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A Ghastly Idea
Sep. 15th, 2015 12:19 amDon't let musicians program your radio station.
I worked at WCRB, then Boston's premiere classical station, for more than twenty years. When we programmed for the musicians, a lot of average folks tuned out. When we stopped doing it, the musicians got up in arms, accusing us of "dumbing down" the station. They didn't want to hear Beethoven symphonies, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, or Bach's Brandenburg concertos; they wanted more challenging fare.
The problem is that musicians don't hear music the way most of the rest of us do. They hear things the untrained ear tends to miss, and as a result their tastes tend to be very different from those of the average radio listener.
My current clients include a station I was long unable to fathom; their music mix is bizarre. It reminds me of a roast beef and peanut butter sandwich: two great tastes that don't get along at all. The station's audience share typically languishes in the 0.1 to 0.3% range. I recently realized that it has fallen into WCRB's trap: it's playing to the local musicians, all of whom love it.
They are about to add a new feature where musicians come to the station and play their favorite records. We shall see...
I worked at WCRB, then Boston's premiere classical station, for more than twenty years. When we programmed for the musicians, a lot of average folks tuned out. When we stopped doing it, the musicians got up in arms, accusing us of "dumbing down" the station. They didn't want to hear Beethoven symphonies, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, or Bach's Brandenburg concertos; they wanted more challenging fare.
The problem is that musicians don't hear music the way most of the rest of us do. They hear things the untrained ear tends to miss, and as a result their tastes tend to be very different from those of the average radio listener.
My current clients include a station I was long unable to fathom; their music mix is bizarre. It reminds me of a roast beef and peanut butter sandwich: two great tastes that don't get along at all. The station's audience share typically languishes in the 0.1 to 0.3% range. I recently realized that it has fallen into WCRB's trap: it's playing to the local musicians, all of whom love it.
They are about to add a new feature where musicians come to the station and play their favorite records. We shall see...
