Jon Johanning ([log in to unmask]) wrote: >Even commercial radio in the U.S. used to have more CM (e.g., Toscanini >and the RCA Orchestra/NY Phil.) when I was young, in the late 40s and early >50s; this was before the advent of today's public radio. I think that the >Met broadcasts are the only remnant of that era (don't ask me to explain >why they are hanging on). According to Horowitz's book in the 1930s there *was* a move by the US government to reserve part of the airwaves for "cultural" prgramming. The networks got into a panic and persuaded the government that they were quite capable of taking care of that area of the nation's life. That this was no more than lip service is, I think, more than adequately illustrated by NBC's behaviour after Toscanini retired: disband the NBC SO and forget about classical music on the air. Deryk Barker [log in to unmask]