Those of us in the classical broadcasting world awakened this morning to an alarming rumor: that New York's WQXR might be switching formats, possibly to sports-talk.
Here is the item, published April 28 in the New York Post: http://www.nypost.com/seven/04282009/gossip/pagesix/music_could_die_at_times_co__166569.htm
Public radio presumably would pick up the majority of those listeners. Good for public radio, but, one is inclined to think, bad for radio overall.
'QXR has been a classical music station since 1944. Its demise would mean the disappearance of classical music from the commercial airwaves in the largest radio market in America. And it would mean one less commercial classical station in America, where fewer than 20 non-public, all-classical frequencies remain, not all of them on the FM dial.
It's easy to ascribe the primary reason for this development: the bottom line. Far more difficult to ascertain is what might be done. Is it a matter of making different programming choices? Coming up with innovative marketing strategies? Or somehow altering the expectations of media executives fixated on the youth market and the quick buck?
Your thoughts are welcome ...
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The NY TImes (the station's owner) is hemorrhaging red ink. The company has been aggressively selling assets over the past couple years. It's hard to see how the Sulzbergers can avoid liquidating 'QXR. They desperately need the 30 to 50 million it will sell for to offset their continuing losses at the Times and the Boston Globe. It's possible that 'QXR is losing money too, making the station's liquidation even more attractive to the owners.
ReplyDeleteAs an employee of WQXR, it's been tragic to see the slow death of the station over the past two years. There have been so many layoffs in every department, that practically no one works there anymore. The overnights have been automated, with the weekends next in line. Morale is almost nonexistent. For WQXR, it's better to put a bullet through its head than see the continued decline of the only classical music station in the classical music capital of America.
ReplyDeleteLet us remember that since KMZT dropped their classical format, KUSC has never been more successfull. The same can be said for WGMS and WETA. Should WQXR drop their sixty five year history of classical music, I would expect WNYC to shift all news/talk programming to their AM station and go strictly classical on FM. In all three cases, both the commercial and noncommercial stations have nearly equal signals in their markets.
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