Big Picture

Is Radio in a Coma? Nah, It’s Just Resting.

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Authormarty72x72 Is the country ready for change? Is the radio world ready for change? Some interesting posts this past week (all of which I, a middle-aged woman read online) bear on the future of classical music radio.

First is a post by Todd Feinburg, who despite his inane political blather has made some intelligent observations about the current dilemma radio finds itself in. He says radio is in a coma. In an article titled Is Radio Headed For Extinction? Feinburg writes

The radio industry is in shock. An absolute coma.

Radio sees the enemy bearing down and closing in, but it doesn’t know how to respond. It’s frozen in place, unable to move. No defense is being offered, no counter attack.

The foe that has radio folks terrified is the Internet. New technologies are encroaching on radio’s traditional domain with the same speed that the auto and airline industries once pounded the railroads into near extinction. And radio is mimicking the railroad industry’s response to its death knell — whether from arrogance, fear, or institutional inertia, radio is failing to see that it must embrace the future rather than resist it or run from it…

The radio industry needs to learn that it’s in the audio distribution business…But the fear that radio feels over the encroachment, and the revenues lost to the Internet, are causing radio to pull back rather than to be aggressive. In the short term, this means tighter budgets and fewer jobs. This is exactly the wrong response, of course.

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The Democratic Primary as Classical Radio Metaphor

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Authormarty72x72 I’ve never been a news junkie before, but all of a sudden the drama of the primaries has grabbed me by throat and won’t let go. It’s an opera in the making.

The arguments in classical music radio are amazingly similar to the conflicts between the two Democratic candidates. Should we keep the old tried and true conservative model, or should we break out and take a chance (some say “risk”) with something unknown and exciting, and in the process reach a whole different demographic?

The Candidates
Barack Obama could be called the Peter Gelb of Election ‘08. Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, hired director Julie Taymor to spin Mozart. He took the opera to the people, airing it in our own local movie theaters. He launched a 24-hour Metropolitan Opera channel on satellite radio, put live streaming performances on the web, broadcast opening night on huge screens in Times Square and Lincoln Center Plaza, and offered $20 weekday tickets.

Gelb didn’t let fear of change or shrill criticisms stop him. Mary Jo Heath, who produces the Met Opera radio broadcasts, told me you can’t believe the volume of nasty emails and calls they got at first from people who didn’t want change. I’ll bet $2,300 (the maximum legal political donation) that those same “whiners” are the ones mobbing the movie theaters now.

On the other hand (full disclosure), I work for the Hillary Clinton of radio. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is a powerful legacy orchestra, a grande dame of orchestras, and we distribute our broadcasts through the WFMT network, which is an old-fashioned legacy service. They are willing to consider new ideas, but they are not risk-takers. Every idea has to be vetted before it makes the air. Not a bad policy when you have such an important legacy. They take themselves and their reputation very seriously.

The Hillary Clinton model of classical music radio has its contradictions. Clinton talked about getting us out of Iraq at the same time she threatened to obliterate Iran. Many classical radio program directors keep saying they want “fresh” programming and “innovative” ideas; yet when you ask them what they mean, they say they want interviews with artists and great live performances. Same old, same old. Then they play the Holberg Suite and Espana again.

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“Live” is Alive and Well in Boston

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Making a mistake on a blog is a little like fighting with your spouse. It’s the kissing and making up that’s fun. When I wrote about the CBC earlier, I grouped WGBH in with a bunch of other stations that I thought were doing less live music. I’m delighted to be wrong! Brian Bell writes: I’ve been doing the live Friday afternoon broadcasts of the BSO since 1991, when William Pierce retired and have been doing Sunday afternoons at Tanglewood, all live, and since this past year, we’re doing the Friday night … Continue Reading

WGBH responds

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Authormarty72x72 I got it all wrong about WGBH, so I want to set the record straight. Ben Schwarz, the marketing manager for Boston’s legacy public radio station WGBH sent me an email with this information.

Your comments about WGBH Radio, in particular, are not an accurate assessment of us as a radio station. In the past year, we have, if anything, increased the amount of classical production on 89.7, as well as supporting our all-classical HD service and internet stream. Here are some points you should be aware of.

* In a typical week, we produce and air two to three live three live classical music performances from our newly built Fraser Performance Studio (to see more about this space, please see http://www.flickr.com/photos/wgbhradio/collections/72157604184594526). As I’m writing this, Augustin Hadelich is performing in our studios, and we’ve recently aired performances by David Deveau, Irina Muresanu, Heng-Jin Park, Bion Tsang and Anton Nel, and Kim Kashkashian and Robert Levin.

* In the past year, we’ve produced and aired more concerts by the Boston Symphony Orchestra than ever before, building on our live broadcasts of the BSO on Friday afternoons. For example, next month we will be the only radio station to record and broadcast the full five acts of the BSO’s performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens.

* In the past year, we’ve recorded and aired more concerts by local New England ensembles for our Sunday Concert program than ever before. For example, in the past few months we’ve aired our own recordings of Opera Boston, Boston Philharmonic, the Handel & Haydn Society and the Boston Lyric Opera; just to name a few.

I think you’ll agree these are examples of a robust and relevant broadcaster of classical music. While we are thrilled that technology has allowed us to share this effort with online and HD radio listeners, I assure you we’ve taken nothing away from anyone. All of our audiences have benefited, regardless of the platform.

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