"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...
The audience for classical has declined as it died; changes in school
music programs have pretty much eliminated the creation of a new
generation or two of classical listeners. Opera is simply an extension of
this... there was never an all.opera station, as opera was an occasional
feature of classical formats.

You must be talking specifically about LA. I've lived in cities (Salt Lake
for one) that had dedicated opera stations (KWHO).

I never knew there was a dedicated opera station, and I have run two
classical stations, one as owner and one as manager.

You've pretty much made my point about choice.

Yes, it is obvious that you do not understand the diversity of taste. You
lump rock in one bucket, yet the average alternative listener will never use
a classic rock station, for example. The listener to Hot AC (which is
between CHR and traditional AC) generally does not like other forms of AC...
to listeners, each of the names means a different proximity or distance from
personal taste.

There is a big difference between an Urban that plays deep hip hop and r&b,
and a CHR or CHUban that plays only crossover "lite" hip hop like Akon.

That long list you made is all the same thing pretty much. Fudging the
names doesn't change that fact.

When you realize that the audience for an oldies station is mostly NOT the
audience for a classic hits station (one is 60's based, the other 70's) the
distinctions are very, very real. They are the differences between listening
and not listening. The reasons the names exist is that the formats are very
different, and have limite title overlaps. Generally, format names are used
to identify to time buyers what kind of station each set of calls
represents.

Also, you are in a very large market. Smaller markets (like Salt Lake and
Portland, OR) used to have much wider variety of choices than they now do.

Actually, they don't. Pre-consolidation, each individual owner tried to win
with the biggest formats... so we had 5 ACs in Cleveland and 3 CHRs in
Seattle. Now, with clusters, we can look for individual and sometimes
comoplementary formats that give better results without having head on
battles for the country or CHR or AC or Urban leader.

And I STILL resent your (and the ******* industry's assertion that all of
us that like things like classical, MOR and Beautiful music are all dead or
not worth marketing to.

Radio is not at fault here, and I have told you that repeatedly.

Commercial radio can only program things advertisers will buy. Audiences
under 18 and over 55 are not on ad buys for radio... essentially, never. So
there is no money for formats that apeal to older folks so radio can not do
them specifically.

Beautiful music died because the public's interest in instrumental music
died. They no longer wanted to hear it... in the 50's andd 60's there were
numerous instrumental hits. Today, irrespective of the format, there are
none. Even listeners to formats that play 60's music don't want to hear Walk
Don't Run and Telstar any more. Radio reacts by not playing instrumentals,
and since they don't sell, the record companies stop producing them.

None of this is radio's issue... if instrumentals come back, stations will
play them.

MOR artists are all dead, except for Wayne Newton who is probably a hologram
or a mummy.... there is nearly no audience at all for that format and none
under about 70.

I'm only 54 years
old, and have at least another 15 years of making an income (and spending
it) and at least another 20 years or more of time to listen. Boomers may
be aging, but dammit we're not DEAD.

If no advertisers wish to reach you, radio can not serve you. Get public
radio to do classical (they do in some markets) and instrumental slush and
MOR... but since most survive on donations, they will not last.

Instead, go tell Proctor and Gamble that the hundreds of millions a year
they spend on marketing research is wrong...