If you haven’t seen the original post about KHFM in Albuquerque, scroll down to Aug. 10th. In the meantime, I’ve talked to various stakeholders, gruntled and disgruntled, and need to make a couple of corrections. First, it was American General Media’s local manager, Tim Gannon who did the actual firing, though the order apparently came down from the owners. More about them in a minute. Second, the reason winter ratings are down so drastically is that the transmitter was hit by lightning, and the station was off the air for six weeks between Feb. and May.
Commercial radio
KHFM: Disenchantment in the Land of Enchantment
Less than two weeks ago, Bob Bishop, Program Director at classical KHFM in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, was called into his new boss’s office and asked to turn in his keys on the spot. General Manager Sarah Colmark told Bishop that the station was going to be reorganized and he was being laid off.
More From Boston
In a disturbing follow-up to Mike’s post on Friday about WGBH’s grand experiment in the virtual world, comes this post from Alex Beam at boston.com: Home / Lifestyle Alex Beam Temple of Doom? If people are going to take the trouble to leak us internal memos, we are going to take the trouble to print them. In an all-points bulletin issued last week, WGBH president Jon Abbott warned that the World’s Greatest Broadcast House may end its current fiscal year in deficit, and declared an immediate freeze on hiring. A friend of … Continue Reading
News roundup: stations enriching their musical communities
In a post last week about the CBC controversy, I asked how classical stations in the U.S. might work to enrich the classical scenes in their communities. And lo, the heavens responded (well, really, Google did).
One article in the Rochester (Minn.) Post-Bulletin points out that an area station set aside airtime for the Rochester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale to raise money for the orchestra’s general budget. The orchestra even got some help from a local partner, the Rochester Honkers—a baseball team. (I wonder how the brass section feels about that arrangement.) “Sports don’t have to be divorced from classical music,” said the orchestra’s music director. “People just have to get over the hump. Once you’ve experience classical music live, you’re hooked.” And the radio station is actually an easy listening station. A novel three-way partnership that makes me wonder why Minnesota Public Radio’s local classical station, which actually carries the format, isn’t involved.