Requests vs. Exploration

[jhuang574]

I have only been listening to beethoven.com for the past 2-3 weeks. I have been noticing a lot of duplication in the songlist. At least I feel it. I assume, though, this stems from the fact that this station strives on playing requests from listeners. This is a great feature as it brings listeners and DJs closer (at least we feel like it does). Unfortunately, popularity game sink in and songs that are more "popular" get played more often due to more requests.<P>I enjoy learning and broadening my listening experiences. The occaisonal listener request or DJ plays a song new to me and it's a great experience. So that aspect and feature of this radio station is great too.<P>It takes a lot to balance this out between popular demand and variety. I hope a good DJ like NM will strive for such diversity yet attending to the request of her followers.<P>Also, I dislike beethoven.com's logo ("classic music w/o the attitude). I assume many ppl complain about classical snobbery. But shouldn't you accentuate the positive? (here's my marketing side coming out). Promote the good, don't promote what you don't have.<P>Also, when I first heard the logo, I thought, "huh? who cares you don't have an attitude". I think the logo needs work, you guys have more to offer.<P>I love listening to you guys esp NM. Keep up the great work.

[Nicole Marie]

Thanks for the post. During my shift I play the requests but try to drop in at least one piece an hour that is something "different". That piece will be something from a composer not often heard on Beethoven Radio or maybe it's a different section of a piece not often requested.<P>When I do drop in these "non requests" we find that people will start to request them. It turns people on to new music and music they never knew was out there. So besides the hits we try to expose people to other pieces that they may not have heard before.<P>Please feel free to request during my shift (3-6PM EST) I love playing something that is not Ride of the Valkyries...diversity is the spice of life!<P>As for the "without the attitude" that is in reference to the stuffy attitude some classical stations have. And thank God we don't!<p>[ 08-05-2002: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]

[Brodie]

You know everything thus far has been right. But I do believe I hear a lot of diversity, especially if you hear it closely. But I do think a lot of the John Williams bits need to be less requested, its not that its bad, but I would think that even the DJ's would get tired of hearing requests for Star Wars, Schindler's list. I wish I could contribute some of my own collection to help with the radio station, so they could have more of Jerry Goldsmith, Anthony Burgess, Bob Marley, especially different Stanley Kubrick's movie scores, you know just to sort of give it a different taste.<P>As for "Classical without the attitude" I always thought it should be "Classical with Attitude" I think nothing would give this station more distinguishability, than a guy with big long spiked hair playing a violin in their logo. Wouldn't that be great? But hey I don't know how some people would react to that. <P>But I can't complain in the least, this station and all of its crew are great.<P><BR>-Brodie

[tancred]

Anthony Burgess is a composer? Wow! Go figure! :confused:

[Brodie]

Yes Anthony Burgess is a composer, and a fairly good one at that. He is really good with Operas, Symphonies and especially Jazz, although if I would have known about his books before his music I probably wouldn't have put the two together. Oh and another reason I would not have put the two together is because Anthony Burgess is not his real name, that's his Psyuedonym. His real name is John Wilson. Anthony being his middle name and Burgess being his mother's maiden name, he went with that, being the person he is.<P><BR>-Brodie<p>[ 08-05-2002: Message edited by: Brodie ]

[EJA]

I'm always glad when you do throw in something new, Nicole. By so doing you counteract the cyclic tendency of a request driven station. After all, you're the expert on Classical music. I think introducing lesser-heard pieces is an important part of that capacity.

[jt323bd]

I Love Classical Music, however I have only been interested in it for about a year now. I know all of the famous tunes from TV commercials and Merrie Mellodies (which I believe is the best way anyone has yet come up with to expose kids to good classical) which has narrowed my range to only the most popular. until a year ago I didn't associate any but the most famous names such as Beetoven and Mozart with classical music. So as much as I love to hear the most popular, I also am very interested in hearing some of the music which isn't as well known. I always will enjoy hearing a piece that is inspiring and amazing, however, I look forward to hearing more music that I recognize but never knew the title or composer. The Classical radio in Cincinnatti is great but they don't take requests so you rarely hear the music you recognize.<P>Thanks<BR>JT