If you read this blog regularly you know I’m a fan of KUSC in L.A., because they don’t shy away from fresh programming and documenting what’s going on in the real classical music world, instead of pretending that the only thing people want to listen to is music they already know.
Public radio
Northern Indiana Classical Stations For Sale
Radio Online reports that Classical WBNI 94.1 in Roanoke IN is on the auction block. It’s being offered for $2.5 million. The owner is Northeast Indiana Public Radio. The station itself is actually classified as a commercial station even though it is treated mostly like a public station. WBNI is a sister station to the NPR affiliate WBOI, which is NOT for sale, and WBNI’s classical programming is also carried on the non-commercial frequency 91.3 WCKZ in Orland. It’s all a little confusing. Both WBNI and WCKZ are for sale, as is … Continue Reading
Station Beat: St. Louis’s KFUO still in play; KCRW plans new stream
It’s the end of the week and still no word on the fate of KFUO-FM, the commercial classical station in St. Louis that might be sold by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. This even-handed editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the synod’s board was expected to decide yesterday, but I don’t see any updates online. In a poll tallied up this week, a majority of Post-Dispatch readers opposed the sale of the station.
News roundup: More on WUFT; Arizona station moves classical to AM
The Gainesville Sun reports that unhappy fans of the classical music aired until recently on WUFT have been, um, scanning the dial for alternatives — and finding cause for offense. Like WUFT, Gainesville’s Rock 104 is owned by the University of Florida. Former WUFT listeners have been turning to Rock 104, and they’re complaining about a morning show that airs on the station. What this article doesn’t explain is why these classical fans would turn on a rock station and then feel let down about what they find there — as if this weren’t entirely predictable. What did they expect? I’m baffled.
Meanwhile, the newspaper is still running letters from the miffed classical fans.