, pianist and composer. Even those who did not graduate will be included, Zooi allowed, such as former student Thomas Newman, composer of the score for “American Beauty” and nominated for a Golden Globe.

Each show will be built around a theme. In the coming weeks, “Thornton Center Stage” will deliver such programs as “The Century Changes: Mahler No. 1,” “Folk Traditions” and “Famous Composers Who Died in Los Angeles.”

Meanwhile, for listeners who have been complaining about KUSC’s weak signal, Pennell advises that the station is upgrading its power from 17,000 watts to 39,000 watts. “Right now we’re feeding the new antenna into the old transmitter,” she noted, adding the wiring should be in place this week.

Just in time for the Mahler Symphony on Feb. 20.

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* “Thornton Center Stage” can be heard Sundays from 8 to 9 p.m. on KUSC-FM (91.5).