From the Top’s new season, and a juggling act in Colorado

Hi everyone — I’m just back from the massive Bonnaroo music festival, held every year in Tennessee, where I must admit I didn’t see any classical music performed. Not that there was any, unless you count Iceland’s wonderful Sigur Rós, whose music has “classical elements” according to their Wikipedia entry. Classical or no, the group performed a spectacular late-night set, accompanied by a string section, a quintet of costumed, drum-pounding women and a white-clad brass section that paraded around the stage. What a show.

On to other, squarely classical matters. As I was on my way home, the television version of From the Top, a show that spotlights young performers of classical music, began its second season on PBS. A release about the show says that this season From the Top at Carnegie Hall will have a different focus. “Last
year we produced a show about classical music played by kids,” says Executive Producer Don
Mischer. “This year we are making a show about kids, all of whom play
classical music.” So the show will feature documentary-style bits about the kids who perform, visiting them in their hometowns. Note that From the Top at Carnegie Hall offers video podcasts via its website.

Meanwhile, the Boston Globe profiles Jerry Slavet, creator of From the Top (which began as a radio show nine years ago and continues in that format as well). I’ve met Jerry and can second the impression conveyed by this article — he is quite the dynamo.

In happenings elsewhere, you can read in the Denver Post about the decision of the city’s Colorado Public Radio to move its FM classical station to a new frequency. CPR is doing this to move its all-news station, now on AM, to the channel now occupied by the classical station. This is similar to what Bonneville did in Washington, D.C., with its commercial classical station, WGMS, to give better play to its popular all-news station — and underscores the growth potential that broadcasters see in all-news and, unfortunately for music lovers, not in classical. (WGMS is now off the air.)

According to an unhappy commentator, CPR’s switcheroo will leave about 400,000 listeners north of Denver unable to hear the station. “In musical terms, this makes me agitato-ed — or maybe even a little pizzicato-ed,” writes Dick Hilker.

Hilker points out that northern Coloradans can already listen to news on two other public radio stations. He argues that public broadcasters should not compete with each other and should try to reach as many listeners as possible.

That does sound like an awful lot of listeners left without classical music. But CPR’s strategizing makes sense, especially when you consider that AM radio is slowly withering away. Many radio listeners simply never tune to AM (and I’m one of them), which makes it tough for noncommercial radio stations there to build audience or get discovered by dial surfers. Plus the sound quality can be quite horrendous when compared to FM’s, and some AM stations even have to lower their power at night, which significantly cuts down on their reach (I’m not sure if CPR’s station is one of them). Yes, public radio stations should aim for large audiences, but on platforms that are viable in the long-term.

And as for competition, I imagine that noncommercial stations will stop competing when they no longer have to vie for dollars from donors and underwriters — which I don’t see coming anytime soon. Competition among public stations may be a bit more polite than among their commercial counterparts. But it’s competition nonetheless, and it’s part of doing business.