WUFT in Gainesville, Fla., went through with its change to all-news Monday, despite the continued protests of area classical fans. The Gainesville Sun ran an article noting the change — I wonder whether this might be the most media coverage of a switch away from classical since we inaugurated this blog. WUFT now airs an all-classical HD channel, and the Sun notes that electronics stores in Gainesville have sold an unprecedented number of HD radios since the change. I was also surprised that the HD channel features live hosts. That may be a first for an HD classical channel, according to the article. (Are any of the hosts on WNYC2 live?)
Public radio
Bravo San Francisco Classical Voice
A lot of us in the media have been casting about for the best way to support and promote the artists who create the classical music that we live and breathe. Their place in newspapers is shrinking, shrinking. In some communities the symbiotic relationship between the classical radio station and local musicians is strong and vibrant. In others not so much.
San Francisco has one great answer for our common dilemma, and it just turned 10 years old. It’s the website San Francisco Classical Voice.
News roundup: WQXR, new classical websites and more
Welcome to the Sweating in a Brazilian “Winter”, Too Many Tabs Open in Firefox Link-dump Edition of Scanning the Dial. Freshness of items may vary.
Mark Ramsey on the future of music radio: “The ‘next big thing’ in radio is the gradual disappearance of music stations to be replaced by non-music stations, whether they are Talk, Sports, or new formulas yet to be devised.”
Does public radio exist to serve underserved audiences?
Greetings from Brazil, all, where I’m sojourning for several weeks in the company of my daughter. It’s my first time here and it’s quite an adventure. I’m in Barra de São Francisco, a town of 40,000 in the state of Espírito Santo. As I write this I’m being ceiling-fanned and mosquito-bitten in my modest hotel room. Which might not sound like much fun, but in general I am having a great time — even without a passing ability to speak Portuguese.
I’ve been told that of the four radio stations here, none play any classical music. Not that I even have a radio for verifying this. But I’ve been trying to keep up on happenings in our beat here at Scanning the Dial, and there’s lots going on. The impending changes at WUFT-FM in Gainesville, Fla., for one.