If you’re still a radio-in-the-car type and you’re not regularly tuned in to local station 95.5 KHFM, you’re really missing out on something special. Reductively, we might think of it as the classical station; in reality, it’s a smorgasbord of programming ranging from classical, yes, to opera, choral music, musicals and so much more. Along for the ride is longtime DJ Kathlene Rich, a musician herself who hails from Texas, but who has lived in Santa Fe since 2011, when she came to join the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. These days, Ritch is the music director for local theater troupe Tri-M Productions, as well as a teacher at New Mexico School for the Arts. She also presides over the midday slot at KHFM. We caught up with Ritch to learn more about what she does and why classical music is for everyone. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision. (Alex De Vore)
Let’s settle something about radio once and for all—how much of your own programming are you curating?
Right now, about 10%. I was program manager for a hot second in 2018, but the program comes from an algorithm, and it’ll go in and say ‘we need X number of pieces from each time period, X from each instrumentation.” I go in and tweak it, make sure the timing is lined up. Or if it’s someone’s birthday that day, I’ll trade in a piece; or say the New Mexico Philharmonic is playing a piece later in the week, I might play it. But the basic programming is done.
Now, if I say I’d like to feature ‘blah blah blah,’ I can go in and make sure it gets played. Program Manager Amanda Talley is great about collaboration, it’s just a question of time.
I will say that I’m such a choral nerd, because that’s what I was raised in, and it was like the social pariah of classical radio—if it was anything vocal, it would be an aria from an opera, and very rarely would we put in choral music. I started my Choral Hour [programming] in 2021, which is once a month and fully run by me. There are people writing in saying, ‘Can we have this once a week?!’ There is love for choral music, so anytime I can promote that in my show.
I do my best to listen to the 2 pm relaxation block, Your Oasis, every day. How did that come to be, and what’s the criteria for those selections?
Courtesy Kathlene Ritch
I honestly don’t know how long it’s been going on, but I know it has been for longer than I’ve been at the station. You don’t want to do it too close to the lunch hour, because listeners might go into a food coma and still need to be productive. It’s not to put you to sleep, but for if you need some calming time. Maybe not the whole hour, but a little snippet, uninterrupted by talk.
The criteria are it can’t be too slow, but it needs to be calming. It’s interesting what that means to people. We have to think about everyone. A little snippet can be soothing. It can lower the heart rate and clear the mind, but not lull people to sleep. Your Oasis can be all genres, honestly. And Amanda Talley is trying to do more themes. Today we’re doing Bach, Beethoven and Brahms—the three Bs. I mean, it’s calming music without interruption. Nowadays, in our society, it’s 30 seconds before it’s on to the next thing, so we’re pushing back against that. No talking, no intros between pieces —I’ll announce at the beginning what you’ll hear. It’s truly just a reset.
I’m always interested in the accessibility conversation surrounding classical music. I’d imagine a big part of the station’s mission is in reaching new potential fans. Is that accurate, and what might be the most effective means of doing that?
Ah, the age-old question. Here’s the thing: Classical is so vast a term, and it cannot be pigeonholed into one genre other than it’s not on pop or hits or whatever, so there’s that.
I teach music history at the New Mexico School for the Arts to all the senior people, and there’s a section on opera and the romantic period. So I have the kids raise their hands at the beginning to see who likes opera, and maybe two of the 25 will raise their hands. Then I ask who doesn’t like it or is indifferent, and a lot of hands go up. Now, I do the disclaimer that I can appreciate opera, but it’s not the one that speaks to me—I’ve never cried at the opera, though I can be moved and I appreciate the craft and I’ve been in operas, and I do like it, but it’s not my thing. But my goal is for them to think outside the box, so we talk about Verdi, we talk about late classical Rossini and…Puccini. And I play Pavarotti—and we have videos of him singing, too—and it’s so interesting to see how engrossed they become as soon as they know the story. There are also great responses of rap singers hearing Pavarotti, and they’re floored, so I think there’s something about when you make it more human, [listeners] engage. After the class, I’ve won over at least half who say they like it or would be willing to hear more opera.
When we want to reach more audiences, we need to have them connect on a personal level in some way, so even if they don’t like it, they can understand it. That is a gateway for them to realize there are many different ideas of ‘classical’ music, they just have to find the one they can connect with.
There’s a choral group I sing with in Austin at Christmas, and Christmas isn’t always a happy time for people, so it’s almost shameful that we pressure people with ‘fa-la-la-la-la,’ right? Our goal was the programming had to reach everybody, whether it was Palestrina to Michael Jackson, so everyone could go away feeling like we’d sung to them. And that’s a goal across the board.
Choral programs are starting to push the boundaries of what can be said chorally, and…everyone is trying to connect with everyone else, because we need that. And music can bridge so many gaps where we can get in trouble with words. Music can kind of smooth over those divides. We might not fully come to terms with each other or agree, but at least we can connect. I think that’s where our station is trying to do it. Our Lunch at the Pops isn’t for everyone, but there are people who’d kill for some Gilbert and Sullivan and musicals. It’s just about trying to connect with everyone where they are and helping them realize it’s OK if you don’t like X in classical music. It’s ok to express your displeasure, but you’ve gotta try it. It’s like that ‘eat three bites of everything on your plate’ thing. You have your feelings for what you like and that’s OK, but don’t shut off the entire genre of classical music because of one type.
