A crying shame

[Pbartender]

I read through that article, and while sympathize utterly with the predicament, I find myself taking umbrage at this particular statement in the opening paragraph:

"...and the nation's capital will be left without a public radio station devoted to beautiful and intelligent music."

For this reason in particular:

And by complete and utter garbage, I mean nothing more recent than about 1820, and by a bunch of people no one, including myself (owning over 500 classical CDs) had ever heard of. Just really obscure, awful baroque music. I think they prided themselves on finding the absolute most boring, common denominator stuff they could possible find.

Now, I don't know exactly what kind of music they were broadcasting, but...

That sentence gives a mistaken implication that a particular type of music is "beautiful and intelligent" simply by virtue of being old or obscure, and by contrast anything that is new and popular is not. That's simply incorrect. While a lot of pop music is garbage, so is a lot of 'classical' music. Some popular music is simply beautiful, and is easily as inspirational as anything written hundreads of years ago.

Guh... Maybe I'm just reading too much into it... Maybe I just got out of the wrong side of bed... But I hate it when people make such gross assumptions.

 

[Henry]

The situation is that like so many other institutions, new enterprises, NAMELY satellite radio, is killing it off. If someone cares enough to listen to classical or romantic or jazz music on a regular basis, they'll likely spring for the XM or Cirrus Radio to get it. Same reason why I will pay for cable TV to get ESPN, instead of relying on the six o'clock news or the sunday sports shows.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

The situation is that like so many other institutions, new enterprises, NAMELY satellite radio, is killing it off. If someone cares enough to listen to classical or romantic or jazz music on a regular basis, they'll likely spring for the XM or Cirrus Radio to get it. Same reason why I will pay for cable TV to get ESPN, instead of relying on the six o'clock news or the sunday sports shows.

You summed up what's happening rather well.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Hey, that's the consequences of free market capitalism.

Sometimes the things you like aren't popular enough to warrant a continued existence.

I mean, you didn't see me screaming and carrying on when Taco Bell stopped carrying the beautiful and intelligent Chili Cheese Burrito.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I mean, you didn't see me screaming and carrying on when Taco Bell stopped carrying the beautiful and intelligent Chili Cheese Burrito.

Wulf, you're a sick, sick individual.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...I mean, you didn't see me screaming and carrying on when Taco Bell stopped carrying the beautiful and intelligent Chili Cheese Burrito.

They did what????



that's crappy

 

[JIMBOTHEBLACK]

Yo zoatabix, I know it's a bit off topic but Cecil from Final Fantasy IV is the coolest avatar I've ever seen. FF IV is my favorite.

 

[Zoatebix]

Hey Jimbotheblack:

Thanks very much! I've seen character portrait sprites from FFIV blown up to double-size, pixelated glory, but I think I like my original sized portrait.

Hey everone:

On the classical side, WETA played plenty of well-known pieces and composers, as well as obscure stuff both old and new (yeah 20th century jonx!). They had bluegrass and jazz programming, too. I think 89.3 still plays jazz and bluegrass in the DC market, but they also have really, really politicized talky stuff.

edit: ...which is a turn-off.

 

[Pbartender]

...but they also have really, really politicized talky stuff.

edit: ...which is a turn-off.

Yeah... I actually like the News shows. We don't watch TV at home, so the radio news in the car helps keep me up to date with what's happening in the wider world.

The politico talk shows I can't stand, though.

 

[Rel]

I'll be happy when public funding for the arts finally dies in this country. I'll be thrilled if it does so quietly (I'll also be shocked).