Stations

Oklahoma station cuts back on classical; Canadian MP sticks up for CBC Orchestra

by

Authormike72x72_3 KOSU in Stillwater, Okla., joins the ranks of stations cutting back on classical in favor of more news and talk programming. My guess is that they dumped the dual format, but I’m not sure (the most recent incarnation of their previous schedule that I could dig up dates to almost a year ago). Their website calls the station “the New KOSU.”

This article in the local Journal Record includes background from the station’s new general manager, who mentions a survey the station conducted that helped inform the decision. (Use Bugmenot.com to skirt the registration prompt.) The survey involved input from 500 listeners. Compare that to the station’s weekly audience of 24,400 listeners as of Fall 2007, according to the Radio Research Consortium. That’s about 2 percent. KOSU also cites other factors such as public forums and an advisory board’s input.

Continue Reading

A Monday Morning Rant

by

Authormarty72x72 Two recent articles about radio and music got my juices flowing: one was a post last week at “Inside Music Media” called Drinking Radio’s Kool-Aid by Jerry Del Colliano, whose understanding of the radio industry is both insightful and cynical. He was quoting David Rehr, CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, who said,

…being local, in and of itself, is not what defines radio’s value… It’s the accessibility and the connection with radio personalities. And it’s being everywhere and available to everyone. A radio is not a jukebox. If you’re listening to radio, you want to hear a human voice sharing that same moment in time that you are. There is power in that personal bond. A CD doesn’t have that connection. An iPod doesn’t have that. No, our model is not broken.

Jerry’s response?

WHAT? This is outrageous. If there is anything about radio that is compelling it is that radio is a local medium. It’s defined by being a local medium. Even the NAB refers to terrestrial radio as local radio. If you take local out of radio you have — well, the Internet. The world wide web. That’s not radio’s strength.

Hold that thought.

Continue Reading

News roundup: stations enriching their musical communities

by

Authormike72x72_3 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.

Continue Reading

The MSO: an orchestra with a radio station?

by

The CBC’s decision to shed its radio orchestra has generated plenty of controversy. But across the border in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a story is playing out that is precisely the opposite of the CBC hubbub: an orchestra that wants to start its own radio station.

Last fall, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra took a step toward making history when it applied to the Federal Communications Commission for an FM radio license. If it succeeds, the orchestra will, to my knowledge, be the first in the United States to run a radio station. The orchestra hopes to use the station to air selections from its archive of recorded performances and promote its concerts to the Milwaukee community.

I worked with the MSO on the application process as part of a temporary job with the Future of Music Coalition, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that advocates on behalf of musicians in the realms of technology and public policy. We scoured the country looking for arts and cultural groups that might want to apply for radio stations, taking advantage of a rare opportunity presented by the FCC. It had been more than seven years since the commission accepted applications for noncommercial FM stations, and the demand for new licenses was high. We wanted to make sure that deserving would-be broadcasters didn’t miss out.

Continue Reading