KUSC

KUSC has been Southern California's classical standard since 1948, and it shows. The programming is genuinely diverse - Baroque harpsichord works give way to 20th-century avant-garde with surprising ease. Mornings are conversational, with hosts who actually know the difference between a sonata and a suite. That matters. Afternoons bring full symphonies and opera recordings that don't sound like museum pieces. The station is owned by USC but there's no academic dryness. Instead, you get warmth and passion. Listening to KUSC live, you hear tracks by living composers like Jennifer Higdon alongsid…