In 1999, in New Zealand, the classical music station broadcast an opening for announcers and Charlotte has been entrenched in classical music radio ever since, beginning as a general host on Radio New Zealand Concert before going on to front the live concert broadcasts, flagship daily arts show, and a stint on weekend breakfasts at BBC Radio 3. Well-known in NZ, partly for her role in the “Save RNZ Concert” campaign 2020 when that station was under threat, she also gained an entrée to the USA working for KBACH Phoenix and moved here permanently in 2022, first for WUOT Knoxville, Tennessee before being lured up here to upstate New York.
Charlotte comes from an illustrious arts family in New Zealand – her grandparents Frederick and Evelyn Page were a celebrated pianist and painter – and the sound of live music in the home and smell of oil paints and turpentine have always been her greatest influences. She plays piano, rides Ducati motorcycles, and has a weakness for acquiring new musical instruments in the continual hope that she might have some hidden talent (the latest is a mandolin). Her ideal weekend would include a good prowl around an arts gallery, some concert of any kind, horsing around with her daughter, cooking for friends, and curling up with a cat and a good book.
Could you tell us about your background and what
inspired you to apply for your position at WMHT?
I’ve always been attracted to the wider world, as much as I love beautiful little New Zealand, and have travelled and lived widely around Europe – Paris, London, Denmark, a year teaching ESL in the Czech Republic. But it wasn’t until later life that I fell in love with America and Americans and upstate New York has always been a dream for the stunning amount of music and arts up here, alongside the closeness of NYC itself (without actually having to live there). And that was all before I started listening to WMHT, absolutely world-class radio.
Can you provide us with a brief overview of each program under your leadership, including the needs that each address?
I’ll be hosting the weekday afternoons 4-8pm and Saturdays 10am-2pm, also covering the extraordinary music and arts scene here with interviews and podcasts. The Saturday program will begin with your listener requests so please send them to me! Feel free to share why you’ve chosen what you’ve chosen, as well. So much of music is about people’s stories. classical@wmht.org
What has been your proudest accomplishment or funniest story in radio
Taking the arts show I used to front, ‘Upbeat’, on the road around small town New Zealand, four times per year. We would fly and the broadcast operations truck would meet us – hopefully – at our destination. There was the time we were covering the semi-finals in Queenstown of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in mid-winter, flying in through the stunning snow-capped Remarkable mountain range only to discover that the truck had become bogged down in one of the passes. The engineers heroically drove through the night, made it just in time for noon, and the show went on.
I so much look forward to getting to know the people of this beautiful region: listeners, supporters, artists all, and am so grateful to you for welcoming me so generously. This radio job is an unbelievable privilege. Doubtless this time next year we will all have a few WMHT stories of our own!