Thread on WETA

There’s an interesting thread about Washington DC’s classical station WETA on City-Data.com.  It’s in response to the somewhat snarky question, “Why is WETA so boring?”. This is not an attempt to criticize WETA in any way.  It’s a legacy station that rode to the rescue when WGMS dropped the classical format.  From 2005 to 2007, WETA switched to news/talk, angering a lot of listeners.  But when WGMS gave up on classical music, WETA didn’t hesitate to switch from the generally more lucrative news format back to classical.  I give them full credit for preserving and protecting … Continue Reading

Spring Fundraising – Guilt, Dread, oh yeah, and Gratitude

It’s that time for many stations.  Spring fundraising time.  There’s a tongue-in-cheek, somewhat uncomfortable op-ed on Chron.com from the Houston Chronicle.  History Professor and KUHF listener Robert Zaretsky writes about his dread of fundraising and guilt for not donating regularly. I confess a sense of guilt plays a role in my reaction. Though I regularly listen to KUHF, I have been an irregular member. Like the rest of us, I suspect, I have a number of strategies for dealing with this form of guilt. There is the “that will show ’em” gambit, … Continue Reading

Classical Radio is Rosy in Connecticut

An absolutely wonderful post by Milton Moore about music in eastern Connecticut includes this tidbit: We even have more classical music on the radio now. In addition to the music programming on WNPR in Hartford, WSHU in Fairfield has spread its signal eastward, WMNR in Monroe has beefed up its broadcast area, and a commercial classical station, WCRI, popped up in Westerly. You can now channel-surf as you drive, something unheard of not long ago. It’s starting to feel like the best of times here. You can read the post on theday.com.  Mr. Moore expresses beautifully … Continue Reading

Classical vs. Folk in Scotland

There’s been a brouhaha going on at BBC Scotland over a popular world music show called Global Gathering hosted by Mary Ann Kennedy.  BBC Scotland dropped the show and replaced it with Classics Unwrapped, which focuses on classical music events in Scotland.  The change was part of a larger revamping that included more talk during the day and more music during the evenings. Now Global Gathering‘s loyal audience is fighting back with a petition to save the show.  You can read more here. Ordinarily, I would applaud the addition of more classical … Continue Reading

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