Great Classical Music from CLASSICAL CALIFORNIA! Xlnt hosts and the way the music is presented very professional! read more

I've been listening for nearly two years. I think the music selection and commentary at KDFC are good, although I have limited classical knowledge. I don't mind occasional film scores or operatic or choral works. The Livermore booster has occasional technical problems and has been offline for the last day. I will be giving more money to KDFC when the prime-time DJ is gone. Her voice is affected and far too weak for radio. She wears DEI on her sleeve. A piano player, she allows herself to be called "resident artist". Fortunately KXPR is an option for me. read more

I have been listening to KDFC since the 1970's. It was my gateway to listen to and enjoy classical music. But recently, KDFC hired Maggie Clennon Reberg as an on-air host and I find myself turning to other stations when she is on the air. I find her voice grating and annoying and her commentary silly. I am a former classical music radio host, so I know from what I speak. I have often contributed to KDFC in the past, but if I contribute again, it will not be with the kind of unbridled generosity I have in the past. Of course, all this could change if only Ms. Reberg disappears. read more

I love this station, but I live in San Francisco and commute to Palo Alto. The station is so weak it's static all the way down. Switching to the South Bay station doesn't help. The app would be good but it stops playing music randomly after about ten minutes. SomaFM works much better but if you're in the mood for classical music SomaFM won't really do. C'mon KDFC, fix your app!! read more

Last night, trying to fall asleep amid the fireworks (waste of money but it keeps the populace happy and not thinking about some of our BIG national problems), I turned on KDFC. Of course, it was Lara Downes time. She was playing (being patriotic, I guess) Randall Thompson's Testament of Freedom. Is there anything less musically interesting than a men's chorus singing in unison for a longish time? (Hey, why not try a little Samuel Barber?) I'd say Happy Fourth, but who can be happy with the orange guy and his (paid?) justices waiting to take away our freedoms? Sorry to be political, but that's our reality. read more

Well, Diane, today you had all 8 cylinders going. Within 2 hours this afternoon, you played all the old "chestnuts": Beethoven's Fifth, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Dvorak New World Symphony, Debussy Clair de lune, The lark ascending, the Moldau, and so on. Don't you ever get tired of playing the same things all the time? I get tired of hearing them! Ever heard the expression: "Familiarity breeds contempt"? And now I'm supposed to pay and be a member and support such mediocrity? (Or did someone break in and steal all the other recordings?) Or perhaps this is what the program director tells you to play? Play something NEW! And I don't mean Einaudi, who just repeats his themes over and over, not very original, in my humble opinion. read more

Great station for the most part. But, unfortunately, my partner and I can't listen between 8pm to midnight anymore. The host, Lara Downs, has a terrible voice for radio. We've tried to get used to it but gave up. Having beautiful music interspersed with that grating voice is like nails on a chalkboard. If she stays on, I hope they give her some vocal coaching. But who knows if she'd be open to that. Someone gave her a radio show so she probably thinks she has a rather golden voice. read more

Scrolling down the critiques here I am confused by some of what I am reading. I have lived in Boston - awesome radio ! Also have a degree in music - doesn't mean and extra feather in my hat or anything. This is overall, a pretty damn good station. I ,like everyone have my own petty pref's - e.g. More baroque ! That having been "said" I listen to this station all the time ( except jazz and news) and the selection is pretty good. I'll never understand the numerous pet-peeves people have w/ certain announcers - WHO CARES? I listen to this station for the music and it is more often than not, a perpetual " island of sanity". I have pretty good reception in the vehicle and at home the downstream is all one needs. My one and only gripe is directed outward to listeners. If you listen w/ any regularity - e.g 2-3 times a week, stick a crow bar in your wallet and contribute !!! If we don't pay , they can't play. Would that not be a great sadness? We keep this alive and going and that is the simple and great logic of any public broadcasting. read more

Excellent....... Bay Area's only Classical Music Station ! An Island of Sanity in the Bay Area !

Annoying new announcers muck up KDFC landscape Once upon a better season, we had a wonderful day slate of gifted hosts: Hoyt Smith, Diane Nicolini, Ray White and Rick Malone. Smith and White retired, although Smith remains a treasure whenever he fills in, and Malone was moved to musical director, really, in my view, to make way for the diction-challenged Laura Downes, hyped as some kind of a celebrity. Warm and cuddly, her mushy-mouthed ramblings amaze, so I avoid. Following her is more amateur night, with John Van Driel, the last man standing in the regular daily lineup, and the last voice I would want to hear when I wake up too early and turn the radio on. Van Driel's pompous, intermittently jerky articulations can be so inaudible, I am left to wonder how he got the gig. He replaced the superior Rick Capparela, demoted to two nights a week. And before Rick, there were quality others, such as the velvet voiced, class A mannered Blake Lawrence, about the best ever, whose absence I still rue. Nobody at KDFC will answer my question, why did he leave? I have a feeling that manager Bill Leuth is no longer in charge and would not have, on his own, hired the two new hacks. The station is owned by USC, which reminds us of the fact once every hour on the hour, and, I suspect, is ordered around by control freaks on the take. It was shameful how KDFC underplayed MTT's approaching retirement last year, at the same time playing up their "at home" interviews with various favored icons, Michael not being one of the chosen. To hear Diane and Hoyt is to recall a golden age of classic music announcers. read more

This station is good. I used to listen to a lot of alternative rock radio, but alternative rock is not good anymore, so I find myself switching the station to classical music. I mean, maybe I am getting older myself, and I do spend much time at SF Symphony going to shows..so I do prefer to have this on in the car. Some of the music can stand out and be really pleasant to listen to. Some of it is boring and doesn't stand out. If they play top classics all the time, I'd be happy. I hope people support this station because everybody needs a classical music station. read more

KDFC is a beacon of civilization. You feel civilized, even after a 6.0 quake hit Napa in 2014. An elegant baroque horn concerto played as I beheld the mess&the cracked walls. It was reassuring to hear it play on my clock radio.... despite the power outage. I used to get lousy reception of KDFC when it was based in San Francisco. Now that they have a transmitter atop Mt. St. Helena, the reception is much clearer.... even when the earth literally moves northward (yes, classical 91.1 FM out of Eugene's University of Oregon is excellent) During the recent conventions, their "Island of Sanity" fits its name. There's Mozart in the Morning. Sunday mornings are especially great with Baroque by the Bay and The Sacred Concert. Whether there's shifting earth or political drama, KDFC provides a haven. A sonic oasis with the classics like Bach, Mozart, Palestrina, and Gabrieli. read more

KDFC is the last classical radio station in the Bay Area. Take it or leave it. I used to listen to its daylight simulcast on KIBE-AM before I acquired an FM radio. I enjoyed the baroque and classical music played during the morning and evening commute. Unfortunately, its playlist was even narrower than that of the SF Symphony, which used the venerable-but-now-defunct KKHI as its broadcasting partner. Half a century later, the playlist may be too broad. I often hear orchestral movie soundtracks, usually from the Star Wars & Harry Potter movies, which need to be played somewhere, but not on a classical music station. KDFC, and its sister stations still provide drive-time music for me. I use it to avoid pledge breaks on KQED-FM and KCSM. When KDFC is fund raising, I go back to the other 2. read more

I use the app on my iPhone. This is a great station to have a a choice for classical music.

I listen to KCBS, KFOX, KFOG and KDFC. Thanks to the election, I am sick of news radio. Thanks to corporate takeovers, KFOG has become insipid. Thank God for KDFC. No, it's not perfect. But, the signal is stronger now on the peninsula, so my reception is great. The announcers are very informative and are teaching me about classical music. Although I was a musician, I am not that educated about classical music so I really appreciate the nuggets of background information the announcers provide on the composers, etc. No commercials. I don't care if USC owns it. And that is not such a bad thing, unless you have hang ups about Southern Cal. Being from there, this rivalry thing is a joke. They aren't even aware of it. So get over it, folks. read more

I enjoyed this radio. For weeks, they say "donate your car" and "donate money". They say donating is easy and I decided to donate my car. The website says you do not need anything. They will come and pick it up. When I filled out their form, they contact me saying they need this and this. I went back and find those and provided, then they started to say they do not need them and they need this and this. The staff started to explain and explain but did not give me any instruction. I found their office staffs were untrained. Their web site is very confusing. Their donation staffs are confusing. They explain that I cannot do this and this. I am not spending my time for something I cannot do, I am spending time for something I can do! I am donating and I felt very uncomfortable. I got an impression of "give me money and you go away." I am not expecting them super pleasant but this whole experience is not acceptable. I found KDFC asks a different company to deal with a donation, called CARS (careasy.org). They have poor customer service with BBB complaints. I find complaints that they received DMV violations.I also find many other non-profit to choose from at car donation sites. I decided not to donate my car that had been very important to us. After I cancelled, they still asked me to arrange the donations. I repeatedly told each place to cancel the donation. KDFC, CARS and their auction company, Capital City Auction, do not communicate well. read more

Yea. ... I know their fund raising endeavor is a minor irritation. I have looked at it from a Big Picture perspective. .. The choice of music is ok. I could listen KDFC while listening to Bloomberg radio or a S/F Giants game simultaneously. ..When they are doing their pledge drive, I just play my CD's. The announcers are quite informative and pleasant. Yea. ... It must be nice to be a "minor league trust fund" baby. KDFC serves a main purpose of being an meta-island of serenity for those who operate in a noisy world.. Yea. ...They have a tendency of using orchestral movie soundtracks as classical music piece. .. What was the reason behind that decision? Are we living in So Cal? 2.5 stars for their choice of quality music (predictable, limited play list and short) 3.5 stars for their historical value 4 stars for their announcers 5+ stars for their Internet broadcast 4 stars for their Mozart in the Morning Somehow, it averages out to close to a four. .. . Therefore, they secured a four star grade from me. read more

Classical music's top 200. Basically this station is the Pops of classical radio. Too many movie soundtracks! Too many snippets! The weekend & evening lineups fare a little better, but San Francisco deserves better. read more

Hi: I am a member of KDFC and have been for years. I listen to it all the time at home and in my car. I just wish that Ray, the morning announcer who replaced Hoyt, wouldn't talk so much and play more music. that's my only criticism. Everything else about the station is perfect. read more

This is the best station in the bay area. I love classical music and listen to the station 99% of the time.

KDFC isn't my first web choice because they talk so much. After Christmas now, I'm also waiting for a Christmas CD I ordered a month ago, with the station pretty much saying "don't complain to us; we don't fulfill the orders". read more

Same old KDFC. Every other hour comes another boring oboe concerto. Since when is the oboe concerto the most popular or significant form of music? Only on KDFC. The station must have hundreds and hundreds of them to play. Then comes a flute concerto every other hour. Throw in a few piano, violin, and clarinet concerti. Overtures, the most popular symphonies, a token chamber piece. Have an announcer mispronounce a composer's name or mess up something in Italian. You know -- it's just like the old commercial KDFC, without the appallingly loud and inappropriate and jarring commercials. At least the commercials are gone now! And significant amounts of vocal music are played only early Sunday mornings, plus the occasional opera. So this is a station that plays almost exclusively (easy-listening) instrumental music written between 1720 and 1900 -- to keep office and shop workers happy listening to background/elevator music. Don't forget the incessant quizzes, contests, and surprises. That's to remind listeners that classical music can be FUN (as well as "calm, cool, and casual"). And the irrelevant anecdotes about composers, as if that has anything to do with learning about the actual listenable content of the music played. Anything else is pretty hard to find on this station KDFC = elevator music for office drones KDFC - classical music for people who hate classical music You might want to try listening online to the much better quality classical music programming (and better-informed announcers) at www.wfmt.com, www.wqxr.org, and even www.kusc.org. You'll hear announcers who are actually hired for their ability to speak knowledgeably about the music they play for listeners. For example, on this Monday afternoon in early July, between 2pm and 3pm, I just listened online to the following vocal set on WFMT. The singers were winners of the station's recent "All-Star Singers" poll by listeners: 1. Bryn Terfel singing an aria from Mendelssohn's oratorio "Elijah" 2. Renee Fleming singing a Schubert song 3. Jessye Norman singing a traditional spiritual 4. (the late) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing three Ruckert songs by Mahler, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein on piano 5. Maria Callas singing Bellini's "Casta Diva" with the La Scala Orchestra (Serafin) 6. Leontyne Price singing "America, the Beautiful" (live and unaccompanied recording, followed by tumultuous applause) NEVER would you hear such a well-programmed set of music on KDFC -- and NEVER on a weekday afternoon! We also know that WFMT is doing okay commercially. It knows how to produce and make money from classical music programming -- on the radio and online. read more

Thank goodness for this station. I drive to and from work feeling like a human. For that short time I'm in my car, I feel like I'm on a retreat and I don't have to worry about Rihanna's voice popping out at any given moment. Ahhhhhh, serenity. read more

Great station but reception is nearly hopeless in Oakland. I have to switch between 90.3 and 89.9 back and forth as I drive through town. I can barely pick them up at home in the hills with nearly line-of-site to SF. Glad I didn't throw out my CDs. read more

Amongst the world's worst classical stations for repetoire, artist choice and reception. The staff do not appear to know the repetoire and have a childish approach. read more

Love the station. Need the station. But will not give a penny until the reception in central Contra Costa County is improved. Why in the world can't they get that Christian station in Walnut Creek to stay in their own bandwidth?? There is improvement but seriously? right there at 24 and 680 where all the freeways cross and commuters languish...there is static only. And only static from the Park Hotel to the exit of the tunnel. Nothing beyond a mile up into the western hills all along the 680 corridor. Nothing beyond a couple miles east of 680. I just don't understand it. It has been years. Traveling from Walnut Creek down to San Jose the station is lost before the 580 interchange. Horrendous. I agree about too much oboe. Same for harp. Should be a law. read more

I expected more with the "new" KDFC linked to KUSC but have been very disappointed. KDFC is difficult to receive in much of the SF Bay Area despite their numerous repeater frequencies. Weak signals aside KDFC programming is not my cup of tea. I am a long time classical music fan and know that solo instrumental, chamber, vocal, choral, early music, twentieth-century, sacred music, period performance and most pieces with performance times longer than twenty minutes are virtually absent from KDFC programming. This station is focused on classical background music, not classical foreground music. If you want tranquilizing twaddle, then KDFC is for you but not for me. I stream WFMT fairly often. read more

Except during the evening the music played on KDFC and KUSC is exactly the same with different sets of announcers. As a money saver one would think that sharing the announcers would be cheaper than sharing precisely the same music. Obviously the music is streamed by KUSC, the dominant station. Comcast via TV broadcasts KDFC with a hiss. Otherwise on-air coverage is quite poor. But then when I'm home I can stream it quite well, and as well as Chicago or New York. read more

The only radio station I can bear listening to these days. Excellent mix of opera and classical, with informative commentary.

I enjoy listening to KDFC streaming online so I have no problems with reception. I enjoy the informative Announcers. I do wish KDFC would expand their classical musical repertoire. I have communicated the specifics of my request to the management of KDFC however as of yet they have not responded nor have they acted on my requests. read more

Since the move to the new frequency, it has been virtually impossible to pick the station up in the East Bay. Online offers better luck. Good mix of traditional and modern classical music. Sometimes accused but "purists" of playing the "Top Forty" style, the station is dedicated to presenting classical in a snob-free manner (to their credit; especially, with the decline in music education and school bands, the populist approach may become critical to the survival of local classical groups themselves.) DJs are amicable, knowledgeable, and down to earth (unlike some of their oft times pompous predecessors of the 60s and 70s.) read more

One thing I love about living in the Bay Area is the opportunity every year to attend a Chanticleer Christmas performance. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to their south bay appearance this year, and so was particularly grateful to be able to hear its recorded version on KQED's Bay Area Mix. Great work, guys and gals! --John Pollock San Jose read more

The South San Francisco Bay frequency, 104.9, is equally estimable as the San Francisco home station and features the same broadcast personalities and musical repertoire as that in town. Great. Really good. read more

If your definition of classical music is 'talk radio' dominated by the saccharine prattle and phoniness of Diane Nicolini and Hoyt Smith, then this channel is for you: self-promoting, cloying platitudes and trivia, interspersed with the same 50 pieces repeated ad nauseam. Perfectly suited to the provincial PC snobbery of the little village by the Bay read more

This station is awful. It only plays 99% chamber orchestra music, very little other genres of music, never have I heard a vocal track and there is far too little piano music and what there is, is often combined with orchestras (where the combination of piano + orchestra is definitely less then sum of its parts). Basically all of their music has very little of any kind of "melody" that anyone would want to hum, instead its music that is completely focused on rhythm and harmonies with very simplistic melodies. read more

Reception is terrible in Oakland.I am not in the hills,but in the Lake Merritt district.

Decent station with nice choices in classical music. Would be a great station if they played more music and did less jabbering.

OK, KDFC, now let's have a boycott of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and Young Henry's Hunt for a year or so. We've all heard them. Play something we never hear, like Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra or Strauss's Four Last Songs. (Oh, I forgot, no vocal music allowed.) read more

I like the station very much and appreciate USC providing this service. However, on my car radio the recordings, including the commentary (which appears to be recorded) often skips a few notes or words, misses them as though a CD player is bouncing over rough terrain. I'm surprised to see no other comments on this and wonder wjat the problem is, with the transmission, or with the recording. This has been going on for weeks if not months. read more