I used to listen to classical music on the radio. That was a long time ago though, when you could easily find classic music stations almost everywhere around the country on the FM band. When I lived in Los Angeles I used to get my classical fix by listening to KFAC and KPFK. KPFK no longer plays classical music, and KFAC went off the air in 1989. (To be fair, things have actually gotten better in LA since then -- but not as good as they were in the '70s. KUSC now plays classical music, and a new classical station, KMZT has appeared).
Over the past fifteen years, classical music stations have been dropping like flys, or undergoing horrendous transformations (ala "The Fly") into rock stations, or NPR talk-radio Frankensteins. A paper prepared by the Classical Music Initiative points out these alarming facts:
- Only 19 of the 30 largest markets in the U.S. have a public classical music station.
- Total listening to classical public radio stations has been relatively flat at around 10 million weekly over the past four years, while listening to public news and information stations has increased markedly.
- The total number of stations airing symphony broadcasts has diminished by about 100 stations in the last decade, and only 10 American orchestras now have concerts in national syndication.
But the Internet is changing this grim landscape, just as it is transforming American and World culture. Many stations have adopted web streaming of their programming and now reach a worldwide audience instead of just a local one. For commercial stations, this will eventually open up new sources of advertising revenue as they can court national and international advertisers instead of being limited to local advertising. The breadth and quality of what is available is amazing as you can see by looking at this webpage full of links to classical music stations spanning the globe: Classical Live Online Radio ONEPAGE
Ever since Classical Music disappeared from the NPR station in Charlotte, NC where I was living five years ago, I have been unable to get my St. Paul Sunday Morning or my Schickele Mix fixes. These programs were not available in Charlotte, and they aren't available in San Francisco either. But they appear in other markets, and now I can get to those stations over the internet. Am I happy, or what?
Here is another great site: Public Radio Fan that has a very complete searchable database of public radio stations and programs along with links to their Internet streaming audio feeds. I found my missing programs in about 10 minutes and listened to both this last Sunday.
The breadth of what is available goes far beyond PRI and NPR, though. If you use the OnePage link above, you will have access to Classical Music radio stations all around the world. Listen to BBC 3, or Bartok Radio from Budapest, or Schoenberg Radio! If you have a broadband connection, your access to Classical Music over the "airwaves" is far better than it has ever been. The quality can be quite good, too, with streams as high as 176Kbits. You will need support for Real Audio, Windows Media and Quicktime to make certain you can listen to everything, but those tools are free. Happy listening!
UPDATE: PublicRadioFan.com link fixed.
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