The Peabody Awards

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The 71st annual Peabody Awards were announced today, and while you can make the case that all media forms are art, there’s a pathetic lack of the fine arts in this year’s awards.  Out of 38 awards, only one has anything to do with what we consider the arts: American Masters: Charles and Ray Eames – The  Architect and the Painter (PBS)Quest Productions, Bread and Butter Films in  association with Thirteen’s American Masters for WNET This fascinating  and visually inventive biography demonstrates that the mid-century “modern”  furniture for which the Eamses are best … Continue Reading

Fabulous! Classical Radio May Return to St. Louis by Summer

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There’s great news from Sarah Bryan Miller in St. Louis, who has done such a great job of keeping us informed at stltoday.com. The Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, which provided considerable financial support to the old “Classic99,” KFUO-FM, hopes to be on the air with a new FM station in early June, pending FCC approvals.  The proposed analog station will be audible “in the Highway 40-I-44 corridor,” said station manager Jim Connett. The Centene Foundation gave $200,000 to begin the process and has committed $1 million more; further fundraising will begin in earnest … Continue Reading

The Next Generation

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A number of stations have been touting their outreach to the younger generation lately.  Their efforts are a response to declining audience numbers overall for classical music. We all know the statistics: classical stations appeal mostly to the over-55 crowd, and the dearth of music education in the schools is not replenishing the pool of available listeners.  Classical stations are a critical part of our infrastructure.  I applaud them for making an effort to reach out. BUT… are they really cultivating a new generation of listeners?  I have my doubts. I am a long-time professional … Continue Reading

Thread on WETA

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There’s an interesting thread about Washington DC’s classical station WETA on City-Data.com.  It’s in response to the somewhat snarky question, “Why is WETA so boring?”. This is not an attempt to criticize WETA in any way.  It’s a legacy station that rode to the rescue when WGMS dropped the classical format.  From 2005 to 2007, WETA switched to news/talk, angering a lot of listeners.  But when WGMS gave up on classical music, WETA didn’t hesitate to switch from the generally more lucrative news format back to classical.  I give them full credit for preserving and protecting … Continue Reading

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