Classical fades from the dial

"Part of the crisis of classical music is the crisis of unrealistic expectations," says Mr. Bartunek, whose station attracts 900,000 listeners daily and close to 100,000 who listen online. "In its whole history, [classical] has never been a broadly popular kind of music, and it still isn't. It probably never will be."

But Bartunek and other station managers like Mazza say they strongly believe that there is a demand for classical music – they just need to find more creative ways of keeping current listeners and attracting new ones.

For instance, WQXR relaunched its website (www.wqxr.com) this year. It features concert tips, playlists for every day of the month, and advice on how to build a classical music library. And if there isn't a classical-music station in your city, you can also listen to WQXR and most other classical stations online, from anywhere in the United States.

More and more listeners are turning to the Internet, but they're also discovering recently introduced satellite radio.

XM Satellite Radio offers listeners 70 music channels and 30 news channels, including four classical-music channels, for about $10 a month (after buying the special receiver).

"It's sort of like cable TV, only for radio," says Mr. Goldsmith. "Satellite radio seems to be catching on faster than any other new technological-entertainment innovation of the last 20 years – faster than the CD, the VCR, and the DVD." It's an option now being offered in 2003 automobiles, like the Cadillac Escalade, or it can be custom-installed in any vehicle.

Goldsmith, former host of a daily classical-music show, "Performance Today," on National Public Radio, says he hears from people across the country who are enjoying satellite radio, including a truck driver based in St. Paul, Minn., who describes himself as "not your typical classical listener."

"What a great joy it is to have classical music throughout my long hauls between the Twin Cities, Texas, and New York," he writes.

Mazza, meanwhile, says he believes that most broadcasters don't understand the classical format, and so they don't know how to be successful with it, he says. "The key is strong sales people. "That's even more important with a format that's not as mainstream as a pop format...."

Classical radio, Mazza says, is facing an uphill battle because advertisers are most attracted to the coveted 25- to 54-year-old audience. Classical does well with the over-55 crowd.

If there's one other genre that classical radio can be compared with, it's country music. "Country has done a great job over the last decade into changing that position," Mazza says. "They've got some fresh new talent, and the music is essentially the same, but it's been updated."

"Classical has not been able to change that perception, unfortunately. Consequently, people believe it is one thing, when it is really something else – and something decidedly better than what they think it is."

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