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Bonneville puts classical station WGMS on weaker signal.

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CBHagman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-05-06 11:07 AM
Original message
Bonneville puts classical station WGMS on weaker signal.
Over the past few years, the Washington, D.C., area has taken a real hit in the classical music area. For a period of several years, WETA-FM cut back its classical music programming, finally eliminating nearly all music from its format and filling the hours with news programs, including from the BBC.

Now Bonneville International, a company owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has eliminated one non-classical music station in the D.C. area, moved the all-news and talk station WTOP to classical station WGMS's former spot on the FM dial, and moved WGMS to a weaker signal.

I'm on WGMS's e-mail, and I was told of the change yesterday. There was no advance notice, but today the story is front-page news in The Washington Post, thanks to Bonneville's plans for a Post station (yes, really).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010400849.html

"Classical music fans, particularly in the District and Montgomery County, will find it harder to get a clear signal for WGMS at its new frequencies. The station's broadcast towers are in Waldorf and Frederick, and the potential for interference or lost signals could drive away some listeners, an executive at a rival radio company said yesterday."

Driving away listeners. How's that for another hit to classical music?

By the way, I checked Bonneville's website the other night and couldn't find an e-mail address listed for contact purposes, only a Salt Lake City phone number and address.

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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-07-06 12:59 AM
Response to Original message
1. I was wondering what the hell happened!
I drove to rehearsal listening to WGMS, and when I drove home a couple of hours later, it had been replaced by WTOP (one of those rethug-loving accu-weather stations).

WGMS isn't that great anyway. You're better off with WBJC in Baltimore if you can pick up the signal. It fades going into the District and VA.
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CBHagman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-08-06 09:37 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. That's a big if.
Edited on Sun Jan-08-06 09:39 AM by CBHagman
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.
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-08-06 12:55 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. You're right....
I grew up in the area. Once upon a time WGMS was on the AM band as well as the FM. Their programming was much more varied; and they broadcast complete works rather than a movement of this or that. It was the station that introduced me to classical music as a kid.

When we got a radio with an FM band (yeah, I guess I'm a bit of a dinosaur), WETA and WGTS (Columbia Union College) offered classical music. As I recall, WAMU also had a classical music program in the midst of their eclectic lineup for awhile. WGTS gradually went to all-Christian programming; and of course we lost WETA last year. I read that WETA's listening audience has shrunk since this change.

I'm surprised that Marc Fisher talks about "listener empowerment" as if it was anything but an illusion. He usually impresses me as having a pretty realistic perspective on issues, and unafraid to talk about it. I'd hate to think he's been bought; but I can't help wondering now if Washington Post radio will have a Marc Fisher show...

WBJC has a strong group of supporters. I'm wondering what it would take for them to strengthen their signal so they could serve the DC area as well. I'd be willing to send them a check so we could have quality classical music again.

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CBHagman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-08-06 03:36 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. I know what you mean about Fisher.
He's generally struck me as sensible about these things. However, I think it was Frank Ahrens who pointed out in a column in the Post some time back that British and Irish radio is much more varied, musically speaking, than U.S. radio, and Ahrens attributed that to the fact that the public stations were developed first. Here in the U.S., it's the rule of the Great God Advertising, followed by the Great God Donor at public stations.

I'm rather concerned about the Post's political tone in general, frankly, including in their arts coverage. Paul Fahri wrote a cover story for the Arts section on Good Night, and Good Luck, and he turned to Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly to provide comments on it. Yes, you read that right -- Coulter and O'Reilly, not, say, a journalism professor and a journalist, or perhaps a historian.

So I think there's some validity to selling Washington Post Radio through these articles. I subscribe to the Post but have no current desire to hear the station.
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-09-06 02:17 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. I missed that story...
Sounds like I can be glad I did.

I don't know what to make of the Post these days. I've been wondering if there isn't significant conflict within the organization.

I miss Joe McLellan. I know there are some who felt his reviews weren't critical enough; but I strongly feel that the Arts need more positive press these days.

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CBHagman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-09-06 12:10 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Yes, I was sorry to see McLellan go.
However, Tim Page seems to come through pretty regularly, and I've also liked Jacqueline Trescott's coverage of public funding for arts organizations.

But this is a rough time for the arts, given the catastrophe in the D.C. dance scene (i.e., labor struggles, cancelled performances), funding issues, and so forth. This too will pass, but still, I don't much like how things are going.
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