"A listener-supported radio station in North Carolina, WCPE, is planning to withhold the broadcast of six contemporary operas this season from New York's Metropolitan Opera, because of the station management's objections to the operas' content. It is a classical music controversy that echoes larger, nationwide culture war debates." [...]
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
NPR: North Carolina radio station plans to reject broadcasts of 'inappropriate' Met operas
- Thread starter radiocph
- Start date
Well, it's a listener supported station, so as long as the views and decisions of the station management in this case align or are at least acceptable to those individuals and businesses who help them pay the bills and stay on the air, they're good. That said, it seems their outlook here is a bit old fashioned. I still remember as a kid asking why, when we went to weddings that were held in protestant churches, it was normal for them to play Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" (Here comes the Bride) as the processional, and Mendelssohn's "Wedding March"as the recessional after the service, but in the Catholic church those tunes were forbidden and in many cases they used Trumpet Tune or Trumpet Voluntary instead. I was told it was because the 2 more traditional wedding/bridal songs came from operas that had objectionable content. It made no sense to me as a kid, and I'm sure very few if anyone connected those songs to the operas they came from, they were just part of a catalog of wedding standards.
Same in this case. I'm guessing few listeners, especially true opera fans, find the content of these particular performances "objectionable". If it truly was, then there would be more outrage towards the Met for even staging them.
Interesting story. Those who say classical music hasn't changed in over 100 years should read this. Operas and symphonies are increasing facing calls for their repertoire to be more relevant. I'm aware of local symphonies that offer more recently composed works that are more dissonant and rhythmic in nature. They're also offering "pops" concerts where artists from other genres are presented in an orchestrated setting. It's all about putting butts in seats. As the radio station's GM says, that's not her problem. She wants the Met to play the hits. I'll be watching this as it develops.
What is the content they find unacceptable? Let me guess= LGBTQ people. Sounds like a few listeners put pressure on station management.(Or management there shares that view). The Bible Belt is notorious for stunts like these. They once burned Beatles records because John Lennon made a flip remark about "The Beatles being more popular than Jesus"...
Last edited:
What we generally know as Classical Music is now under attack from both the far-right and the far-left. Culture war nonsense.
Classical fans are increasingly realizing that they will have to find the music they love on other platforms outside of traditional radio.
Classical fans are increasingly realizing that they will have to find the music they love on other platforms outside of traditional radio.
Which is most definitely not at a problem or difficult to do. As has been discussed elsewhere on Radio Discussions many times in the past, the "media" (which includes but is no longer limited to traditional OTA TV and radio broadcast) landscape has rapidly changed and expanded and continues to do so. With little effort, one can find nearly any type of programming or genre they're interested in listening to.
That said, stations like the one mentioned in the original post above, also risk hurting themselves in the long run, as once a certain segment of their listeners do find content they appreciate elsewhere, they may not come back. Classic case of maybe winning this battle, but losing the war if too many financially supportive listeners go away as a result of their decision here.
Dang this is an all classical music station thats being targeted here. However whenever we talked about Radio stations being targeted in the past its for stuff related to the NPR news/talk affiliates also it was part of the national threat to defund CPB in past cases.
en.wikipedia.org
From the OP.
WCPE - Wikipedia
From the OP.
Keep in mind they're not dropping the Met. Just choosing not to air certain specific broadcasts. They'll air The Magic Flute or La Boheme. Just skipping the new compositions.
The Met is also on Sirius. From what I can see, it's all older material.
So, it's a form of Programming Censorship. Management has decided that no one should hear these performances on "Their" Radio station. It comes to close to when some libraries remove certain books from the shelves...
That's correct, but to my point if a certain segment of their listeners decide to go to another source to find the Met's full season for instance, and they happen to like the other stuff they hear there, they and their financial contributions may not bother returning to WCPE. It's a risk, thus my comments above about battle/war.
That's the inherent dilemma of any radio station. As I often say, radio stations are not a replacement for personal music services. They were never meant to be a replacement for personal music collections. The only thing any radio station can do is poll its audience and see what they prefer. The GM of this station has done that, and according to the article, 90% approve of her decision. You don't program to the 10%. That's basic radio programming. If they subscribe to Sirius, they'll get something different. If they want to hear the specific works that the station isn't airing, they can stream another Met affiliate. She feels confident in what the station is doing.
Once again, the station polled its audience and 90% is in favor of what they're doing. Everything I said above applies to your comment as well. A radio station is not a library.
I would be very skeptical of that 90 percent data. How did they ask all their listeners? It seems obvious that the religious folks put the pressure on. If they aired these broadcasts, I doubt that any listeners would have complained. The people who DON'T listen are usually the ones who moan the loudest. It's the same with books they've never read. Abortion is another issue that was settled law until (well you know the rest...)
Last edited:
It sounds like you didn't read the article.
I read it. She claims to have received 1000 responses from 10,000 letters sent. Hardly scientific methods...
The article goes on to say:
"Proctor told NPR that she is hoping to collect at least 2,000 responses and give them to a statistician for a more formal analysis before making a final decision about the contemporary operas' broadcasts on WCPE."
The 10,000 letters were to station members, not general listeners. According to the article, she hasn't made her final decision yet.
....which is why I made the comment I did in the second post in this discussion thread (see below for recap)
Also note that I said the station in this case is taking a risk. I didn't say it wasn't a calculated risk or even a well-researched one, but it's a risk nonetheless. Programming decisions can be. That said, my strong guess is that if she'd have simply carried the Met season in its entirety without making an issue of the newer "non-traditional" offerings or polling her listeners, strong chances are none would have been the wiser and few would have so much as batted an eyelash.
Maybe. It demonstrates one of the challenges of carrying nationally syndicated programming. The local station basically turns over its programming to the syndicator, trusting it to make musical decisions that won't offend local tastes. Looking at the entire schedule of Met broadcasts, for the most part, it's pretty standard stuff. These particular works stand out. I wonder how other stations feel about this decision by the Met. Did anyone at the Met poll its affiliates?
She apparently founded the station with some other people, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s still part owner of it:
I always assumed if stations took the Met Opera progamming, they’d be required to run all the shows and not be able to pick and choose, much like being a major league team affiliate. I wonder if this will cause the Met to require something like that for radio affiliates going forward.
This part of the NPR article linked above seems odd, what kid is going to be listening to opera?
“Repeatedly, Proctor also appealed to the sensibilities of any children who might tune into her station or come across it online and said that her personal values were integral to her decision-making. Breaking into tears on the phone, Proctor said: "I have a moral decision to make here. What if one child hears this? When I stand before Jesus Christ on Judgement Day, what am I going to say?"
I always assumed if stations took the Met Opera progamming, they’d be required to run all the shows and not be able to pick and choose, much like being a major league team affiliate. I wonder if this will cause the Met to require something like that for radio affiliates going forward.
This part of the NPR article linked above seems odd, what kid is going to be listening to opera?
“Repeatedly, Proctor also appealed to the sensibilities of any children who might tune into her station or come across it online and said that her personal values were integral to her decision-making. Breaking into tears on the phone, Proctor said: "I have a moral decision to make here. What if one child hears this? When I stand before Jesus Christ on Judgement Day, what am I going to say?"
Last edited:
Some of that reflects FCC rules on indecency that certain content can't air on radio before 10PM. As for her morality, she can use whatever criteria she wants. The FCC rules are pretty vague.
You don't carry The Met for free on your station. You pay for this and I understand it's not cheap. When you pay you get certain rights and one of those would be to preempt what you might not choose to air. An angle taken is 'indecent' words can be aired if they are 'art' but I certainly would not want to go there because you know if you don't edit you will pay for it after the FCC letter and fight to win your side is played out, assuming you do.
- Status