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.
Happy Monday, everybody. There’s a very nice blog post about WQXR’s switch from commercial to public radio here. Doc Searls lists five reasons public radio is better than commercial for classical music, but my favorite is the last one: Direct Listener Involvement. Commercial radio has had a huge disadvantage for the duration: its customers and its consumers are different populations. As businesses, commercial radio stations are primarily accountable to advertisers, not to listeners. Public radio is directly accountable to its listeners, because those are also its customers. As public stations make greater … Continue Reading
You’ve heard of dual format stations, a combination of music and news, right? And some stations play classical and jazz. But have you ever heard of a classical music station that airs live sports events?
Starting August 27th, Omaha, Neb. station KVNO will add live broadcasts of University of Nebraska sports events to their otherwise all-classical format.
The oldest American commercial classical station is commercial no more, but it will remain classical. WQXR will be sold by The New York Times to public radio station WNYC and Univision.
The call letters and the classical music will move across the dial from 96.3 to a weaker signal at 105.9, while Univision’s Spanish-language WCAA will move to 96.3.