[Wilhelm Tell]

It is sad that NPR is abandoning classical music. In a lot of areas a classical music format is not commercially viable while there might be several stations with a rap, pop, rock, etc. format all playing the same old thing. That and shock-jocks with the same stupid jokes. It is a shame that most of the music one hears on the radio is determined by the tastes of teenagers.

Someone once said to me that classical music is "dead" music. Actually, a symphony or whatever comes alive each time it is performed. You can hear 10 different recordings of a work and each recording will be different, open to different interpretations. Each performance is an event unto istelf and you might get something new out of even a familiar work. In most popular music (sometimes with the exception of jazz) each work is usually tied to a specific performance that was recorded. A certain work will always be known by that one performance and that is it. If an anthropologist listens to it 500 years from now, it will sound exactly like it sounds today.

It irks me that shows like "American Idol" just have people who impersonate "stars." It might be interesting if the performers created something new and uniquely their own (even if it wasn't very good). Instead, it is all about people trying to sound and look just like some established celebrity. It is about as exciting as going to McDonald's where there is a fairly limited menu and the bland whatever from one restaurant will taste just like the bland whatever from another restaurant.

[southernnorthcarolina]

It is sad that NPR is abandoning classical music. In a lot of areas a classical music format is not commercially viable while there might be several stations with a rap, pop, rock, etc. format all playing the same old thing.

I agree that it's sad that NPR is abandoning classical music; however, I find it sadder still that there is an NPR. A banana republic might "need" state radio; surely the United States does not. Free enterprise is picking up the slack, and if the plug were pulled on taxpayer-funded radio, I am confident that the private sector would step up even more.

Satellite radio is one example of private initiative stepping up to the plate. Sirius, which I subscribe to, has 60+ advertising-free streams, three of which are pure classical, and several others of which have some classical content from time to time. Here's what is currently playing on Sirius's three classical streams:

Stream 80 (Symphony Hall): Georges Onslow's Symphony No. 2 in D Minor, Opus 42, performed by the Hannover Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Stream 85 (Classical Voices): George Frideric Handel's Esther: Scene 5, performed by Harry Christophers and others

Stream 86 (Pops): Edvard Grieg's Holburg Suite (Prelude), performed by Bournemouth Sinfonietta

Now, I'm not about to claim any expertise in classical music. I doubt I listen to the Symphony Hall stream more than an hour a two a week; the Pops stream less; and the Classical Voices stream not at all. But somehow, it's nice to know it's there. And nicer still, in my opinion, that it can be picked up nationwide, and at no cost to taxpayers.

I say let NPR die a merciful death. If it was ever necessary, I can't see that it still is.