Sundays | 6 – 7 pm
What is Film Classics?
By Jack Goggin
Briefly, it’s a weekly hour-long radio program devoted to music written for motion pictures. I began doing it back in the late 70’s at the old WQRS when we had scheduled a syndicated movie music show hosted by the composer David Raksin (“Laura” among other scores) which management decided not to run when it turned out the program was not free. Jerry Dellinger, our Music Director at the time, remembered that I was a fan of cinematic music, and asked me if I had enough material in my collection to do a month’s worth of programs so our Program Guide would be more or less accurate. I said “I think so,” and wound up doing the show for about 18 years until 1997.
Later, when WRCJ came into being, Dave Wagner asked me to come on board and mentioned that if things worked out, we might be able to bring the show back here on 90.9 FM- and sure enough, that’s what happened in April of 2007. It is truly a dream come true to be able to do the program again- to be honest, I doubted that I would ever get another opportunity.
The music we play on the show consists mostly of orchestral scores from the early 30’s (the beginning of talking pictures and of background scoring) up to the present (as recently as last week’s new releases), and as I like to point out to people, Film Classics is the only program on WRCJ exclusively devoted to music from the 20th and 21st centuries literally, there’s new material coming out all the time, as well as new recordings of classic scores by the old masters of the genre like Steiner, Korngold, and Herrmann.
Sometimes the show will be devoted to a single score, like “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”, or sometimes it will follow a theme, like “Submarine Movies.” Generally speaking, we don’t do pop soundtrack compilations or very many musicals.
The theme music for the show, heard at the beginning and end of each program, is the main title sequence from “Since You Went Away” by Max Steiner, which won Steiner his third Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1944.
Thanks for Listening!
Jack I found you again! I used to listen to your religiously on WQRS Detroit Classical Radio in the 1980’s Still have tapes of a lot of your shows, So much has changed since I left the state in the early 90’s. I’m so glad to see you are around.
Yay, welcome back! We borrowed some of the other WQRS folks too.
Enjoying the program, tonight. By the way, Frank Mankiewicz was also President of National Public Radio (NPR) in the 70’s and 80’s.
Thank you Jim, glad you tuned in!
Great program last week I watched Scrooge (1951) the night before the music is excellent from that movie hope one day you do twilight zone jerry goldsmith and Bernard Herman did music for that show
Thanks Jim! If Jack owns that album then it’s a possibility. We’ll ask him.
I’m curious, Jack, what WAS the MUSIC STORE you walked into when you bought your of RCA Korngold LP so long ago?
Hi Keith, Jack said he thought it was called Discount Music located in Northwest St. Louis. They had a Knight chess piece in their logo. This was around 1973 when he purchased it. Part II of his RCA series is coming up this Sunday…
I’m glad to see that you’re doing an entire program on the music of Ennio Morricone who recently passed away. I heard some music from the film “Bugsy” called Love Affair recently. The version I most liked was with a violin solo by Zia Hyunsu Shin with a string orchestra. It’s quite beautiful. Thanks for the weekly program.
Thank you Thomas, Jack had to do a Morricone tribute show. We hope you enjoy it.
Looking forward to Sunday’s Force Spectacular. Jack is always so on target as today’s “Lusty Month of May” start.
Oh you caught that one, yes he tries to find fun little things like that to program. If you enjoy the Star Wars show, there will also be a few selections on Monday too.
Love the John Barry music featured this evening. What movie was it written for? I cannot seem to find the playlist.
Thank you,
CAS
Hello listener, that was music from The Scarlet Letter (1995) by John Barry, an adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel.
where might i find the Oct 20 2019 playlist? i don’t easily see a tab for playlist on the website but am sure i am just missing it
Hello Karen, Jack played:
The Longest Day Main Title
Lawrence Of Arabia Main Title
Dr. Zhivago Suite
A Passage To India: Adela’s Theme
Witness: Building The Barn
Is Paris Burning? Main Title
Ryan’s Daughter: Concert Suite
Topaz Main Title
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome: Fanfare & Thunderdome
Ghost: Unchained Melody
And Jack thanks you for listening!
Just thought I would drop a note My wife and I have been a fan of yours since WQRS days. I am a movie fan and enjoy “seeing” the movie again through your program Keep on doing what you’re doing We will be listening
Thanks listeners! We will send this along to Jack. He appreciates your loyalty!