[BC] Classical stations...

[Steve]

Hi Burt:

I still hold to my reason for the decline but you're right as far as selling
a Classical music format. It's a CONCEPT sell and NOT a numbers sell. But
you know this already.
Using "the audience is dying off" is something I won't buy but my claim that
the decline of exposure to the music is a very real thing. IF they were
exposed they would have replaced those who died off, right? Only big cities
that have enough of those who are educated in the music and eclectic enough
to enjoy it allow that station to exist. There is also a larger pool of
sales types who know how to sell the Classical format.

What I love about what I'm doing now is I'm bringing that music to people
who either have never heard it or have not been exposed to Western Classical
composers. That's exciting to me.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Burt I. Weiner" <biwa at earthlink.net>
To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 11:23 AM
Subject: [BC] Classical stations...


>
> I've been around classical music and classical music broadcasting all
> of my life.  I was introduced to opera by way of a wind-up Victrola,
> probably at the age of four.  I can assure you that there (still) is
> a huge audience for classical music.  I believe one of the main
> reasons that there are few classical music stations is that a sales
> department that knows who it's audience is, is very rare.  They rely
> on rating services to tell them who's listening.  Most sales peoples
> are order takers, not really salespeople who know their product.  I
> have never met a classical music fan that has ever been asked to fill
> out a diary or ever been called on the phone and asked.
>
> I was chief engineer for KFAC and KFAC-FM in Los Angeles.  The
> station always had poor ratings and not a lot of inventory.  In a
> change of ownership the new GM said, "They want a classical music
> station, we'll give 'em a classical music station".  He went on to
> put together a sales department that built it's own documentable
> demographics and became very successful in spite of little or no
> ratings.  As they say, they laughed all the way to the bank.  KFAC
> finally went away because through ownership changes the knowledge of
> how to sell the station was lost.
>
> Not to long ago i was having a discussion with the owner of a local
> classical station who believed that the audience for classical music
> was old and dying off.  I challenged him to go to the Hollywood Bowl
> on any classical night and see just how full the seats are and just
> what the median age is.
>
> When my son was about 13 or so, he was home alone working at his
> bench in the garage putting together a model plane.  I came home
> earlier than normal only to discover that he was listening to Carl
> Princi's "World of Opera" on KFAC.  Most of my horse-riding buddies
> are classical music fans.
>
> If you want to tell me that things have changed, go ahead.  I'll tell
> you to go sit at the Hollywood Bowl on a classical night and look around.
>
> Burt
>
> At 10:41 PM 12/28/2005, you wrote:
> > > I've been in Classical music radio on and off since I was a teen. I've
> > > seen
> > > them (Classical stations) go dark and it saddens me. I have my own
> > > opinion
> > > as to why this has been going on over the last several years. (Dumbing
> > > Down
> > > of America and lack/elimination of good music programs in schools but
> > > that's
> > > as political as I'll get in this forum). Fortunately, only one went
down
> > > when was I under its employ. KYTE in Portland. Now it has no Classical
> > > station as do so many other cities.
>
> Burt I. Weiner Associates
> Broadcast Technical Services
> Glendale, California  U.S.A.
> biwa at earthlink.net
> K6OQK
>
>
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