One area related to classical music that putatively uses focus groups is the gaggle of mostly commercial, but also some non-commercial "classical" radio stations. I hadn't even conceived of such a thing a decade or so ago, but if someone had suggested it, I would have said "forget it; I'll draw up a list of "classical" pieces for you that would be acceptable to mostly middle-aged and older potential listeners, and the list would not vary much from what is heard on such outlets. The classical music recording industry, at least as far as publicly-traded conglomrerates are concerned, has tunnel-vision in this regard...churning out "Best of.." collections, and re-compilations, or standard repertoire by Lang Langs of this world (not necessarily a dig; I was impressed by his impromptu encore at the Mostly Mozart concert on PBS). It's my impression that such stations do a focus group ONCE, get the approvals they expected beforehand, and then transfer the "appropriate" music to a computer hard-drive, never to be allowed to change except for some additional obscure and forgotten 18th Century pieces by obscure and forgotten 18th Century composers (who is this Pla person anyway?). Has anyone out there been involved in focus group activity by the likes of WQXR, WNYC, KDFC, WGMS, WCRB et al? I know I haven't and I've never seen an ad in the program booklet at any concert asking for participants. Laurence Glavin