Meet John Nasukaluk Clare of “Anytime Classical”
We are pleased to announce the addition of a new show to our weekday programming. Starting Monday, October 7, we will be carrying Anytime Classical with host John Nasukaluk Clare. Airing weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. on FM 90.9, the program comes to us from our partners at Classical Music Indianapolis. The show will feature classical favorites, new music, and occasional interviews with composers and artists performing in cities across the Midwest.
The first Native American to lead an all-classical radio station, John Nasukaluk Clare is equally at home behind the microphone, in front of the camera, and in the violin section of an orchestra. In addition to being the new host of Anytime Classical, he is also the weekday morning drive host on SiriusXM’s Symphony Hall. He has worked in classical radio broadcasting for nearly thirty years in stations across the country, including in Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Nevada, California, and Pennsylvania.
Clare played the violin and listened to a variety of music growing up in south-central Kansas. He cited Michael Jackson, The Bangles, and Bob Wills as particular favorites. But it was a recording of Aaron Copland’s Third Symphony, performed by the Dallas Symphony under Eduardo Mata, that stopped him in his tracks.
“I was helping my parents build their house, and one day I was listening to the radio and just had to stop working,” he said. “I was so moved by the music.”
While in college at Wichita State, Clare saw a posting in the School of Music for a job working in the music library of the local public radio station. “The rest is history, as they say. I got the bug, and a student job turned into a part-time job, which turned into a full-time job,” he explained. He has since worked at ten different radio stations across two networks, earning the Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP for radio broadcasting in 2005.
When asked how he approaches programming, Clare said he’s constantly listening to new releases, be it new recordings of familiar favorites by Beethoven and Mozart or brand-new compositions by living composers like Peter Boyer. He emphasized that up until the twentieth century, most classical music programming centered on “contemporary” works, and before recording technology, all performers were living performers. “At one point, Beethoven was a living composer and Bach was a contemporary composer,” he stressed. He believes in carrying on that tradition by introducing audiences to new pieces and artists on his shows.
That said, Clare noted that his programming can run the gamut. “I think you can have a whole hour of Mozart and find really diverse things in that . . . And I think you can have a whole hour of music by Indigenous and Black composers that will be just as thrilling as that Mozart hour.” What is crucial is finding the right flow between musical selections and across the programming block. To do this, Clare enjoys finding surprising connections or interesting juxtapositions between pieces and balancing calming selections with more energetic works.
Although he does some research behind the music he plays, Clare said listening is the most important aspect of his preparation: “I think for me, [the prep is] not necessarily in knowing the opus number or the year that Beethoven wrote it, but whether I think it will speak to someone.” Occasionally, he solicits feedback from listeners on the air, asking them to email him or contact him on social media to say whether they enjoyed that particular performance, creating a shared listening experience with his audience.
This approach reflects his focus on curating programs for the listener, rather than for himself. Equally important to him is staying out of the way of the music. He said an effective announcer break between pieces might be ten seconds or it might be two minutes—so long as you are an engaging storyteller and let the music speak. As it happens, Clare is an experienced storyteller, both behind the mic and on stage. He has portrayed Santa Claus in holiday concerts and served as the narrator in performances of Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of the Animals, and educational concerts with various orchestras.
With so many options out there for listening to classical music, Clare explained that the advantage of radio is that it is curated by human beings, not fed to you according to algorithms. Plus, with a show like Anytime Classical, there is a local focus, which you can’t get on streaming platforms like Pandora or most other nationally syndicated shows. He already has plans in the works to highlight some area musicians like Ian Hobson and other performers who might be making their way through central Illinois.
“I have grown to think that you want your classical music like your farmer’s market—you want it fresh and local,” Clare said. Well, we love a good farmer’s market here in central Illinois, so be sure to tune into Anytime Classical weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. on WILL-FM 90.9 for some fresh classical programming.
