The public recently learned that Salisbury University has not planned for the future of Delmarva Public Radio, and that the Salisbury University Foundation has commissioned a consultant's report in the face of plans to raze Caruthers Hall, which houses DPR.
The consultant's report leaves me with more questions than answers. It contends there is only one viable option - turn both stations over to syndicated music producers. WSDL will broadcast prepackaged "alternative adult albums," and WSCL will offer similarly canned classical music selections from "Classical 24."
As the former program director of DPR with 24 years experience, I have reviewed several months of music playlists on "Classical 24", which are available on their website, http://classical24.publicradio.org. These playlists reveal "Classical 24" as "Classical Music Lite.".Each hour of music has mostly short pieces, and gone are the large works of the master composers. In rare instances when those works are represented, it is by excerpting a single movement from works with three or four movements. Master composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, etc. are rarely in evidence.
The foundation needs to examine carefully the full ramifications of these drastic "solutions" so as not to leave the DPR audience without locally programmed classical music tailored to the desires of Delmarva's audience, nor a local presence in news and information. Their plan will leave arts and cultural organizations without a valuable partner in the enrichment of the cultural life of Delmarva.
Pamela Andrews
Salisbury, Md.
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