[mplpost] An alternative view of the CJRT situation

[Richard L. Hess]

Howard,

As usual a lucid and well-thought-through perspective!

I would like to add that I was in New York City in the '70's when GAF tried 
to convert WNCN from Classical to Rock--The DJ's did a month-long (at 
least) farewell campaign and there was such an outcry that the station 
remained classical for probably another ten years. The next time they 
decided to change, it was poof...no announcement, the next day the formats 
changed.

I wish us all well with CJRT, but I have my doubts that the folk community 
is large enough to make a real dent in the station--certainly not as large 
as the classical lobby in New York City (home of the below-mentioned 
Metropolitan Opera among others).

I think Howard's approach is well-reasoned!

Cheers,

Richard
Glendale, California


At 06:58 AM 09/21/2000 -0400, Howard Kaplan wrote:
>I would like to offer some thoughts on why protesting the removal of 
>CJRT's Saturday Afternoon folk and world music programming will be 
>ineffective and on what strategy might be more effective.
>
>Let's start by asking why CJRT had a Saturday afternoon folk program in 
>the first place.  This program was always an anomaly for a station that 
>was basically a classical music station (when it was not providing 
>continuing education in non-musical areas).  One obvious reason is that 
>Joe Lewis, the original host, had another role at CJRT.  I imagine that 
>the other role preceded the show, that is, that someone inside CJRT 
>lobbied for the opportunity.  What's also important, though, was the 
>show's timeslot.  Saturday afternoon was a bad time for CJRT to attract 
>classical listeners away from the CBC because that is the time of the live 
>Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.  In other words, it was not a prime time 
>for CJRT's target audience to be listening to that station.
>
>Another primarily classical station, WFMT in Chicago, has for years been 
>running its weekly folk show, the Midnight Special, on Saturday 
>nights.  Why was this not a prime time for its classical audience?  This 
>is only speculation, but here are some possibilities: much of the audience 
>would be attending live events (concerts, opera, or theater) on Saturday 
>evenings, and those who weren't, but who wanted to hear classical music, 
>were likely to be at home rather than commuting or at work.  They would 
>therefore have access to their own record collections and not be as 
>dependent on the radio on Saturday evenings, compared to other 
>times.  Also, many people are in the mood for a less intense musical 
>experience on Saturday nights.  This created a window of opportunity for a 
>different kind of programming.
>
>CJRT is now more focused on jazz than on classical music, and the station 
>manager even defined the station as a jazz station in a recent newspaper 
>interview.  Although Saturday afternoon is not prime time for classical 
>listeners, it might be prime for jazz listeners.  Since they are the new 
>focus audience, it's clear why they have the clout to demand their kind of 
>programming whenever they want.
>
>If, as has been speculated, CJRT moves to drop classical music entirely 
>and go to an all-jazz format, this might create a window of 
>opportunity.  Currently, the only classical programming on weekends 
>(except overnight) is on Sundays, starting with an early morning program 
>that often features choral music of a religious nature.  One might imagine 
>that Sunday mornings are not a prime time for the jazz audience.  If that 
>is the case, then perhaps the current CJRT folk audience should be working 
>towards getting CJRT to reinstate folk programming, but on Sunday 
>mornings, when classical programming disappears entirely.  This may sound 
>like being in a folk ghetto, but if we are going to proudly proclaim that 
>folk is an essential minority taste, then we cannot expect to have much 
>choice about what part of the week it is broadcast on an  (unfortunately) 
>money-driven station.
>
>
>Howard L. Kaplan
>Songwriter and occasional performer
>Toronto, Ontario, Canada
>http://home.inforamp.net/~hkaplan
>
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Richard L. Hess                              richard@richardhess.com
Glendale, CA USA                           http://www.richardhess.com/
Web page: folk and church music, photography,
                  broadcast engineering, home wiring, and more

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