News surfaced recently of some fallout from the upcoming cancellation of Classical Public Radio Network. WBHM, a news/classical station in Birmingham, Ala., announced last week that it would stop airing classical music during middays Monday to Friday, and has replaced the music with news programs. The changes took effect yesterday.
Station execs indicate that they had anticipated dropping midday classical sometime within the next few years, but that the impending demise of CPRN hastened those plans. In local press and on WBHM’s website, they cite several reasons for the change, many of which echo the weaknesses of the dual format that we’ve been discussing here at Scanning The Dial.
KUSC in Los Angeles has made a lot of changes recently. They hired Gail Eichenthal as Program Director, and they are putting energy and vision into their fundraising and programming. I asked KUSC producer Brian Lauritzen to catch us up on what they’re doing. Here’s his report…