Honestly, I don’t get it.
I’ll preface this post with the caveat that I incurred a serious back injury several weeks ago, so I’ve had plenty of time to listen to the radio.
Earlier this week, I discovered how to stream WQXR on my phone. What a find!
While living in New York, WQXR was my station for 18 years. I loved it.
After moving away from the city, there was no access to WQXR other than via computer. So I switched to the local station.
The difference in brain activity as indicated by a scan would no doubt be astounding.
Why do folks even bother to turn on their radios in order to be lulled into a coma? Wouldn’t white noise do just as well?
These are some of my experiences with the local station:
- Constant campaigns for money, including announcements of upcoming campaign dates before their arrival, a week in advance;
- Airing less-than-the-best recordings, while the definitive recording of certain works sits on the shelf at the station;
- Negative responses to any requests, criticizing the effort;
- Mispronunciation of composers’, conductors’ and soloists’ names and compositional titles;
- A lack of curiosity about what’s out there, repeatedly playing The New World Symphony and Beethoven’s Fifth instead, as if Dvorak and Beethoven wrote no other music;
- A self-satisfied, self-congratulatory attitude on the part of the hosts and the station (i.e. We’re the best)… have you looked around lately?
So I’ve had it! Last night, thinking I’d like to listen to jazz, I tuned in to the local station. A fund-raiser was in full swing, again. Where was the music? I changed to WQXR and was delighted to hear two wonderful, eclectic programs.
Last night, two prog;ram hosts on WQXR talked about how they love looking for music they’ve never heard. I’d like to say that they don’t stop there. When they find a composition that is new to them, they don’t simply play the first recording they come across. They find the best there is. It’s refreshing!
No more comas for me!