KUSC LETTERS : Is Love a Threat to Classical-Music Lovers?

Rarely have I rooted for a plaintiff in a court case as I am now doing for Tom Deacon, former KUSC-FM programming vice president, in his action against station president Wally Smith (“KUSC-FM Caught in Legal Wrangle,” Nov. 21). Smith’s pandering to his wife’s demands for a microphone despite such limited competency has resulted in a great deprivation for serious music lovers in Los Angeles.

His disregard for the tastes of KUSC’s audience in favor of his hormones hardly lives up to the cultural mandate of a radio station L.A. once could be truly proud. Is there no one at USC who oversees Smith who knows and cares about how many listeners have opted to turn to KKGO-FM or other resources to satisfy their tastes in the classical repertoire as well as to avoid unending prattle?

As Dracula sucks vitality out of his victims, so Bonnie Grice and her subject Smith have done to classical music in L.A. One can only hope the sun of justice rises on them. Or, are they and incessant, inane chatter also immortal and inevitable? JAKE ANGELIN

Los Angeles