Trends: Are Classical Radio's Days Numbered?

By Dennis D. Rooney

I remember listening to our big console radio in the living room when I was small. In those days, radio programs were events and the entire family could often be found in front of the radio, listening to sports, newscasts, political speeches, comedy shows, and cultural offerings like the Theatre Guild of the Air or the NBC Symphony and Toscanini. But those bygone days were really the end of the Golden Age of Radio. Table models and portables gradually supplanted the big console sets as they themselves yielded to televisions.

Fans of classical music on radio have found their choices shrinking over the past two decades as broadcasters—even public radio—have methodically stripped classical music from their schedules. The sale last July of WQXR, New York’s last full-time commercial classical station, was perceived as a heavy blow, particularly in light of the Big Apple’s claim to cultural supremacy. That the buyer was WNYC, the city’s leading public-radio outlet, softened the blow somewhat. WQXR’s classical programming and call letters have been consigned to a lower power frequency higher on the FM band (105.9 mHz), with a coverage area of approximately 50 miles. The prognosis remains cloudy, however, since the commercial license for that frequency is worth about $15 million and could conceivably be sold off to support WNYC’s main-channel operations.

The eventual end of classical music via terrestrial radio broadcasts can be greeted with far more equanimity than would once have been the case. Sadly, the community-based flavor of local broadcasting will be a casualty. Once, when travelling long distances in an automobile, it was either entertaining or frustrating to have to re-tune your FM radio as one signal faded in order to locate another with suitable programming—if it could be found at all in some areas. That sort of specific geographical connection will rapidly become a thing of the past. Despite that, digital transmission of programming over cable, satellite, and the Internet will likely be enormously beneficial to our ability to enjoy programming of unprecedented diversity and convenient availability from sources around the world. Free content will still be available, just not as frequently as before. One thing is certain: Those used to traditional broadcasting will have to adapt, adopt, and adjust.

Satellite Radio, which for now is Sirius/XM, requires a subscription, but offers several layers of classical programming. This is the best for classical music in a car, and is also available
on Internet radio. Cable Radio is offered through your cable television system, so you’re already paying for it. Usually three or four classical channels are available. Internet Radio is a stand-alone device that looks like a radio but requires the use of a cable modem, which you already have if you connect your computer to the Internet. Of all the Internet-based programming formats, this is the easiest for the non-technical or computer illiterate to use. You buy a subscription that includes a register that is automatically kept up-to-date.

Another stand-alone unit is an HD Radio (HD doesn’t mean High Definition but Hybrid Digital). However, it is probably best avoided until the U.S. standard for the medium is improved. “Up to this point,” said an engineer friend who was involved for a decade in developing HD standards for the U.S., “HD radio is a non-event.” Nevertheless, Best Buy is now offering HD receivers for under $50 if you wish to satisfy your curiosity.

The Internet-based formats all require some connection to a computer, but that’s already changing. Real-time stereo Streaming is popular for orchestral and operatic broadcasts. Most orchestras do it on their Web sites. In most cases, the material cannot be recorded, although ways around that are turning up already, and you can wirelessly stream to your audio system with no loss of quality by using such devices as Apple’s Airport Express or Logitech’s Squeezebox. Formats, often incompatible, include iTunes, Adobe Flash Player, Real Player, and Windows Media Player. Podcasts can be recorded from a Web site. PDAs, like Blackberry and Palm, and the newest iterations of the iPhone and iPod Touch, can be wirelessly connected to the Internet for retrieval of programming on demand. (You’re waiting at an airport and you wish to listen to something other than the CNN airport service, so you use your handheld device to access your computer and listen to your preference.) The headphone jack of an iPod can be connected to the auxiliary inputs of your audio system.

For classical-music broadcasts, it’s definitely a “worst of times, best of times” situation, but with continuing evolution of technology and growing consumer awareness, one can expect the choices to keep growing no matter where you live.

Dennis D. Rooney spent three decades in classical-music broadcasting and also worked in the record industry as an audio producer and consultant.