WUFT in Gainesville, Fla., went through with its change to all-news Monday, despite the continued protests of area classical fans. The Gainesville Sun ran an article noting the change — I wonder whether this might be the most media coverage of a switch away from classical since we inaugurated this blog. WUFT now airs an all-classical HD channel, and the Sun notes that electronics stores in Gainesville have sold an unprecedented number of HD radios since the change. I was also surprised that the HD channel features live hosts. That may be a first for an HD classical channel, according to the article. (Are any of the hosts on WNYC2 live?)
WLIU On The Auction Block
A quick note, and Happy Monday! WLIU on Long Island is up for sale or is available for some sort of creative partnership, according to Tom Taylor of Radio-Info. WLIU’s owner, Long Island University is going to stop supporting the NPR-affiliate in October for financial reasons. The station is mostly news and jazz, though it does play some classical, and one of the announcers is Bonnie Grice, who is well known to those of us in the classical world. We’ll keep you posted.