Heinrich Rudolph Hertz proved the existence of electronic radio waves in 1887. Guglielmo Marconi and other inventors, particularly Nikola Tesla, successfully applied radio waves to human communication in the 1890s. But it was Marconi’s ability to make political and business connections that helped bring radio to homes and ignite the radio boom of the 1920s. 

Here in Oregon, KGW opened Portlanders’ ears to the world of entertaining radio programming choices. But around that same time, another radio voice came to Portland through a post World War I government training-program license issued to Benson Polytechnic High School. From classrooms to homes, Benson High’s KBPS (originally KFIF) 1450 AM took some fascinating twists and turns through the Golden Age of Radio (read their history here) that led Portland Schools to apply for an FM station license. In 1983, All Classical 89.9 FM–still called KPBS–brought prerecorded concerts and educational programming to the Portland metro region; in the early 1980s we welcomed KBPS’s first live local voices into our homes, including a recent grad of Benson High named John. Yes, the very same voice of KQAC’s current Director of Music and Programming and on-air host, John Pitman.

Passionate voices advocate for change

Significant changes in school funding in the early 2000s led to Portland Public Schools’ decision to sell the FM license. One member of the KPBS Board of Directors, Roger O. Doyle, voiced his support for the purchase–and, as those who knew Doyle can attest, it was quite a voice. With Marconian flare, Doyle encouraged the station’s All Classical Foundation to purchase the broadcast license from Portland Public Schools, become an independent station and ensure that the classical music kept coming.

John Schumann, former KBPS Board Chair in the late 1990s, remembers that pivotal moment. Schumann was, in fact, responsible for getting Roger on the Board. “I heard his wonderful Choral Arts Ensemble concerts,” said Schumann in telephone conversation with OAW. “I just cold-called him. He immediately responded ‘Oh, Yes!’–Doyle’s presence and leadership on the Board helped pave the way for our KQAC of today and the future,” including the wonderful regional programs Played in Oregon, On Deck With Young Musicians and another of your favorites:

You are listening to KQAC All Classical. It’s Thursday and it’s 3 o’clock–

Cue music: Piano begins

Cue host: “Live from the Roger O. Doyle Performance Studio, it’s Thursdays @ Three”

Ah, that’s the Roger Doyle for whom the studio is named. Of course, those of you who have enjoyed decades of choral music in Portland already knew that. Doyle, longtime conductor of Choral Arts Ensemble and a University of Portland professor, was a leading advocate for the choral arts and for music of all kinds. He was also a singer, a world traveler, an energetic man of great presence and, yes, a strong voice.

Those of us who knew Roger might even say that the word “strong” is not strong enough. Roger’s resonant voice–and his tuba playing–earned him scholarships to Wichita State University in Kansas, his and his wife, Kay Reboul Doyle’s, home state. Roger’s Wichita State grad school classmate Bruce Browne, who entered Portland’s choral scene in 1979, was impressed by Roger’s rich bass-baritone–although the two classmates often joked about feeling humbled when another young Kansan, future opera phenomenon bass-baritone Samuel Ramey, joined the WSU Choir. 

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After completing his doctoral studies at University of Colorado, Roger was offered an orchestral and choral conducting professorship at University of Portland. For that position, and Kay’s new elementary music teaching position in Portland Public Schools, the Doyles moved to Portland in 1973 with St. Bernard “Brunhilde von Wagner.” Another St. Bernard, “Leonora von Beethoven,” came next, around the same time as smaller pup “Mimi de Puccini” and tuxedo cat “Mr. Brahms.” (Oh, musicians and their pets.) The Doyles rang in the New Year at the Vienna Opera and led tours to cultural centers around the world. Roger founded Mock’s Crest Theater Productions — Portland’s Gilbert and Sullivan company for many years — and was very active in the American Choral Directors Association. “Larger than life” is what University of Portland students said about their Professor Doyle. 

Roger O. Doyle died in 2012, just short of three years after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Two years later, as KQAC planned their long-needed move from Benson High School to Portland’s Hampton Opera Center, Kay Doyle supported the construction of a performance studio to honor Roger’s dedication to the station. For ten years, it was the live-broadcast home of Thursdays @ Three. But on July 27 of this year Kay Doyle heard her husband’s name in the eight-word intro for the last time. With a need for more room to support their increased production, including international streaming, and a desire for a new performance hall nearer to the heart of the city, there were changes ahead for KQAC and Thursdays @ Three.

Changing Voices

Not Christa! No worries, the voice of the talented on-air host remains. It would be hard to imagine T@T without Wessel’s infectious laugh and her ability to put guests at ease with her greatest superpower – being herself. How do you hear a smile on audio broadcast? Listen to Christa Wessel. Yes, Wessel will continue to welcome you to each Thursday @ Three. So what is the change? Well, there are several.

First: Location, location, location. KQAC has moved to the third floor of the always eye-catching KOIN Tower near the Keller Auditorium. It’s a gorgeous and expanded footprint (about 33% larger than the Hampton) with wood, glass, metal, beveled panels and miles (about 30) of wires and electronic equipment that would have sent the original Benson teenagers back in 1921 into a techno-geek coma. The desks, studios, the beloved Steinway piano signed by performing artists over the years, and your All Classical Radio hosts are now in their new home. But one space in the Hampton Opera Center, one of great significance to Kay Doyle, had to be left behind – Roger’s Performance Studio.

But there must be a new performance space at KQAC? You bet there is. And it’s a doozy. The elegant hall with a magnificent large screen, adjacent recording studio and room for 100 in the audience is an intimate new jewel among Portland’s performance venues. It’s a smoooooth acoustic, y’all. T@T will now broadcast live from the new Irving Levin Performance Hall made possible by a leadership gift from Stephanie Fowler and Irving Levin’s family and friends. Read more about Irving Levin and the new space designed to “champion and amplify regional artists and ensembles.”

Kay Doyle is looking forward to visiting the new Performance Hall. KQAC runs all day long in her home, and Thursdays @ Three, of course, is one of her favorites. If KQAC had a fan club – golly, maybe it does – Kay Doyle could be in the running for No. 1 Fan. But Kay might have a fan club of her own out there.

Kay talks about her own 39-year career as an elementary music teacher with pride and a bit of awe. “I can’t believe I went that long, and 25 years were at the same school (Richmond) here in Portland,” she said with a gentle laugh in a recent conversation with OAW. You or someone you know loves and supports music in our region because of Kay Doyle and teachers like her. Kay was also piano accompanist for the Portland Symphonic Girlchoir for twenty-one years. She, like Roger, has dedicated much of her life to sustaining the excellent music culture in our community. 

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Which is why she is excited about KQAC’s new initiative to honor Roger’s legacy. “It is important,” Kay said, “because the new plan has choral music in the title.” It does indeed. On December 12th, on the Season 11 opening broadcast of Thursdays @ Three, Christa Wessel plans to introduce the new initiative to us like this:

Live from the Irving Levin performance Hall, this is Thursdays @ Three. Today’s show kicks off our Roger O. Doyle Choral Series and features Roger O. Doyle’s former choir: the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland.

Kay is correct. The Roger O Doyle Choral Series will not only honor Roger’s passion for the choral arts but also will acknowledge that choral music – with thousands of singers and choral music lovers across our region, and millions around the world – is important to all cultures. Choral music has a very strong voice.

The December 12th T@T audience will be filled with people from the music community who cherished Roger, like the Reagans, who have generously supported the start of this new initiative. In a recent email to KQAC, Bonnie Reagan wrote:

Roger Doyle, who was my conductor in Choral Arts Ensemble for 20 years, was a much-loved and respected musician, educator, and conductor. But he was more than that. He was generous, loving, funny and jolly. He was a glorious, kind, magnanimous human being. The All Classical Roger O. Doyle Choral Series is a wonderful tribute to this very special man.

– Bonnie and Pete Reagan

The honor of premiering the Choral Series goes to Choral Arts Ensemble, the Portland choir Roger conducted for 33 years. CAE’s conductor since 2012 is David De Lyser, who studied with Roger at University of Portland and is now Director of Choral Activities at that school. CAE is previewing music from its upcoming “Yuletide: Gloria” concerts being performed at the Agnes Flanagan Chapel, Lewis and Clark College campus, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, December 14, and 3 p.m. Sunday, December 15. More information about that performance is here.

Northwest Piano Trio, whose upcoming “Simply the Holidays” performances are December 14 and 15 in Portland and Cannon Beach, will perform on the second half of the program. The following week’s Roger O. Doyle Choral Series will feature the Grant High School Royal Blues Chamber Choir; other choirs, such as Resonance Ensemble, are scheduled for early 2025.

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The show format hasn’t changed too much since the earliest days, when it was hosted by its originator, Robert McBride. We have McBride to thank for, among other things, choosing the piano theme — Ernest Bloch’s “Joyous March” — which begins and ends each show.

Wessel prompts the performing artists with questions that appear off the cuff but for which she does quite extensive research. The live format is like stepping back in time to those Golden Age radio broadcasts, except less “haughty,” said Wessel in recent email to OAW: “That’s not the way it’s done at All Classical Radio.” In the friendly and intimate “salon,” she guides brief interviews, introduces the works, the composer, the performers and inserts station information with a remarkable agility and calm. “My aim,” said the host, “is to make the artists feel at home in front of a microphone, and for that ease to be palpable during the radio broadcast.” 

Choral groups? Would you like to perform on a future Roger O. Doyle Choral Series broadcast? Reach out to Wessel at christa@allclassical.org. But, says the host, please plan ahead; there is a high demand for T@T performances. Of course there is! And to inquire about being in the live studio audience — which is really fun — email thursdays@allclassical.org. And if you can’t catch Thursdays @ Three right at 3 o’clock, you can listen on demand. Programs are archived for two weeks. 

Allison Fuller, KQAC Director of Development & Marketing, responded in a recent email to a question that is probably on your mind: Will the Performance Hall be available for community rental? “In 2025, All Classical Radio will launch a complete rentals program allowing artists, organizations, business and community members to utilize the stunning hall. Contact support@allclassical.org to be notified when rentals are open.”

At a recent open house, hundreds of folks visited All Classical Radio’s beautiful new home and were welcomed by President and CEO Suzanne Nance to a brief concert in the beautiful Irving Levin Performance Hall. 

Some visitors were awed to be welcomed by John Pitman and Brandi Parisi into the gleaming central broadcast techno-palace. “You mean today we can just walk in?” asked one guest. A tour helper’s answer brought a smile: “Sure. This station belongs to the community.”

Strong voices in our thriving music community believe in and support All Classical Radio. And with the Thursdays @ Three Roger O Doyle Choral Series, KQAC is sending a strong signal: Choral music will be heard. More information on the new Choral Series is here.

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Read more detail on the rich history of KQAC here. It is a story of dedication, innovation, and community involvement. It is the story of talented on-air hosts we know only by voice but refer to by first name. It is the story of reaching out to children (through ICAN) and streaming Portland’s cultural riches into homes around the world. And homes right here in Portland.