A Significant Change in Washington D.C.

[classicalfan]

Bonneville International Corporation which owns WGMS the commercial classical station in Washington D.C., changed its programming on January 22nd at 3 P.M. EST.

They donated the station's collection of over 15,000 CDS to WETA one of the two NPR stations in the market. As a result, WETA changed from newstalk to classical at 8 P.M. that evening. They had dropped classical for news talk about two years ago.

Bonneville had moved the WGMS signal from 103.5 FM to two separate frequencies and the coverage of the station diminished. As a result, the ratings for the classical format went down.

This agreement is significant because it saves classical music on the radio in the Washington area and it is one of the few times where a commercial and a non commercial station have entered into this kind of an understanding.

The down side of this is that eight people were let go from WETA and 10 were laid off from WGMS.

[jamiebk]

Very interesting. I used to listen to WGMS when I lived in the DC area back in the mid/late 70's. Once in a while I used to listen via internet (not since finding B.com however)...they had a good programming format.

So, what is WGMS airing now that they dumped the classical format?

[classicalfan]

The format now airing on the former WGMS is called George 104.

If you are aware of the Jack format, the idea they push is that they play anything or what we want.

The music consists of songs from the '1970s through the '90s with some current offerings thrown in. It is mostly rock from what I have been told.
They are going for 104 days without any commercials.

The classical station in Washington can be accessed online at http://www.weta.org or http://www.wgms.com.

I hope that answeres your question. If not, let me know.

[Shapley]

I'm not a fan of PBS, but I'm glad they were able to work out an arrangement to keep classical music on the air in the region.

[barfle]

I'm in the WGMS coverage area, and although I had heard about the format change, I didn't get a chance to listen to the new format until the past weekend.

I'm reminded of when KFAC in Los Angeles decided to change from Classical to one of those God-knows-what-and-he-ain't-telling formats, which is what George104 is now. Some decent stuff, but mostly well into the crap file as far as I'm concerned. KFAC gave their music collection to KUSC if I remember correctly (mostly vinyl, although CDs had recently come out). The original KFAC is playing what is affectionately called "urban music" (which I tried to listen to for about 20 seconds, then my stomach couldn't handle any more).

I determined shortly after moving here in 2001 that DC radio was the pits. It hasn't improved, IMNSHO.

[jamiebk]

WOW...you guys aren't going to believe this. Just today, I received this email from our local classical music station KDFC from San Fran.


Listen Live
Dear James,

Have you heard the news? KDFC has been sold.

Yes, the future is uncertain, but here's the best way to let the new owners know how important classical radio is to you and your community. Share your thoughts, and suggestions on how we can make KDFC even better, in a KDFC listener survey.

As KDFC celebrates its 60th year of broadcasting classical music to the Bay Area, your input is more important than ever. Thank you for being the involved and engaged listeners that help make a great radio station.

Bill Lueth
Director of Operations, Classical 102.1 KDFC

I used to listen to KDFC a lot until Beethoven.com. I like B.com's style and frankly, KDFC could benefit from "lightening up a bit". They do not play movie music (which I like) and they don't have a BB. They do have a lot of features though like regular listener parties and contests. They also have an excellent community outreach.

Looks like some of this could change. They solicited comments from listeners and I was happy to give them.