WDAV assumes production of World of Opera

WDAV in Davidson, N.C., announced Friday that it will be taking over production of NPR World of Opera from the D.C.-based network. Ben Roe, now general manager at WDAV, previously worked as NPR’s director of music and brought together the show’s host and producer. The show airs on 87 stations. Here’s the full release:

WDAV 89.9 CLASSICAL PUBLIC RADIO TO PRODUCE NPR WORLD OF OPERA

December 18, 2009 | DAVIDSON, NC — WDAV 89.9 Classical Public Radio announced today that as of January 18, 2010, the station will take over production of National Public Radio’s World of Opera, keeping in place NPR’s successful creative team of host Lisa Simeone and producer Bruce Scott. WDAV General Manager Benjamin K. Roe is the new executive producer. The show will continue to be marketed and distributed by NPR.

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Classical goes down on Orlando’s WMFE

As Mona asked in a tweet yesterday, “Is there something in the water in Florida?” Though the more appropriate question may be, “Is there something in the water in public radio?” Because another dual-format public radio station, WMFE in Orlando, has dumped classical from its schedule.

Well, not entirely. Like Gainesville’s WUFT, which made a similar move in August, WMFE is moving the classical music to an HD channel. The station’s president says “It’s not like we’re eliminating classical music,” but come on — for what’s no doubt the vast majority of the station’s audience, that not true.

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You Are Old, Father William, the Walrus Said

With apologies to Lewis Carroll for conflating his poems, and thanks to alert reader Dorron Katzin, I’d like to call your attention to a new study by Walrus Research, demonstrating that those of us who like classical music on the radio are aging.  In fact, those who don’t like classical music on the radio are aging, too.  It reminds me of the announcers who say, “it’s 10 am here on KING-FM.”

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Pledge income down at WUFT, and a closer look at the KFUO sale

Two updates today on recent station-centric kerfuffles that we’ve been following. The first pertains to WUFT-FM in Gainesville, Fla., which as you might remember decided to drop classical from its primary signal and move all the music to an HD channel.

Well, the station had its first fund drive since the switch, and donations were down — by 37 percent, according to the Gainesville Sun.

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