Radio, Radio
John Mayer's letter bemoaning a "lack" of classical music programming at WUOT ("Talk, Talk, Talk" Vol. 9, No. 14) could have been an effective missive. It could have made a case for the relevance of a classical-heavy format in today's diverse world of musical enjoyment.
Instead, Mayer takes the attitude that so damns the classical format in so many people's eyes (and ears, of course). He refers to classical as the only "real music," and insults a previous letter writer for wanting more regional music than that of long dead Europeans.
To me, this puts Mayer's argument in the same camp with musically naive and uneducated punk rockers who refuse to listen to music that isn't made for and by angry simpletons. It's elitist, narrow-minded and offensive to musicians who do make contemporary music which comes "from the heart and mind, not from the pop formulas of the day."
For an appreciation of this region's music, WUOT's collaboration with Jubilee Community Arts is one of its most valuable ongoing projects. Improvisations offers the only regular jazz programming in the area (unless you count the new "Smooth Jazz" format of WXVO, I suppose).
And how many of us still sorely miss Lee Gardner's old show Unradio? There was a quality music show that didn't involve a majority of dead white men.
Who's to say that some classical music wasn't the formulaic pop tripe of its day, anyway?
Mayer goes on to pan the talk aspects of WUOT's NPR coverage. Surely Knoxville area radio has a lot of talk going on. But in a talk market dominated by sports chatting and ass-kissing politics, Fresh Air is indeed fresh air to many radio listeners.
In debating WUOT's talk portions versus classical programming, I am one of many listeners who change the station when I tune in to yet another airing of the same old favorite pieces of whoever picks the music. Many is the time I have tuned in the station and have not been able to tell if I've even found it yet, because the music is between movements and the result is dead air.
NPR's inclusion on WUOT, however, is greatly appreciated by many listeners as an alternative news source to the "All Vol" TV and radio that chokes the airwaves here. I wish there was MORE NPR on WUOT. Fresh Air's interviews can be dull, but they can also be stunning. Morning Edition and All Things Considered continue to inform as the best real news coverage should.
And of course, anyone who can't appreciate Car Talk is dead in the soul.
Randall Brown
Knoxville
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