NYT: Texans fight sale of classical music station to Christian broadcaster

In Texas, Fighting to Keep Brahms on Air
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: June 26, 2006


(The New York Times)
KTPB in Kilgore, Tex., is the only classical radio station between Dallas and Shreveport, La.

KILGORE, Tex., June 24 — In this landscape of oil derricks and Rangerettes — a renowned drill team dressed in smiles and miniskirts — a tiny radio station sends out a lifeline to classical music lovers in East Texas.

It is KTPB, the station of Kilgore College, which educates the children of oil hands and other blue-collar workers. Now the college has decided it can no longer afford to support the station and has announced its sale. The new owner? A Christian-music broadcasting company from California, which will pay the college $2.46 million over 10 years....

***

Though classical music may be a minority taste, its adherents here are vocal. Some have formed a group, Save Our Arts Radio. They have advertised in the local newspaper and generated at least 175 letters, many of them sent to the Federal Communications Commission, which must still approve the deal.

"Just because we live out here in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean we have to be a cultural void," said Nancy B. Wrenn, the executive director of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, based in Tyler, about 30 miles away. She helped form the group. "This radio station has reached people who have no other access to the arts," she said. Meanwhile, three other Christian music stations lie just to the north on the FM dial.

The loss of a classical KTPB would be the latest footstep in the decline of classical music radio in the United States. Doomsayers see the trend as part of a broader diminishing of the art form, although new sources — satellite and digital radio and Internet streaming — are emerging. In 1990, about 50 commercial stations were on the air; the number is closer to 30 now. About two dozen public radio stations have cut back on classical programming to varying degrees in the last decade, said Tom Thomas, co-chief executive of Station Resource Group, an organization of public stations....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/arts/music/26radio.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I know of people in the non-profit radio industry who think that aficionados of classical music are tightwads and will not part with their cash.

The evidence that points to this is the number of stations that previously aired a combination of classical music and NPR programming going totally or more heavily towards NPR news/talk. Some stations will do it, citing a nearby alternative to what is offered, some will do it out of pure necessity to pull in the punters who are willing to cough up the cash. Local examples in NC are WUNC who was once upon a time NPR with classical music segments and WFDD - also NPR with classical segments. WUNC dropped all their classical programming (only keeping weekend specialist bluegrass/folk music at late evening) - citing WCPE as a suitable replacement (who is 24/7 classical). WFDD used to bill themselves as 'Your NPR and Classical Music Station' but dropped the Classical Music tag for 'Triad Arts' instead. Classical can still be heard on WFDD but only overnight; there's more speech in the day now.

But if there were enough actual $$$ supporters of classical music stations they wouldn't be disappearing at the rate they are. Sure you can get classical music on XM and Sirius but it's disappearing from FM for a variety of reasons. The major one is cash. The other is classical's dwindling popularity anyway.

Mark.

there is a niche market but you gotta know it. Classical music downloads are one of the hottest niches.

Classical music is ready for a renaissance. I can feel it coming. This music has so much to say to people if they could just hear. We need a new generation of performers who can make it come alive. If you can just get to a live performance in a decent hall, you can have an absolutely magical experience where the music becomes a physical sensation that washes over your body.

Both radio and TV.

First you have a good station, filling a niche that's not met by the homogenized MSM, next you have a 24-hour "beg-a-thon" of "Christian" programming.

Of course, it is nice to have the opportunity to donate to so many organizations and funds and to buy so many books, tape courses, etc. to improve my faith.

It's all about the money. I'm told that there is no more profitable media than Christian broadcasting.