Could CBC cut more classical?

On this final day of 2008, I’ll just point out a few articles I turned up recently that might be of interest. First is a piece in the Toronto Star in which entertainment columnist Greg Quill (an ideal name for a journalist) cheers on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s controversial changes to its Radio 2 format.

Classical music fans have written numerous letters and editorials in the Canadian press decrying the CBC’s cutting back on classical in favor of Canadian pop and rock. But Quill is a big fan of the update, going so far as to say, “No radio network in this country’s broadcasting history has dared, so transparently and with such bravado, to showcase our own contemporary musical talent in all its richness and variety.”

His advice to give the format time to take off before judging its fate rings true to me. An initial ratings book showed that listening to Radio 2 had declined since the change. But a falloff in listenership after a major format change is routine, and doesn’t necessarily foretell the long-term viability of the new approach. For all we know, naysayers may eventually be vindicated. But not yet.

More noteworthy, however, is this morsel shared by Quill:

[…] CBC Radio brass is in a bit of a tizzy, apparently even considering a more commercial playlist with more “hit” — i.e., non-Canadian — content, and dumping [Julie] Nesrallah’s five-hour weekday classical music program Tempo.

The latter may not be such a bad idea.

No disrespect to its host, but Tempo, a stand-alone clump of light classical music right in the middle of the broadcast day, belies the bold thrust and intent of this new and proudly Canadian radio movement. It’s an obvious sop to old times.

This is the first I’d heard of the possibility of further cuts to classical on Radio 2. Tempo has indeed received mixed reviews — are its days numbered? And would its departure leave any classical at all on Radio 2?

Read Quill’s full column.

Finally, some additional reading for you for the holiday weekend: TV Barn’s Aaron Barnhart informs us that KXTR, the AM classical station in Kansas City, Mo., is now being carried on an HD Radio channel in the market. His column contains some interesting comments on the back story of KXTR’s move to AM, and musings about the future of HD Radio.

And here are two articles about Twitter worth reading. One in the NonProfit Times looks at organizations using Twitter for small fundraising campaigns and for grassroots organizing. (NPR participated in the latter effort, which monitored voting problems on Election Day.) And an Advertising Age column discusses using Twitter to track buzz on new products introduced to the market. The author’s points apply equally well to classical radio stations, which could be tracking Twitter to see who’s listening to them, then following up to make new contacts in the community.

I evangelized for radio hosts and stations using Twitter before, and now I’m walking the walk. Next week I start hosting a show of jazz, blues and world music on WPFW, the community radio station here in Washington, D.C. (I’ll be on at 3–5 a.m. Tuesdays — you can tune in online.) As an experiment I’ve started a Twitter feed for when I’m hosting that I plan to use as a running real-time playlist. Over time, I hope listeners who use Twitter will also use it to chat with me while I’m in the studio, ask questions about what I’m playing and make requests. I’m curious to see if anyone picks up on it, and I’ll keep you posted.

Happy New Year! And I’ll second Marty’s urging for a New Year’s resolution — in 2009, do something different! As a college anthropology professor of mine once said, “Think crazy thoughts. It’s good!”