A couple of quick tidbits:
WDAV in Davidson, N.C., cut short its on-air fund drive yesterday with three days and $100,000 to go. “We cannot be oblivious to what’s happening in the world — and especially in our region,” said Ben Roe, g.m. “There’s a bit of a crisis in our community right now. Our audience sees WDAV as an oasis of calm in an unsettled world. In times like these, we need to provide the around-the-clock classical music our listeners rely on.” More details at DavidsonNews.net.
Earlier this week, our fearless blogmaster, Drew McManus headlined the main blog site Inside the Arts with my comments about Diversity. Maybe the topic doesn’t have legs. Or maybe we all have more important things on our minds right now, but I see classical radio being passed by. I’d like you to add this topic to your mental archive and let it percolate.
I’ve gotten comments back about finding ways to bring diverse audience members into our western tradition, and a comment about education being the key to diversity. Yet I want to know what we could do now — today — to include more people. How can we make our product attractive to more than just 82% white people?
The Star Tribune reports that Sarah Lutman will leave Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media in December to serve as president of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Lutman oversees classical music programming at MPR/APM in her role as senior v.p. of content and media.
Robert Everett-Green of the Toronto Globe and Mail reviews the revamped Radio 2 service from the CBC. I find his review more trustworthy than some other CBC critiques thanks to its even-handedness — it’s free of the vitriol that colored most assessments of the network’s new direction. Yet he’s not entirely satisfied, either.