WNED

[davideduardo]

Granted But it is a seed that may spark interest in the music.
Businesses often support pubic radio not because of ratings points but to show community support . Good public stations know how to tap into that.

As mentioned, those "concerts" by a symphony orchestra often feature the Star Wars theme and other movie tunes. If all they played was the full Holst's "The Planets" I'll bet interest would be lesser.

 

[TheBigA]

These listeners believe in the radio station and support it.

Actually, they believe in public media and support it. They've made a change in the donation bar:

Your donation will now support everything Buffalo Toronto Public Media does: television, radio and digital streams. We listened to our members and made this change to devote more money to programming by reducing administrative costs, eliminate duplicated communications for multi-station members and make membership a more positive experience for you.

So a membership isn't to one or the other, but the whole platform.

 

[bturner1]

For the classical listener, a classical station, and I quote a classical music lover, "is an oasis on the radio dial". It seems classical radio enjoys much the same draw as the Contemporary Christian music stations in that listeners don't want to be without their favorite station and are therefore, willing to kick in some support to help it survive and hopefully flourish.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

As mentioned, those "concerts" by a symphony orchestra often feature the Star Wars theme and other movie tunes. If all they played was the full Holst's "The Planets" I'll bet interest would be lesser.

This made me laugh out loud, because it's pointedly true.

 

[SirRoxalot]

The BPO does classical concerts, pops concerts, and even backs rock musicians at different times. Much like the Boston Pops, free public concerts often include a variety of music designed to appeal to a much wider audience and try to break the stereotype of "musical snobs." It's also not uncommon for there to be locally popular narrators introducing the "story behind the music" to audiences so they have more insight into what the music is trying to express. Any free presentation is designed to expand their audience into younger and more diverse demographics.

 

[TheBigA]

BTW a lot of those "free" shows are usually paid for by someone. Sometimes the parks department, sometimes the state arts council, sometimes a corporate sponsor. It's rare that an entire orchestra will get together and do a show for nothing. When a radio or TV station broadcasts the concert, there are rights fees paid to everyone as well.