Who Needs Live Local Announcers Anyway?

The title of this post is snark, in case you don’t know me!

There’s been an interesting discussion going on at the AMPPR Listserv about KPAC in San Antonio dumping its five local announcers in favor of C-24 (also live announcers) and diverting their salaries to the news division.

Some management types seem resigned.  They’re running local stations on super tight budgets and understand the issues.  But one comment by Joe Goetz from Vermont Public Radio really got to me because I remember my on-air days, putting in herculean effort, running interviews and going to 200 concerts a year so I could support the local arts groups.

The exchange started with this quote from Wayne Coble, vice president and interim general manager of Texas Public Radio: “We decided to refocus the resources we had on local
content.”

To which Joe replied: “Refocus on local content?  By firing 5 local talents [and] outsourcing to
Minnesota?”

Tom DuVal of WMRA  in Harrisonburg, Virginia (I think playing Devil’s Advocate) commented:

Is someone playing Sony CDs really providing much in the way of “local content” compared to a news room?  Yes, some, but really – from the community perspective, which has the greater impact?… I know this is the music listserv, and I’m a music guy, but also a long-time GM, so perhaps I’m a bit sensitive about people jumping on management whenever classical music runs up against some cold reality.

Joe’s reply:

As someone who works very hard to create relationships and programming partnerships with local music organizations in Vermont, I take great issue [with]your Sony CDs remark.  Comparing music programming to a newsroom is also a non-starter: the sounds and missions of presenting news and presenting classical music are completely different. Classical radio is best presented by those who know, PERSONALLY, their audience.  You see your listeners at concerts, at donor events, wherever.  You interact with them.  They become part of your family.  These kinds of relationships then enable you to present music in a way one-size-fits-all Classical 24 cannot ever do: you can take more risks, play better music, and have a greater capacity to educate, inspire, and entertain your audience.

It’s entirely possible that KPAC’s 5 hosts were too much for their budget.  But eliminating all 5 seems like an incredibly heavy-handed solution to a more nuanced issue.  Then there are the secondary consequences of such a drastic action: local arts organizations will lose some of their most passionate and visible media allies, which helps no one.

There is no “cold reality” for classical music.  Tastes change, for sure.  Methods of consumption change as well.  But treating classical music radio presenters as the gangrenous limb that threatens the financial viability of our stations and hacking us off is not the answer.  It’s up to all of us to prove our worth.

Joe Goetz is not a 60 year old, grizzled veteran of classical radio. He’s a 29 year-old classical music host and content producer at Vermont Public Radio. He also produces a monthly feature profiling young composers in high schools throughout Vermont, and occasionally performs chamber music as a pianist.  He’s our future.

Why do we think that the generation that invented the internet and cell phones won’t come up with a fabulous way of appreciating music that has thrived for 1000 years?