Extra-terrestrial Classical Radio

Ok, well, maybe extraterrestrial isn’t the term you’d use, but this post is about classical music radio outside of the terrestrial stations — two sources in particular: 1) the new, combined Sirius XM classical channel which they call Symphony Hall, currently on channel 80 on Sirius and 78 on XM, and 2) Naxos Web Radio, which has 80 (!!!!!!!!!) classical channels, divided by genre.  Both are subscription services.

The Sirius XM merger has caused immediate and somewhat drastic changes to their classical service.  Sirius XM has a pops channel and the Metropolitan Opera channel, but it appears that XM’s stellar VOX channel with Robert Aubrey Davis is gone.

Davis is on the air at Symphony Hall from midnight to 6 am eastern, and he plays some of his beloved choral music on that show.  He also hosts Sunday Choral from 6 am to 11 am eastern.  XM hosts Martin Goldsmith and Elena See are on 6 am to noon and 6 pm to midnight, respectively, and in between is composer Preston Trombly from noon to 6 pm.

Some other shows seem to be missing from the playlist.   I can’t find Reflections from the Keyboard, but Millenium of Music is there, and supposedly Exploring Music, as well.  I haven’t found the BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra broadcast yet, but I assume it’s there.  Anyone want to let me know?  Thanks.

I’m sure there will be adjustments to the programming as the listeners make their wishes known.  Good luck finding the information you want.  The online support is spotty.

Naxos Web Radio, however, is a whole different story.  You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant, and also at Naxos Web Radio.  For a $9.95 a year you can get FM quality, and for $19.95 a year you can get what they call “near CD quality” of a preprogrammed playlist from their vast catalogue, divided by genre. Like everything at Naxos, it’s web-user friendly.  You can click on any genre for a free 15-minute trial.  The only drawback is that it’s all Naxos recordings, so if you’re looking for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or MTT and San Francisco, you’re out of luck.  And of course, there’s no live music.

iTunes has a radio service, too, but it’s streaming terrestrial stations, so I don’t include it in my extraterrestrial definition.

Soon, I hope, the lawyers will finish arguing over web rights for classical music on the internet, and then the whole classical radio world will change even more.

We’ll keep you posted.  Happy listening!