Press release from KING FM 98.1

Ballardite and Classical King FM on-air host Lisa Bergman was named last week a winner of the 2013 Gracie Award for writing and hosting the original Exploring Music program on Classical KING FM 98.1.

Exploring Music is a two-minute adventure in music that airs every night at 6 p.m. and is designed to introduce all ages, including children, to the often fascinating and unusual stories behind classical music.

“Writing and hosting KING FM’s Exploring Music is for me a thrill,” Bergman said. “It is an opportunity to share the innermost secrets of over five centuries of classical music peppered with anecdotes about instruments, sound, disasters and hilarity –- all within an intense, two-minute sound byte. Winning the 2013 Gracie Award for ‘Outstanding Host for Entertainment and Information’ is really a reflection of the richness of classical music and the humanity that is at its core.”

The Gracie Award is presented annually by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation in New York and benefits the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation. The Award honors the accomplishments of women in media each year at a prestigious annual awards event. Bergman wins the award in the category of “Host – Entertainment/Information.” The three Exploring Music segments that were submitted were “Special Effects” (The Waltzing Cat); “Tear Jerkers” (Elgar’s Nimrod Variation) and “Lost in the Closet” (von Sauer Piano Concerto in E minor). The Exploring Music segments may be heard at any time, archived online at KING.org. The award will be presented to Bergman at the awards ceremony on June 26 in New York City.

Lisa Bergman joined Classical KING FM in 2011 and began writing and recording segments for the popular Exploring Music series in 2012. As a classically trained pianist, Bergman also performs regionally and internationally. A passionate promoter of classical music, Bergman is a founder and Artistic Director of the Mostly Nordic Chamber Music Series presented at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle as well as Executive Director of NOISE (Northwest Opera in Schools, Etcetera). She also currently serves as Adult Piano Retreat Director of the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts in Leavenworth, Washington, where she was a classical music host on KOHO FM for 10 years. As an American Artistic Ambassador she toured the Pacific Rim and made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1983.

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