In Sunday’s (7/22) Times-Picayune (New Orleans), Dave Walker writes, “The news is good and bad for local lovers of classical music. The good is that there are more ways to hear their favorite (or maybe even unfamiliar) composers, orchestras, quartets, singers and soloists than at any time in history. … Satellite radio. Digital, or ‘HD,’ radio. Customizable online sites like Pandora. … The bad news is that starting Monday (July 23), New Orleans National Public Radio outlet WWNO FM-89.9 will no longer be contributing to the stream, at least not on weekdays, where the station has programmed classical music since its 1972 sign-on. The shift, announced via mailer to station donors in late June and amplified during intervening weeks via on-air announcements and online explainers at WWNO.org, displaces morning and afternoon classical blocks for local and national news-and-information programming. … Classical stays in place at night and overnight, and will now fully commandeer one of the station’s digital subchannels, WWNO2. The shift comes after three years of research by the station that showed the growing popularity of—and growing donor support for—news and information.”
Posted July 24, 2012
