If San Diego Is Any Indication, Classical Radio Is Alive and Well

When KFAC-FM, Los Angeles’ venerable commercial classical music station, abandoned its classical format in favor of rock programming last September, classical music listeners everywhere became nervous. If this beacon of classical broadcasting, which had begun the format in 1931, could fall, who was next? Writing in this month’s Musical America magazine, K. Robert Schwarz charted the KFAC-FM switch as part of a national trend among broadcasters to seek bigger profits through other formats.

In San Diego, however, classical music broadcasting appears to be in good health. And nationwide, from a purely statistical viewpoint, the format has made some modest gains since 1981 in its average share of the total radio listening audience.

“Personally, I think the future is bright,” said Kingsley McLaren, program director of San Diego’s commercial classical station, KFSD-FM, which broadcasts classical music 24 hours a day. “We have a good market here, and the station ranks consistently in the top 10 among the classical music format stations around the nation.”

(According to Duncan’s American Radio Inc., a national rating service in Indianapolis, KFSD-FM recently ranked eighth among classical stations nationally in capturing its share of a local audience.)

McLaren came to San Diego in 1986 when the station at which he worked in Houston changed from classical music to rock.

“Since I left KLEF-FM in Houston, the format has changed twice,” McLaren said, “and the new owners still have not been able to attract the numbers that listened when we played classical music.”

KFSD-FM is owned by Lotus Communications as the sole classical format among the company’s 15 stations.

Lotus is a private corporation, one not threatened by leveraged buyouts, McLaren said.

When such a buyout occurs, the new ownership is usually saddled with a large debt, a factor that endangers classical music formats. When Los Angeles’ KFAC-FM was acquired for a record $55 million last January, its format change from classical to rock was inevitable.

“Classical music is a good format if the station has no debt,” said Dave Arnold of KPBS-FM, the San Diego National Public Radio station that broadcasts classical music about 11 hours a day weekdays and slightly less on weekends.

“Overall it turns a good profit, but not the really big bucks of a rock station,” Arnold said.

According to KPBS-FM program director Michael Pflaster, the local NPR affiliate has a long-term commitment to classical music, as well as a growing audience.

“First of all, as a public radio station, classical music is part of its tradition and its cultural mission. We try to embrace a variety of cultures--European and American traditions of classical music, as well as Afro-pop and folk music,” Pflaster said.

But classical music means more than a comfortable aesthetic philosophy to Pflaster, who has worked at KPBS-FM for six months since coming from a similar public station in Kent, Ohio.

“It’s our audience’s commitment and response that determines what we program. Over the last two fund drives, we’ve noted that the support from our classical music listeners has increased,” he said. During the non-commercial station’s fund drives, phone responses for each hour of programming are tabulated, and Pflaster observed that calls during classical music programs have recently undergone “a pronounced improvement.”

The city’s two classical music format stations do not see each other as competitors, however.

“I think there is a large crossover audience, and that’s healthy,” McLaren said. “When you consider that the formats of most rock stations are very focused--you know, kids who only have acne--we have over 400 years of classical music to choose from.”

“If the mere 30 years of rock ‘n’ roll can be factionalized among various commercial stations, with 400 years of classical music there’s really no need for duplication,” Pflaster said.

Arnold characterized typical commercial classical programming as “the big orchestral hits, the Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, 5-to-7 syndicated orchestra broadcasts, and no vocal or choral music except during evening hours,” a description that broadly fits KFSD-FM. He said the programming of KPBS-FM has a stronger early-music component and more frequently ranges into contemporary music, although not the more “brutal” avant-garde styles. And the public station has begun to integrate other formats, especially world music, into the programming formula.

From a national perspective, the supposed decline of classical music broadcasting is difficult to demonstrate, in spite of some highly publicized individual station changes. The actual number of commercial classical radio stations, about 45, has remained constant over the past 10 years, and the share of listeners is rising, according to industry statistician James Duncan.

“In 1981, commercial classical stations had an average share of 1.3% of the audience, a figure which increased to 1.48% in 1989,” he said. “While we do not compile statistics for public stations, I would estimate that about 1.5% of the audience listens to their classical broadcasting.” (By contrast, commercial stations with a country-Western format claim 10.8% of the listening audience, and the news-talk show format commands 10%.)

Although public stations do not compile the same type of statistics, the amount of classical music they broadcast has increased.

“In 1982, classical music accounted for 36.9% of public radio’s total broadcasting hours,” said Salvina Cappello of the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. “In 1988, the percentage of classical broadcasting hours increased to 38.1%.”

Cappello added that, of the country’s nearly 300 public radio stations, 86% included classical music in their programming.

“In spite of the demise of a few big stations, classical music stations are not on the decline,” McLaren said. “Two new classical format stations took the place of KLEF-FM in Houston when it changed to rock, and new classical stations are popping up even in unlikely places like Alaska.”