Frederick Fennell Passes - Legendary band conductor Frederick Fennell died last week at age 90. He made the famous recording of the Holst and Handel Suites for Telarc in l978 - the first commercial digital recording produced in the U.S. Telarc President Bob Woods observed “...Fennell was the dean of conductors of what most people would call a ‘band,’ but in his hands it was a ‘wind ensemble’ and the level of music was never less than first class.”
Battery Breakthrough? - At the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Panasonic will be demonstrating a car running on just two AA-sized batteries. It appears there has finally been a needed breakthrough in battery technology. The new generation is called Oxyride, and of course the applications for it will be enormous. For vehicles alone, combination gas and electric would no longer be required and neither would 220v charging stations.
Program to Improve RBDS - The National Radio Systems Committee and the NAB have announced a standards program to improve the display of broadcast information for FM radio using the existing (but little-used) Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS). Its display of song titles, artists, and other program information (and advertising) on tuners is being considered for incorporation into the new in-band on-channel digital audio broadcast standard (which seems to be coming forever but still hasn't happened!).
Telarc Receives 14 Grammy Nominations - Telarc International and its sublabel Heads Up have had 14 disc nominations for the Grammy Awards in February. Among them were McCoy Tyner’s Illuminations; Jennifer Higdon's orchestral works City Scape and Concerto for Orchestra (in several categories); The LA Guitar Quartet’s Guitar Heroes; The Atlanta Symphony’s Berlioz Requiem; and Guitar David Russell’s Aire Latino.
Dec. 15, 2004 
