I don't pick up the WBJC signal on any of the radios I have at home. After I e-mailed WGMS to complain about the weak signal, and a staffer wrote back to suggest I purchase some additional equipment.
But the thing is, G of G, I've watched the classical music scene on the radio in the D.C. area be systematically dismantled over a 15-year period. When I first moved here, WETA-FM had classical music throughout the day and night, plus some additional programs. Certainly it wasn't the most adventurous play list, but at least they featured new recordings.
When the cutbacks in the music programming began, WETA duplicated news programs already airing on WAMU, the public station that had cut its own musical offerings (in their case, folk and bluegrass). Sure enough, that marked the beginning of the end of classical music on WETA.
Now an LDS-owned corporation in Salt Lake City has weakened WGMS's signal, which will no doubt cause it to lose listeners, which will then pave the way for eliminating classical music altogether.
Marc Fisher wrote a sugary column for the Arts section of The Washington Post today about these developments. He burbles about listener empowerment and following trends. Eventually, though, he gets to the fact that it's all about what the advertisers want (he literally says, with no sense of irony, that they want to BUY a demographic, as though they were trading in slaves). He also lets slip that Bonneville has strict guidelines on what it will allow (no naughty language, limits in rap). Oh, and there will be WASHINGTON POST radio thanks to Bonneville, which is probably the real reason why Fisher takes such sunny view.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/06/AR2006010600337.html"But in a micro-niched world, advertisers want to buy a specific demographic group. A station that appeals across ethnic boundaries doesn't seem to have much staying power, at least not in Washington."
(SNIP)
"Bonneville, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, does not permit its stations to get into hard rap or raunch talk, so Z-104's attempts to develop strong personalities on its morning show were always hindered by the fact that its competitors were getting more and more explicit in their sex chatter. (The station could take credit for developing one semi-celebrity, morning deejay Billy Bush, the president's cousin, who moved on and became co-anchor of TV's 'Access Hollywood.')"
There you have it. Corporate control and trading off a name. This has nothing to do with the community and everything to do with corporations. One classical music station in a listening area is not too much to ask.