In June we reported on
Classical music station KHFM, Albuquerque’s pending change from commercial
broadcasting to noncommercial status [link]. KHFM has now completed the
transition and fans are celebrating.
KHFM was owned by commercial broadcaster American General Media. The company recently purchased four additional commercial stations in the
Albuquerque area. The new stations put American General’s cluster one station
over the FCC’s limit, so the owners decided to donate KHFM to a nonprofit
organization but still keep it in the family, so to speak.
American General is donating
KHFM [link] to the American General Media Foundation (AGMF), a nonprofit doing
business as KHFM Community Partners. Rogers Brandon, the CEO of American
General also controls AGMF. This cozy relationship, but Brandon'st love of classical
music made it happen.
Brandon told the Albuquerque Journal:
Rogers Brandon |
“We love KHFM. It is a valuable part of our
investments in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. We felt the community was going to be
much better served with KHFM as a non-commercial station and not as one
competing in the commercial radio market. As a non-commercial, KHFM becomes a
collaborative part of the arts community. It can provide more support for
the arts, which is the mission of Community Partners.”
Of course, American
General is not the first company to realize that Classical music on the radio
does better in a noncom environment. Commercial stations need younger listeners
in order to sell time. As a
noncommercial station, listeners support the station directly with memberships,
underwriting announcement and attendance at station events. So, at noncoms, the
age of listeners is less important than their willingness to support the
station.
KHFM is licensed to Santa Fe, NM |
KHFM is yet another
commercial Classical station to switch to noncommercial services. Other
stations that have made this move include WQXR, New York; KDFC, San Francisco;
WCRB, Boston; KING, Seattle and WCLV, Cleveland.
There are now (to the best
of my knowledge) three commercial Classical stations remaining: WFMT, Chicago;
WRR, Dallas and WFCC, Cape Cod. WFMT and WRR are both operated by noncommercial
licensees, so WFCC may be the last, ad-supported Classical station in the
nation.
There are now at least
seven major markets without a Classical music radio station: Miami, San Diego,
Houston, Atlanta, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Hartford.
Four major markets have
part-time Classical stations: Philadelphia (WRTI), Detroit (WRCJ), Kansas City
(KANU) and Indianapolis (WICR).
AT LAST, SMARTPHONES MAY HAVE TO ACTIVATE FM TUNING “CHIPS”
Senator Bill Nelson |
Senator Bill Nelson
(D-Florida) told a Fort Myers TV station last week that he wants the government
to require that smartphone manufacturers to activate the FM chips in their
devices. The inability to tune-in FM signals has been an irritant to
broadcasters since Apple started marketing smartphones a decade ago.
Nelson is pushing for the
move now for public safety reasons. Once again, radio stations played a vital
role during a natural disaster when Hurricane Irma battered Florida. One
constituent told Nelson:
“When power was knocked out, along with cellular
and internet service, our mobile devices were useless. I know a lot of people
who were running around trying to find a battery-powered radio at the last
minute.”
Currently there is no
legal avenue to force manufacturers to activate the chips, so Nelson wants the
FCC to act.
There is a tiny chip
buried inside of many smartphones that can access radio signals. Nelson said Samsung,
AT&T, and T-mobile favor the requirement. Apple is against the proposal.
I applaud Senator Nelson's efforts. Until a few weeks ago, I was ambivalent about the necessity of FM radio in smart phones. Being in Fort Myers, directly where Irma hit, it became clear it's something that's not only needed, but in demand from consumers. The power went out for most people, as did the cell networks for a few days after the storm. Radio was the lifeline for folks who lived here, whether they listened to my station (WGCU) or to the commercial stations on the air simulcasting the TV networks.
ReplyDeleteI loaned out a few of my battery powered radios to my friends and neighbors because, these days, it's tough to find a battery powered radio! But most everyone has a cell phone, and it's enabled in my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It works, and it should be something consumers should have.
I forget the call letters, but in the San Diego market isn't there a non-commercial classical station on the Mexican side of the border?
ReplyDelete