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Old April 1st 10, 04:35 PM posted to rec.radio.broadcasting
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Default Endangered Classical Format

Another commercial classical FM flips to noncom.

The classical format on commercial radio moved from "endangered species"
closer to "extinct" over the past year, when prominent standard-bearers WQXR
New York and WCRB Boston were sold to public broadcasters who converted them
to noncommercial operation. Another leading commercial classical voice, the
Lutheran Church-owned KFUO-FM in St. Louis, is embroiled in legal and
political battles stemming from church leaders' attempts to sell the big
class C0 signal to a religious broadcaster. Now Seattle's KING-FM (98.1) is
laying the groundwork to end more than half a century of commercial
classical radio in the Puget Sound area. "With all the changes in media in
the United States, commercial advertising is no longer a fit for KING," said
Christopher Bayley, president of the board of the community nonprofit group
that's operated the station since its founders, the Bullitt family, donated
it as part of the dissolution of their King Broadcasting group in 1995.

+ What's next for KING-FM.

Bayley says there's a lot of work to be done before KING-FM makes the switch
to listener-supported status. The "Beethoven" group, which has been
operating the station for the benefit of the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera
and ArtsFund, has to create a new non-profit corporation to own the station,
win FCC approval for the flip to noncommercial status, join the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, ramp up a fundraising campaign to begin collecting
listener dollars, and wind down the commercial ad sales, which have been
conducted on KING-FM's behalf by Fisher Communications. If all goes
according to plan, KING-FM will play its last commercial on June 30, 2011.
Barring more format changes or sales between now and then, that will leave
only a handful of commercial classical FM stations remaining around the
country.

+ Who's left?

Once KING-FM takes its big voice noncommercial (it's a 66-kw/2320' full
class C from the West Tiger Mountan master-antenna site), it will leave just
four big-market commercial classical stations in the US. Two have
noncommercial owners: city-owned WRR, Dallas (101.1) and Chicago's WFMT
(98.7), which operates commercially but is owned by Chicago public
broadcaster WTTW-TV. Then there's Robert Conrad's venerable WCLV, Cleveland,
which downgraded to a rimshot facility almost a decade ago. That leaves
Entercom's KDFC-FM, San Francisco (102.1) as the last of a dying breed of
full-market, fully-commercial classical FMs. Entercom also runs classical
programming on an AM in Kansas City (KXTR 1660), where it's also heard on
the HD2 subchannel of one of Entercom's FMs. You don't need much more than
two hands' worth of fingers to count the rest: Mapleton's KBOQ (103.9) in
Monterey, CA; foundation-owned KDB, Santa Barbara (93.7); American General
Media's KHFM, Santa Fe, NM (95.5); Judson Group's WCRI, Block Island, RI
(95.9); Ken Squier's WCVT, Stowe, VT (101.7); Sandab's WFCC (107.5) on Cape
Cod; Davis Media's WBQK (107.9) in the Norfolk, VA market; and three Nassau
"W-Bach" outlets on the Maine coast. By contrast, when the first edition of
the "M Street Radio Directory" (ancestor to The Radio Book) came out in
1989, it listed 32 commercial classical FMs and more than half a dozen
commercial classical AMs.


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Old April 1st 10, 11:43 PM posted to rec.radio.broadcasting
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Default Endangered Classical Format

In article ,
"Jim" wrote:

Another commercial classical FM flips to noncom.

The classical format on commercial radio moved from "endangered species"
closer to "extinct" over the past year, when prominent standard-bearers WQXR
New York and WCRB Boston were sold to public broadcasters who converted them
to noncommercial operation. Another leading commercial classical voice, the
Lutheran Church-owned KFUO-FM in St. Louis, is embroiled in legal and
political battles stemming from church leaders' attempts to sell the big
class C0 signal to a religious broadcaster. Now Seattle's KING-FM (98.1) is
laying the groundwork to end more than half a century of commercial
classical radio in the Puget Sound area. "With all the changes in media in
the United States, commercial advertising is no longer a fit for KING," said
Christopher Bayley, president of the board of the community nonprofit group
that's operated the station since its founders, the Bullitt family, donated
it as part of the dissolution of their King Broadcasting group in 1995.

+ What's next for KING-FM.

Bayley says there's a lot of work to be done before KING-FM makes the switch
to listener-supported status. The "Beethoven" group, which has been
operating the station for the benefit of the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera
and ArtsFund, has to create a new non-profit corporation to own the station,
win FCC approval for the flip to noncommercial status, join the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, ramp up a fundraising campaign to begin collecting
listener dollars, and wind down the commercial ad sales, which have been
conducted on KING-FM's behalf by Fisher Communications. If all goes
according to plan, KING-FM will play its last commercial on June 30, 2011.
Barring more format changes or sales between now and then, that will leave
only a handful of commercial classical FM stations remaining around the
country.

+ Who's left?

Once KING-FM takes its big voice noncommercial (it's a 66-kw/2320' full
class C from the West Tiger Mountan master-antenna site), it will leave just
four big-market commercial classical stations in the US. Two have
noncommercial owners: city-owned WRR, Dallas (101.1) and Chicago's WFMT
(98.7), which operates commercially but is owned by Chicago public
broadcaster WTTW-TV. Then there's Robert Conrad's venerable WCLV, Cleveland,
which downgraded to a rimshot facility almost a decade ago. That leaves
Entercom's KDFC-FM, San Francisco (102.1) as the last of a dying breed of
full-market, fully-commercial classical FMs. Entercom also runs classical
programming on an AM in Kansas City (KXTR 1660), where it's also heard on
the HD2 subchannel of one of Entercom's FMs. You don't need much more than
two hands' worth of fingers to count the rest: Mapleton's KBOQ (103.9) in
Monterey, CA; foundation-owned KDB, Santa Barbara (93.7); American General
Media's KHFM, Santa Fe, NM (95.5); Judson Group's WCRI, Block Island, RI
(95.9); Ken Squier's WCVT, Stowe, VT (101.7); Sandab's WFCC (107.5) on Cape
Cod; Davis Media's WBQK (107.9) in the Norfolk, VA market; and three Nassau
"W-Bach" outlets on the Maine coast. By contrast, when the first edition of
the "M Street Radio Directory" (ancestor to The Radio Book) came out in
1989, it listed 32 commercial classical FMs and more than half a dozen
commercial classical AMs.


Then there is CHINOOK CONCERT BROADCASTERS KLEF 98.1 MHz 25 KW
Anchorage Alaska.
--
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Old April 4th 10, 09:03 PM posted to rec.radio.broadcasting
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Default Endangered Classical Format

Jim wrote:
Another commercial classical FM flips to noncom.

The classical format on commercial radio moved from "endangered species"
closer to "extinct" over the past year, when prominent standard-bearers WQXR
New York and WCRB Boston were sold to public broadcasters who converted them
to noncommercial operation. Another leading commercial classical voice, the
Lutheran Church-owned KFUO-FM in St. Louis, is embroiled in legal and
political battles stemming from church leaders' attempts to sell the big
class C0 signal to a religious broadcaster.


Well, here's the problem: it's the music.

We have here in Williamsburg, VA. a local commercial classical station that
opened up just a couple years ago, and which seems to be doing very well.
You can turn on WBQK any time and hear Pachelbel's Canon or Vivaldi's Four
Seasons. The thing is, there's only a limited number of times I can listen
to the Four Seasons without going off my nut. The playlist is as short as
a typical Oldies format station.

They advertise themselves as having "relaxing classical music," in such
a way that they seem to be positioning themselves in the market as a sort
of upscale easy listening station.

Now, from a profitability standpoint this might be effective, and it's
possible that it's the only way to keep classical music profitable over
the long term. But I think it doesn't do justice to the music at all.

For the most part, what is interesting about classical music is that it
isn't relaxing at all. Unlike easy listening music, it's music that you
are supposed to listen carefully to. Treating it as a utility product is
not promoting the music and it's not promoting the importance of the music.

two hands' worth of fingers to count the rest: Mapleton's KBOQ (103.9) in
Monterey, CA; foundation-owned KDB, Santa Barbara (93.7); American General
Media's KHFM, Santa Fe, NM (95.5); Judson Group's WCRI, Block Island, RI
(95.9); Ken Squier's WCVT, Stowe, VT (101.7); Sandab's WFCC (107.5) on Cape
Cod; Davis Media's WBQK (107.9) in the Norfolk, VA market; and three Nassau
"W-Bach" outlets on the Maine coast. By contrast, when the first edition of
the "M Street Radio Directory" (ancestor to The Radio Book) came out in
1989, it listed 32 commercial classical FMs and more than half a dozen
commercial classical AMs.


What's happening is that kids aren't listening to classical music, and I
think some of that is because kids aren't really listening to _any_ music,
they're just letting it pour into their ears twenty-four hours a day without
really paying attention to it. I blame the lack of music classes in schools
for some of this, but that's not all of it. It's a genuine cultural shift
and it's going to hit _all_ radio eventually.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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Old April 4th 10, 11:59 PM
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Also WRR, Dallas, WCCC, Hartford, KLEF, Anchorage. WFMT is actually a special case because of their programming distribution network. Did you read about how K-Mozart going country in LaLa land caused KUSC to be flooded with more money in contributions than they were prepared to handle? My moral dilemma is that I like to listen to a bunch of non-coms on line but can only afford to support one in a decent mannor, so I visit my local APMG station twice a year. What is happening in St. Louis can not bother me too much because three years ago, a christian school sold their station to APMG which became my classical music station in Miami, so these things go both ways.

Last edited by ai4i : April 5th 10 at 12:18 AM
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Old April 8th 10, 04:09 AM posted to rec.radio.broadcasting
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Default Endangered Classical Format

In article ,
Mark Howell wrote:

Over and over and over again, longer playlists have equaled plunging
audience shares. When people say they want more variety, what most of
them really mean is they want to hear their favorite songs more often.
If you really give them variety, they're gone.


KBAY (the original, real KBAY at 100.3) sported a playlist of over 3000
selections. That's amazing for an "easy listening" station. Even more
amazing was the fact that KBAY was the only station able to routinely
trounce KOIT in the book. For several years, they were neck and neck.

Until ARS worked its magic and destroyed the station, KBAY was a major
force to be reckoned with.

--
John Higdon
+1 408 ANdrews 6-4400
AT&T-Free At Last

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Old April 8th 10, 01:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Dorsey View Post
We have here in Williamsburg, VA. a local commercial classical station
Not quite. The W-Bach network is programmed from Nassau Broadcasting in Boston, formerly at the commercial WCRB.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 'John Higdon

KBAY (the original, real KBAY at 100.3) sported a playlist of over 3000
selections. That's amazing for an "easy listening" station.
Does it matter with background instrumentals? Do people really "listen" to the music, or is it just there?
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Old April 8th 10, 04:35 PM posted to rec.radio.broadcasting
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Default Endangered Classical Format

You may wald about this BUT "Familiar Favourites" stands out: why would one
want to hear much UNfamiliar material? IT's seldom mournful.

"Mark Howell" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 4 Apr 2010 16:03:48 EDT, (Scott Dorsey)
wrote:

We have here in Williamsburg, VA. a local commercial classical station
that
opened up just a couple years ago, and which seems to be doing very well.
You can turn on WBQK any time and hear Pachelbel's Canon or Vivaldi's Four
Seasons. The thing is, there's only a limited number of times I can
listen
to the Four Seasons without going off my nut. The playlist is as short as
a typical Oldies format station.


Here's what you have to understand about commercial radio. Regardless
of format, it's about Playing The Hits. (This includes news and talk,
which must play the hit topics). Once you stray from The Hits,
audiences flee, ratings drop, and the revenue is gone. Every genre of
music, from classical to country, has its hits. The only, I repeat
only way to success in commercial radio is to confine your station's
playlist to hit music of whatever genre you've picked.

Over and over and over again, longer playlists have equaled plunging
audience shares. When people say they want more variety, what most of
them really mean is they want to hear their favorite songs more often.
If you really give them variety, they're gone.

Mark Howell


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Old April 8th 10, 05:40 PM posted to rec.radio.broadcasting
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Default Endangered Classical Format

In article ,
ai4i wrote:

Does it matter with background instrumentals? Do people really "listen"
to the music, or is it just -there-?


I actually found KBAY to be a foreground station. It played original
popular hits as well as selected covers. It dipped into KKSF territory
with pop jazz pieces. It even played an occasional show tune. It was
borderline eclectic.

Apparently, people listened closely enough for the station to do well
for its advertisers, many of whom had been with the station for years
and years. It was always sold out.

The station was frequently characterized by people who never bothered to
listen to it as "elevator music". It would have had to have been some
pretty hip elevator.

--
John Higdon
+1 408 ANdrews 6-4400
AT&T-Free At Last

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Old April 9th 10, 01:08 AM posted to rec.radio.broadcasting
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Default Endangered Classical Format

On Thu, 8 Apr 2010 12:40:02 EDT, John Higdon wrote:

In article ,
ai4i wrote:

Does it matter with background instrumentals? Do people really "listen"
to the music, or is it just -there-?


I actually found KBAY to be a foreground station. It played original
popular hits as well as selected covers. It dipped into KKSF territory
with pop jazz pieces. It even played an occasional show tune. It was
borderline eclectic.

Apparently, people listened closely enough for the station to do well
for its advertisers, many of whom had been with the station for years
and years. It was always sold out.

The station was frequently characterized by people who never bothered to
listen to it as "elevator music". It would have had to have been some
pretty hip elevator.


During the time I lived in Ukiah, I worked for KLIL, an "easy
listening" station. I and my friends often "DXed" KBAY. It was
amazing to pick it up (for us), being over 150 - 200 miles distant,
and Ukiah being in a rather deep valley. Never-the-less, we got it
quite well using a cheap-o Radio Shack 4 element FM beam. I and many
others even picked it up as we drove around town in our cars, although
it was spotty in places.

We listened a LOT to KBAY, everything John tells you is true ! It was
one heck of a station !!

Warren

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