Classical Music Radio Should Be Listed As An Endangered Species

Two recent news items ought to make your head whirl. The first is from current.org which is the online arm of Current, the pubcasting journal.

The latest analysis from public radio’s Grow the Audience project identifies a “short list” of market factors that drive performance of individual NPR News stations–namely education levels, competition within each market for NPR News listeners and the presence of key psychographic segments. The report [PDF], published online last week by Station Resource Group and Walrus Research, concludes that strategies to grow the public radio news audience start with the two most-listened to programs, NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. In addition, the analysts predict that the cume ratings for NPR News would grow substantially if hybrid news/classical music stations in Houston, Tampa and Atlanta went to all-news formats.

Emphasis mine. Here we go again. The drastic shift to news/talk by many stations more than a decade ago decimated the classical landscape. Now the consultants want to finish the job, because we need more news outlets, dontcha know? The longer report also mentions dual-format WNYC in New York City, which is a leader in classical programming. It’s apparently safe, because there’s another public station in the market that is all news.

There’s only half of a classical outlet in each of those three major markets, and they want to take even that little bit away. I don’t know about you, but I can find hundreds of news sources available online, on the air, and on TV, but the online fidelity for classical music isn’t all that great. We need our classical radio! What are we? Gnats, to be swatted away?

Still, online classical music is better than nothing. From an English language Dutch blog comes a very strange news item:

Dutch classical music channel threatened with closure because it’s too popular!

November 16th, 2008 – 11:59 UTC by Andy Sennitt

Rolf den Otter writes: A bizarre situation has developed in the Netherlands. Everywhere in the world, classical broadcasters are shutting down, because of falling listening figures. In the Netherlands however, the Concertzender, which many of you might know because of its splendid Internet channels, has to shut down because it has become too popular!

Dutch Public radio hosts the Concertzender, and working with 150 volunteers and a handful of paid staff members, it operates on a budget of 500.000 euro a year. Cable companies in the Netherlands are now opting to carry the Concertzender, instead of the non-classical Radio 6 (operating on a budget many times of the Concertzender!!). Instead of looking for a good solution, the co-ordinator of Radio 6 just wants to pull the plug from the Concertzender.

To make things even weirder, a message explaining the situation with a call for support had to be removed from the homepage !!! The call was mirrored on another site, and a small flood of support letters came in, prompting the board of management of Dutch Public Broadcasting to postpone the decision…

More information in English about the Concertzender is available on this page. And there are also some YouTube videos (in English) about the situation, produced by Rolf den Otter. Please forward this message to your “music friends” all over the world.

Do you think President Obama will allow us to list classical music radio on the endangered species list and get some federal protection for it?

About Marty Ronish

Marty Ronish is an independent producer of classical music radio programs. She currently produces the Chicago Symphony Orchestra broadcasts that air 52 weeks a year on more than 400 stations and online at www.cso.org. She also produces a radio series called "America's Music Festivals," which presents live music from some of the country's most dynamic festivals. She is a former Fulbright scholar and co-author of a catalogue of Handel's autograph manuscripts.

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7 thoughts on “Classical Music Radio Should Be Listed As An Endangered Species”

  1. If by “dual format” at WNYC, the implication is that WNYC-AM is of significance, then anyone holding that view is sadly mistaken.

    WNYC-AM is a weak sister low power AM outlet. Look at the FM and AM sechedules side by side and it becomes clear that WYNC-AM exists today for those without FM radio. There is huge duplication in the talk programming. I don’t know anyone like that does not have some sort of FM radio.

    I am, 35 miles south of Manhattan in New Jersey. In my car, I can pick up WNYC-FM at least another 20 miles south as I head for Princeton. I can barely receive WNYC-AM where I live, and I can never receive it after dark.

    There is programming on WNYC-AM which I would like to hear: On Point; and This American Life, to name two programs. If I am not at a computer when they are on, I can not get them on terrestrial radio.

    WNYC-FM is a music station that has gone partially over to the dark side, with news until 10:00AM, Brian and Lenny from 10:00AM until 2:00PM. At 2;00PM, we get John S’s “Soundcheck” which is at least about music. Then after 3:00pM, we get no music until Terrance or David comes on at 7:00PM. But, of course, portions of ATC are repeated at least twice. From 7:00PM it is music until 5:00AM.

    Brian Lehrer did say, on the air, that his enjoyment of music on WNYC was his “dirty secret”. John S., Terrance, and David have all done spot announcements for the talk programming. Neither Brian nor Lenny have ever done a spot for music programming.

    The afternoon news host, Amy Ettings, does frequently remind listeners that Evening Music is coming up at 7:00PM.

    So, you know, it’s not all bad. WNYC2 has gone a long way to pick up the slack for those(many) of us who can listen on a computer.

    Reply
  2. The truth is that most classical stations pay attention to the most conservative listeners. As a life-long connoiseur of music, I’ve become bored with the paltry offerings of classical-format stations. With the growth of classical-format webcasts, the efforts of each station to appeal to a non-geographic audience means a progressive differentiation among them. I hope eventually some station will devote its webcast programming to 20th- and 21st-Century music.
    Tom Kohn
    Dayton OH and Palm Springs CA

    Reply
  3. Thomas,

    In the realm of blatant self-promotion, I put a lot of 20th and 21st century music on the BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra broadcasts, which are available on-demand at cso.org. You can fast-forward to the music you want to hear.

    Best wishes.
    Marty

    Reply
  4. Thanks for the self-plug Marty. I wish the CSO stream was available through iTunes also.

    (Maybe there’s a conflict in the concept, I admit. The CSO site encourages selecting a particular program, and I think iTunes depends on a never-ending broadcast. Is there some intermediate way through iTunes?)

    But anyway, I’m glad that someone who provides newer music was watching/reading.

    Tom

    Reply
  5. One of the most wonderful things about the WUFT-FM music programming was that it was not all-classical. We enjoyed an eclectic, diverse mix of forms. Many of the shows were produced locally, giving the music a connection with the community that is just not possible with country-wide outlets. (Interesting word, “country-wide”).

    Even the daytime classical shows were livelier than on many classical stations I’ve heard. Except for UF students coming in to get practice in broadcast operations, the local presenters of these programs were all very connected with the music. Some are known musicians in the community.

    We had strong followings of folk, jazz, blues, insurgent country, and new-age music.

    And yes, the classical music had its own diversity. One of the locally produced programs was Music in the 20th Century, produced by the station manager who, interestingly also plays in an early-music consort.

    We had quite an enthusiasm for our station with its crossover forms. These forms are now indeed available separately, but Balkanized. What we had was tremendous–a glorious mix, all in one place. I never changed stations.

    Reply
  6. Here in Minneapolis/St Paul, we have giant Minnesota Public Radio. It put two commercial classical music stations out of business & one college station to get where it’s at. MPR is a many-headed gorgon of public affairs and classical music with many subcategories. They know how to make a buck and yet call themselves a “public” station, connoting that they just can’t make it without a tax shelter.

    Reply

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