All these classical stations dropping their opera broadcasts frankly
doesn't suprise me. Classical radio - both commercial and public radio -
in the D.C. area (and with the exception of the Baltimore's WBJC), has
always been transparent in its intolerance of solo vocal music.
They play it seldom and grudgingly, if at all.
There was an article in the Washington Post yesterday about WGMS (the DC
area's commercial classical station) and their decision to drop its Met
broadcasts. IT was, according to their spokesman, entirely a matter of
ratings. More people want the bland, unchallenging "popular classics"
that have come to characterize so much of classical music radio.
It's all right. Last year, WETA, the big public radio classical music
station, started injecting more and more NPR talk-radio into their line-up
- actually broadcasting Morning Edition at the same time that WAMU,
another DC-area public radio station was already broadcasting it. So now
DC residents can tune in to either station and hear EXACTLY THE SAME
PROGRAM AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME. Plus they overlap ALL THINGS CONSIDERED
in the evening with WAMU, and both stations broadcast CAR TALK on the
weekends, albeit two hours apart on Saturday mornings. Wow - this is
progress!
Fortunately, the signal from Baltimore's public classical station, WBJC
(91.5 FM) can be picked up north of the Potomac river in the DC area. WBJC
not only broadcasts Live from the Met, but Live from the Chicago Lyric
Opera when the Met season is over (WGMS used to play old opera recordings
in the "off-season"). Not only that, WBJC plays classical music 24 hours
a day (!) without commercials! So I strongly, STRONGLY urge DC-area folks,
Baltimore-area folks, and indeed anyone else who cares about keeping opera
on the radio to write to WBJC and encourage their efforts and, better yet,
JOIN their membership.
They have a website at: http://www.wbjc.com/index.html
Oh - and they too broadcast their whole lineup, 24 hours a day, via
RealAudio on the Internet.
If nothing else, all these radio stations dropping opera broadcasts is
going to be a boon for the Cable modem and DSL service providers. Rather
makes one wonder whether all these radio Boards of Directors might not
also have stock in Cox Cable or Verizon....
KM
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My NEIL SHICOFF Website:
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Website:
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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I sing hymns with my spirit,
but I also sing hymns with my mind.
- 1 Corinthians 14:15
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