When YourClassical MPR host John Birge started his career more than 40 years ago, he was terrified of talking on the radio. “I could never do that!” he thought.
He’d been drawn to broadcasting not only because of his early love for classical music, but because of his passion for the behind-the-scenes aspect of radio; he hadn’t really envisioned an on-air role. “I was kind of a tech person,” Birge says. “I loved recording and audio. I was kind of a stereo geek, collecting records and reading about hi-fi stuff.
“All of that went together with my abiding interest in story, in narrative, in connecting the dots.”
Birge took the plunge behind the microphone and has been connecting the dots for YourClassical MPR listeners for 29 years – including 21 as morning show host. On Aug. 28, he’ll sign off for his last regular shift.
It’s the home stretch of a journey that started during childhood in Plymouth, Michigan, where his mother would quiz him about the particulars of the music that was a constant presence in the background. Birge says that he came to know who composed the pieces he heard on that radio, which led him to piano lessons and a concentration on the French horn (which he eventually played with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra).
Birge found that the musical life suited him, leading him to attend Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy with the intent of becoming a professional. His music education continued at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
“For a whole bunch of reasons, along the way I decided I wanted to do something – instead of just playing the French horn in a symphony orchestra – that had a wider focus,” Birge says. He decided to lean into his technological interests, and to tell the stories of the music he loved.
He started working at WGUC, Cincinnati’s classical music station, when he “rang the doorbell and said, ‘I want to learn and I’ll work for free.’” There, he got his first taste of on-air life. “The boss said, ‘How about filling in on an overnight shift?’ I thought, ‘How much damage can I do at three in the morning?’
“I realized I really liked it,” Birge says. “I was exposed to all different kinds of music that I couldn’t necessarily play [on the horn] – piano sonatas, string quartets.
“Being a classical music DJ is the perfect thing for what a friend call ‘public radio garbage brain.’ It’s fun to delve into and find out a little about a lot of things.”
Following a short stint at NPR as an audio engineer in the news department, Birge again felt the pull of music and went back to the overnight shift at WGUC. “It was a good way for me to be a classical DJ every night and get better at it, because I wasn’t very good at it,” he says. After three-and-a-half years of honing his craft in the wee hours, he took over the station’s morning drive show, a job he held from 1986 to 1997.
Then Classical MPR came calling, with an offer to shepherd the afternoon program. The station would be Birge’s home for the next 29 years.
In 2005, accompanied by the dulcet tones of Bach’s “Sleepers Awake,” he moved to his current spot as morning host. His choice of theme music is more layered than one might think.
“As so often in radio, you do things that might seem aesthetic, but are for very practical reasons,” Birge says. “The show that precedes me ends at 5:59 and the newscast comes on at 6:01. So that’s two minutes that I need to cover.
“Two minutes is a long time in radio. No one wants to hear me blab on for two minutes straight,” he says. “I needed some music to cover that, something to make it a little more palatable.”
Birge landed on “Sleepers Awake” because “A, it’s got a nice vibe; B, it’s about waking up; and C, there are dozens and dozens of different arrangements. So it’s worked out pretty well,” he says.
The theme song – and the show – have become a routine for so many. “It will be hard to wake up without him,” says Julie Amacher, Classical MPR host and producer.
“He calls what he does every morning ‘a little college of musical knowledge,’ as he weaves a story about the music, into something happening in the world today, into how the weather will impact your day.”
Indeed, Birge is likely best known for the morning gig, but additional duties have included putting together Composers Datebook, billed as a daily snapshot of composers past and present, and holiday specials, most notably Giving Thanks.
The Thanksgiving staple had its roots in Birge’s WGUC days. “ ‘Giving Thanks’ was my passion project,” he says, “and it originally addressed practical aspects of Thanksgiving morning – what do you play? I was trying to come up with a playlist that would match the mood of the day. People are listening in the kitchen, while they’re putting turkey or pies in the oven, or in the car, on a three-hour drive to grandma’s.
“So I started assembling music that I felt addressed gratitude in some special way, or something that addressed things I felt thankful for – nature, especially, but also music about food, poems I liked about food.”
The special became nationally syndicated in 1999, giving Birge leeway to bring in special guests. Because he had incorporated the spoken word into the musical mix, he had an epiphany. “Why should I read a Billy Collins poem, when I could get Billy Collins on the show? That was the direction the show took. Every year a featured guest was brought in to talk about gratitude, like [actor] Stanley Tucci about his love for food and cooking. That’s how the show evolved, 25 years of it.”
Chatting about gratitude with illustrious guests has been a perk of the job, but not Birge’s only thrilling experience. He experienced a full-circle moment in 2007, when he traveled to Vienna with the Minnesota Orchestra.
“I was asked to record a live concert at the Musikverein,” he says. “And I was thrilled to do that. Apart from what a great gig it was, 12 years before that – when I was an extra player with the Cincinnati Symphony – I got to play in the Musikverein, which is Valhalla for an orchestra. The hall, and that city of course, are central to everything that happened in classical music.
“Being there first as a musician and then to come back as a broadcaster and audio engineer – it was a nice set of bookends.”
Specific memories aside, Birge is most grateful for those who tune in. “The best part of the job is the listener, because that’s why you’re here,” he says. “As I’ve often said in member drives, somebody is born every day who hasn’t heard [Beethoven’s] ‘Emperor Concerto,’ and I envy them because there’s nothing like hearing it for the first time. In broadcasting, we cast broadly, with an incredible ability to share music and stories with people.”
Amacher amplifies that sentiment. “John has developed a relationship with his listeners in the most heartfelt way,” she says. “When he opens the mic, it’s always in service to the listener, and to the music.
“He makes us want to hear more, to learn more. And he does it all with a twist of wit and good humor.”
Birge seems to know how fortunate he is to have such reach among listeners. “Classical MPR in one week has an audience that will sell out Orchestra Hall 74 times, and that’s the power of radio,” he says. “To bring classical music to so many people, everywhere, for free, it’s pretty amazing.”
For Birge, the man who once was hesitant to speak on the air, that big audience isn’t daunting. “I’m talking to one person at a time,” he says. “I don’t go on the air as if I’m talking to thousands; it’s just you and me, in your kitchen or in your car – it’s a magic conduit there.
“It’s a daily thrill and a real honor to just be here and be allowed in people’s lives. They rely on it. We get lots of letters from people who were going through a rough patch. They feel like, boy, this Classical MPR really saved my life. People say that!
“Another public radio truism is that collectively, the audience knows everything, so I’ve learned so much from listeners,” Birge says. “And I hope they’ve learned a little bit from me along the way.”
The listeners probably aren’t done learning; he plans to be available for on-call and fill-in hosting duties. But he’s looking forward to traveling, cooking, seeing theater and yes, attending concerts (Birge calls himself a musical omnivore, with a different favorite composer or genre “every 10 minutes”).
“I realized earlier this year that it was 40 years doing mornings,” he says. “That’s a good run. Leave the party while you’re having fun, and I’m still having fun.”
Listen to John Birge’s final regular morning show shift from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 28.
Use the form below to send a farewell message to John Birge or share a favorite moment.
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