Klarinet Archive - Posting 000856.txt from 1997/11

From: "Victor M. Wyman" <wymanvic@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Classical Music Stations Disappearing
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 1997 19:10:39 -0500

Yes, classical music is disappearing from the radio. This is a mixed
blessing. Perhaps, good riddance. Public radio is turning more and more to
news and information. That's good -we need more sources we can trust. So
far, at least, public radio seems to provide information on a wider range of
topics than commercial radio and it is more trustworthy. I appreciate the
coverage of international news. Public radio is also providing more and more
jazz, as it too disappears from commercial stations. Jazz is also important.
Now, let's look at (so called) classical music on commercial radio. Some
stations play/played 'top of the pops' of classical music. Some stations
play/played the most saccaharin music -worse than elevator music. Most
stations format like crazy: opera Sunday afternoon, brass band music to wake
up by, 'candlelight and wine' at dinner hour, 30 minutes of ancient music at
some time you never seem to identify, late 20th century music (not at all).
All of these stations, driven by the need to remain solvent, break the music
to play the advertising messages. Hands up, everyone who likes to hear only
the third movement of a favorite concerto punctuated by a commercial jingle
intended for a pop format station! ...or punctuated by a gooey advertisement
from an oriental carpet company going out of business for the n'th time! We
North Americans live in a time and a place where the chase for the almighty
dollar is considered the greatest good. (Isn't capitalism wonderful?) Face
it, we don't have the conditions to produce a 'BBC 3rd Programme', just as
we don't have significant government funding for the arts, and what we do
have is under violent attack.
To conclude, if you want good music in your life buy tapes and CDs, attend
live concerts, better yet, make it yourself.
Vic Wyman
At 10:42 AM 11/23/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
>To: klarinet@-----.us>
>Date: Saturday, November 22, 1997 6:48 PM
>Subject: Re: Classical Music Stations Disappearing
>
>
>>At 02:41 PM 11/22/97 -0500, Karl Krelove wrote:
>>>This is simply free-market economics in action. However, I can foresee a
>>>serious monopoly problem looming in radio and TV very soon, a problem that
>>>transcends whether or not I can hear classical music on my radio, the very
>>>problem the original regs were designed to prevent.
>>>
>>Aren't any of these markets that are losing commercial classical stations
>>served by public radio? Here in Michigan, between Central Michigan
>>University, U of M, MSU, Delta College, and Interlochen, there is a lot of
>>classical music available on the radio.
>>
>Yes. Here in the Bucks County area (a suburban Philadelphia region) we get a
>Trenton State University PBS outlet. A little farther north brings me in
>range of a Princeton station. There is PBS coming from local, low power
>outlets, and you have to hunt for them down near the bottom of the FM dial
>each time you drive out of a station's broadcasting area. But PBS moves from
>classical music to national music to talk and interviews to jazz, and if
>what you want isn't on just then, there are fewer and fewer alternatives. No
>one in this area is broadcasting all classical. Besides, PBS has come under
>attack in Congress more than once in the past decade, and its survival is by
>no means a sure thing. Moreover, its demise is called for by many of the
>same government officials who most staunchly demand and support deregulation
>of much of the rest of the economy from radio frequencies to airlines and
>banks. As things are developing, I'm not confident that public radio will
>always be there to provide what commercial radio doesn't.
>
>Karl
>
>
>