Bach might be back on Washington's airwaves, even if the region's only classical music station, WGMS, drops the format. Public broadcaster WETA (90.9 FM) is considering dumping its news-and-talk programming and returning to being a classical broadcaster if the music dies on WGMS, WETA's management said yesterday.
In a special meeting Thursday, WETA's board voted to give station executives the green light to consider switching back to classical if WGMS drops the format. Dan DeVany, WETA's vice president and general manager, said the station could move very quickly back to classical if circumstances warrant.
Boston nearly lost classical music when Greater Media bought WCRB 102.
5, a longtime classical outlet. Due to FCC ownership rules, they had to sell one of their FM stations so they chose WKLB 99.5; new owner of THAT station, Nassau, decided Classical music does pretty well in Washington, DC.
By all accounts, WGMS is a solid, stable, highly-profitable part of Bonneville's radio empire, with nearly $10 million per year in advertising revenues. However, Mr. Snyder needs the signal more than Bonneville needs the WGMS profit, as his Washington-region ESPN broadcasting franchise is in jeopardy if he doesn't score a station with a decent signal.
Thus, he offered Bonneville a 50% premium over the appraised value of the station. Tough to walk away from that much cash, even if you're making money in the present.
Classical music on the radio, interrupted by a classical DJ and/or advertisements is nothing but savagery. I don't like classical radio, and WGMS is worse than most stations (Classical Lite? Ugh), but I couldn't disagree with you more.
Some people are turned onto classical music by listening to it informally on the radio -- how else are you going to convince people to go to the symphony or buy the complete Ring Cycle on CD if they haven't been exposed at least somewhat to classical msuic?
Snyder needs the signal more than Bonneville needs the WGMS profit Especially right before the NFL playoff...
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.when the sidewalks are safe for the little guy.) Dear Our man in washington, And it's kind of tough to appreciate the sublime subtlety of a Beethoven symphony when maneuvering I 495.
Just because I may be unable to fully appreciate it while driving doesn't mean that I don't appreciate it a great deal, anyway. For me, listening to classical music while driving, especially if the driving is tough, can take my mind off the difficulty of the drive. Talk radio works for driving, but not classical music.
To each his own. I just don't enjoy talk radio. Although I'm not fanatical about that, we do that at home.
It's fun to do it from time to time, but it gets old (at least it does to the guys) if we try to do it on a regular basis. As well, sometimes I like to play two different recordings of the same piece, and ask the guys what they think are the differences.
CFMX in Toronto is doing quite well thank you very much. The audience may not be large but advertisers love the demographic- average age that is underserved by other non-talk radio formats, well-educated and high disposable income.
Call the ACLU!) WETA and WGMS were rival classical stations for 35 years, but WETA abandoned the format in March 2005 for news supplied by National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp. I haven't listened to WETA in a verrryy long time, so I can only report what I read.
(If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
As I often do, I was steering with my left hand, and conducting with my right. Suddenly, I heard a Beemer zoom up on my left and smoothly brake to match my speed. When I looked over, there was a lovely young lady, playing her air violin -- in perfect sync with the music on CRB -- and with my 'conducting'.
We jammed together for for several seconds, then she flashed me a beautiful smile and bowed; then her driver put his foot down and left me in the dust...
That was a moment of pure drivetime magic -- on I-495 -- courtesy of WCRB!
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