Jon Gallant:

>Once upon a time, public radio provided a modest alternative to the regime
>of Commercialist Realism, as it does in Europe.  Alas, in the 90's, many
>NPR stations stopped broadcasting of music of any kind, except for the
>little bluegrass number at the start of "Car Talk".  Does anyone know why
>NPR abandoned us to the regime of muzak?

It seems to depend on the policy of the local stations.  In New Orleans,
the situation isn't wonderful, but it seems to be better than in some
places and not as good as in others.  We have not yet gone to all-talk,
but we've made moves in that direction.  The music is mainly the top 40
classical, but not yet Beautiful Music.  Nevertheless, I remember some
marvelous music shows originating from NPR and distributed nationally:
a complete Oh, Kay!, the choral series Alleluia, little-known opera from
out of the way places, a great chamber series from the Library of Congress,
and so on.

As for Performance Today, the only way I know about it is from mention on
this list.

Steve Schwartz