Brenda Barnes

L.A.’s Classical Radio Maven Doesn’t Need to Turn Up the Volume. In Fact, KUSC’s President Is Just Fine With Silence.

On our way over to happy hour drinks from her downtown office, Brenda Barnes marvels at the glut of construction projects on South Hill Street. “Change,” she tells me, “is in the DNA of L.A.”

It’s nothing I haven’t heard before, but it sounds weightier coming from the president of nonprofit public radio station KUSC-FM; classical music, after all, stridently resists change. The bar Barnes has chosen, The Stocking Frame, looks brand-new, with high ceilings, polished wood floors, and a studiously hip vibe. There’s even a plant growing out of a …

KCRW ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’ Host Jason Bentley

If You Wondered What He Looks Like, You’re Not Alone (And Now You Know)

Jason Bentley is the music director of KCRW and host of the station’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” program. Before participating in a program on whether popular music can still change American …

Getting to Love Hitler and Zooey Deschanel’s TV Show

Slate Takes Its Culture Gabfest to Los Angeles

How true does a good story need to be? And should you bring your toddler to The Hunger Games? These questions and others were the subject of discussion as actress …