> I too was alarmed about KDFC, if only because I support the arts as much as I can. It used to be kids had a decent music education in the schools and because of the cuts in education, they don't learn ANYTHING about classical music and therefore don't develop an appreciation for the arts. So, classical will eventually disappear from the commercial landscape and what a shame.
I completely agree, and radio is most valuable for this. I learned classical music listening to KDFC/KIBE as a kid and grew up to do work at their Mt. Beacon transmitter/studio when I became a commercial FM broadcast engineer years later! However, if KDFC went away, I imagine and hope that a noncomm would step in to fill the void. IMHO other classical stations such as KXPR in Sacramento do a better job with the format, sad to say. I listen to KDFC-HD2, and that's sort of OK. I'm glad they offer the alternative. The main channel format is seriously watered down.
> I would hope that the Asians listening to radio keep the numbers up. They love classical music. (it's in their genes, lol) All the big stars in classical music are all coming from China now.
Way back when Accuratings was in business, my station (KWSS, Nationwide) subscribed to them. They were different from Arbitron in adding ethnic information to the numbers. I combed through them since they were so fascinating. Not surprisingly Accuratings reported a huge oriental following for KDFC - like 75% or more of the listeners. At the time, KDFC would've had virtually no numbers without the oriental contingent.
KDFC also benefits from the "halo effect", a real phenomenon I remember studying in Mass Comm. That's likely why for KDFC there would be a big difference between diary and PPM numbers. A person has a self-image of "class" and so writes down KDFC instead of KYLD in the diary. The PPM really knows.
