Does public radio exist to serve underserved audiences?

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Greetings from Brazil, all, where I’m sojourning for several weeks in the company of my daughter. It’s my first time here and it’s quite an adventure. I’m in Barra de São Francisco, a town of 40,000 in the state of Espírito Santo. As I write this I’m being ceiling-fanned and mosquito-bitten in my modest hotel room. Which might not sound like much fun, but in general I am having a great time — even without a passing ability to speak Portuguese.

I’ve been told that of the four radio stations here, none play any classical music. Not that I even have a radio for verifying this. But I’ve been trying to keep up on happenings in our beat here at Scanning the Dial, and there’s lots going on. The impending changes at WUFT-FM in Gainesville, Fla., for one.

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A Thoughtful, Upbeat View of the WQXR/WNYC Switch

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Happy Monday, everybody.  There’s a very nice blog post about WQXR’s switch from commercial to public radio here. Doc Searls lists five reasons public radio is better than commercial for classical music, but my favorite is the last one: Direct Listener Involvement. Commercial radio has had a huge disadvantage for the duration: its customers and its consumers are different populations. As businesses, commercial radio stations are primarily accountable to advertisers, not to listeners. Public radio is directly accountable to its listeners, because those are also its customers. As public stations make greater … Continue Reading

KVNO Omaha’s Sports/Classical Mix

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You’ve heard of dual format stations, a combination of music and news, right?  And some stations play classical and jazz.  But have you ever heard of a classical music station that airs live sports events?

Starting August 27th, Omaha, Neb. station KVNO will add live broadcasts of University of Nebraska sports events to their otherwise all-classical format.

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Opinions Wanted – Program the New WNYC/WQXR

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Just a brief post for a busy Monday.  If you want to have some fun, try imagining what you would program if you could program the new NY station.  A great post in the NY Times on Friday asked listeners what they would like, and the responses are a lot of fun to read.  Check it out here. Happy Monday, all.  Hope you’re having a great summer.

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