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Changes coming to WQXR

I agree with Pete from NYC's comment on that page:

"It’s disappointing to see many people saying they’ll cut their contributions to WQXR because of this change. Time for a reality check - WQXR is a classical music station first and foremost, and they’ve always delivered incredible musical programming. Dropping a few newscasts, which are widely available from countless other sources, doesn’t diminish the value this station brings to our community. If anything, this decision shows that WQXR is being wise with its resources, focusing on what they do best. Pulling support over such a small adjustment feels shortsighted, especially when the station still offers so much to music lovers. Be careful what you wish for- in this day and age of streaming there are very few remaining services that continue to provide high quality radio with NO ADS! Let’s continue to support WQXR for the cultural gem that it is!"

Also a lot of those comments are from people outside of the NYC market/footprint of the station, so unless they're donors who stop giving money, WQXR will not care very much about their complaints.
 
"If you want to catch up on the news, please change your dial to WNYC at 93.9, or ask your smart speaker to play WNYC, or go to WNYC.org on your browser and click on 'Listen Live'. And when you're done, please be sure to come back to WQXR for the best in classical music."

What does that take to read? I timed myself at 23 seconds. (And with a little bit of judicious editing, you give them 22 seconds, we'll give them the news.)
 
Weiserguy said:
What does that take to read? I timed myself at 23 seconds. (And with a little bit of judicious editing, you give them 22 seconds, we'll give them the news.)
Click to expand...

It's a different skill set, assembling and reading a newscast vs a pre-recorded disclaimer.

What I would have done is fundraise around it. Create a newscaster fund, raise $100K that would be specifically directed to replacing the newscaster.

Everything that happens should be seen as a fundraising opportunity. Get the listeners involved. Maybe they'll do that at the next fundraiser.
 
TheBigA said:
It's a different skill set, assembling and reading a newscast vs a pre-recorded disclaimer.

What I would have done is fundraise around it. Create a newscaster fund, raise $100K that would be specifically directed to replacing the newscaster.

Everything that happens should be seen as a fundraising opportunity. Get the listeners involved. Maybe they'll do that at the next fundraiser.
Click to expand...
But it's really not necessary. They have a parent organization with a full news department. And an affiliation with NPR. Simulcast the NPR/WNYC newscast a few times in AM and PM drive. Or get the drive time host to record WNYC's newscast, digitally trim it down and air it on the quarter hour or half hour or the next natural break between musical pieces. Or, read some variation of the promo I drafted. Twenty-or-so seconds directing any listeners who care over to the sister station, get their news fix, and hopefully punch the button to come back afterwards. (If they stay on WNYC, at least they stay "in the family".) Or have the same newscaster pre-record a shorter version. There are options other than creating a newscaster fund or sending the listeners over to WINS.
 
Weiserguy said:
But it's really not necessary. They have a parent organization with a full news department. And an affiliation with NPR. Simulcast the NPR/WNYC newscast a few times in AM and PM drive. Or get the drive time host to record WNYC's newscast, digitally trim it down and air it on the quarter hour or half hour or the next natural break between musical pieces.
Click to expand...

Once again, all of those workers are members of AFTRA, and there are rules about what they can do and how they do it. It's not as easy as you think.

The job of the union is to create work for its members. If the station can just simulcast its stations, or if talent can edit audio, that cuts jobs.
 
radiofan2023 said:
I agree with Pete from NYC's comment on that page:

"It’s disappointing to see many people saying they’ll cut their contributions to WQXR because of this change. Time for a reality check - WQXR is a classical music station first and foremost, and they’ve always delivered incredible musical programming. Dropping a few newscasts, which are widely available from countless other sources, doesn’t diminish the value this station brings to our community. If anything, this decision shows that WQXR is being wise with its resources, focusing on what they do best. Pulling support over such a small adjustment feels shortsighted, especially when the station still offers so much to music lovers. Be careful what you wish for- in this day and age of streaming there are very few remaining services that continue to provide high quality radio with NO ADS! Let’s continue to support WQXR for the cultural gem that it is!"

Also a lot of those comments are from people outside of the NYC market/footprint of the station, so unless they're donors who stop giving money, WQXR will not care very much about their complaints.
Click to expand...
If it is so important, WQXR could have done an on-air fundraiser to gain a stop gap funding of the newscasts, overnight hosted programming.

This also is a testament on how bad the radio broadcasting industry when two iconic radio stations either ends programming or disappears entirely with the end of WCBS.
 
sdwulfdawg said:
This also is a testament on how bad the radio broadcasting industry when two iconic radio stations either ends programming or disappears entirely with the end of WCBS.
Click to expand...

People simply don't listen to radio as much as they once did. That's resulted in lower revenues. That means less money to pay staff. The money has to come from somewhere. What people do affects what they hear. People are threatening to stop giving to WQXR, and that'll just make things worse.
 
fybush said:
If you can't tell whether a host is live, does it matter?

What is there that's intrinsic to introducing a recording of a Mozart symphony that requires the announcer to be "live" in a studio at that very moment?
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Absolutely nothing about introing a Mozart symphony, or anyone else's symphony [concert/ballet/overture/aria/etc.], requires a live announcer. It's the other little stuff around that intro that might require a live voice.

For example, if you'd been in a Florida/Georgia/Alabama/Carolinas market last Thursday or Friday and your radio was pinned to some local classical station where nothing was live, it might have been valuable to know that everything you were hearing had been canned days or weeks ago. It might even have been useful for a live body to be playing "It's the end of the world as we know it" instead.
 
fybush said:
If you can't tell whether a host is live, does it matter?

What is there that's intrinsic to introducing a recording of a Mozart symphony that requires the announcer to be "live" in a studio at that very moment?
Click to expand...
But often people can tell. I am pretty good at telling. There are signs.

Besides, I asked who was live not for thoughts about voicetracking because that’s a circular argument on both sides here over and over again ;)

But since you brought it up, I see no point in radio if we just have surrendered to and accepted voicetracking as companionship and “the norm”. I can get the same damn music from a curated Apple Music playlist. Having a live person means less detachment from the music presented, being a participant in the world at that moment instead of pretending to be, and as noted in another reply critical during emergency situations.

Back to my question - which classical stations are live? WCRB has been mentioned as one. How about KING? WFMT? All Classical Portland? I know KUSC / KDFC are a mix of live & tracked.
 
Slightly off topic, but is Classical a viable format for Commercial radio anywhere in the country? Back in the day there were 2 classical commercial stations in NY.
 
sdwulfdawg said:
Classical24 is excellent...
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I agree! Some of their personalities are my very favorites. Mindy Ratner and Lynn Warfel are two of my favorites. Ward Jacobson and Jeff Esworthy are fantastic too.

The only downfall is that they do not have the flexibility to play longer pieces, but otherwise I generally enjoy what they have to offer. It's nice that through YourClassical you can stream the network feed directly, among other streams.
 
HighStandards said:
But often people can tell. I am pretty good at telling. There are signs.

Besides, I asked who was live not for thoughts about voicetracking because that’s a circular argument on both sides here over and over again ;)

But since you brought it up, I see no point in radio if we just have surrendered to and accepted voicetracking as companionship and “the norm”. I can get the same damn music from a curated Apple Music playlist. Having a live person means less detachment from the music presented, being a participant in the world at that moment instead of pretending to be, and as noted in another reply critical during emergency situations.

Back to my question - which classical stations are live? WCRB has been mentioned as one. How about KING? WFMT? All Classical Portland? I know KUSC / KDFC are a mix of live & tracked.
Click to expand...
I think KING-FM is voicetracked overnights.
 


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