Unfortunately it is a sign of a larger trend. There was an article in the
New York Times fairly recently that talked about a consultant who seems to
be the ringleader in this trend. Public radio stations are taking his
message extremely seriously and have been finding that as classical
programming decreases and talk programming increases, their contributions
increase. It's what I refer to as "whoring after the heathen."
Our local public radio station is I think a classic case of public radio
becoming a victim of its own success. It started out as a small college
radio station whose mission was to serve underserved populations, including
primarily classical music listeners. It expanded into jazz and folk music
and even had a great late night rock show. (This was back in the days when
AM radio was king and FM was new and small and the FM stations were playing
deep cuts from rock albums instead of the top-4o pablum found on the AM
stations - mid- to late-70's.)
Then All Things Considered hit and began to draw in other audiences.
Morning Edition followed, and then what was probably the worst thing ever to
happen to classical programming - Prairie Home Companion. Now, I enjoy PHC
(although I don't think it's nearly as good as it used to be), but it
brought in waves of non-classical listeners. These people loved the show
and began sending in contributions. Public radio stations began programming
to meet the tastes of this audience and it led to openings for programs like
Car Talk.
We've seen here the loss of fringe programming such as programs on organ
music and choral music, and classical programming reduced to aural
wallpaper. (If I hear that #%&%$* Pachelbal Canon one more time, I might
drag my AK-47 over to the local station and go postal.) The budget for the
local station has increased with each step of this process and now they've
gotten so large that they have to have this income to survive. They are
victims of their own success.
Now, I enjoy all the programs I mentioned above, but not at the expense of
classical music. What they will listen to is contributions. If your local
public radio station is following this path and you support them, lessen or
stop your support and let them know why. Realize that money has become
their priority and respond accordingly.
Lee Morgan
Mezzo soprano
-----Original Message-----
From: Sharon Szymanski [mailto:szy@n...]
Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 12:34 PM
To: vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [vocalist] sad news in NYTimes. - WNYC Plans to Reduce
Classical Music
We had two local public radio stations in the Triangle area of NC (Raleigh,
Durham and Chapel Hill). WUNC kept shortening its musical offerings over
the past 10 years until it recently became "all talk" too. Many of us took
our contributions elsewhere (I like some of the talk shows but honestly -
who needs 2 hours of "Talk of the Nation" each day, etc???). Our other
alternative is a completely classical music station but their programming is
soooo boring! Everything is 18th and 19th century music (all instrumental,
by the way), one night of opera per week, and the Met broadcast on Sat., but
sadly lacking in anything exciting. It's like listening to classical
"musak"! I've been turning on the computer and listening to WQXR (96.3) in
NYC but my speakers are so bad I usually resort to CD's instead. I thought
this was just a local happening; sad to think it's indicative of a larger
trend across the US!
Sharon Szymanski
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