The day the classical music died

Today, the Washington Post reported that Washington DC’s last remaining classical music station, WGMS, has been purchased by the owner of the Washington Redskins. There are two local NPR affiliates here, but the one that played classical music gave up that format in 2005. Today, the stations’ schedules simply ape each other — wielding dueling airings of “All Things Considered.”

It’s a shame that a large, culturally-rich metropolitan area won’t have at least one classical music outlet. WGMS was profitable. But a sports format, as Alex Ross explains, would be even more attractive to advertisers and give Redskins owner Dan Synder another outlet for airing his games.
I predict that within a few years there will be virtually no music left on free terrestrial radio. FM will be come the exclusive domain of news, sports, talk, Spanish language and religious broadcasts. Paid satellite radio will be the only outlet for broadcast music.

My son, 4, listens to WGMS’ classical music when he’s setting down for bed. The other day, he even asked for it by its call letters. Soon we’ll have to explain that the Redskins killed his station.