Another nice thing about Moscow, "Radio Kultura" and "TV Kultura" are all highbrow, all the time. Unlike the dastardly public broadcasting lowbrows in Washington, DC, who are dumping classical music, according to this story in the Washington Post:WETA Board Approves Switch To News-Talk Format (washingtonpost.com) (thanks to Artsjournal for the tip).
What can I say? I was active in the movement to bring the Metropolitan Opera to WETA, writing about it in The Idler. We succeeded, and so far, WETA is keeping those broadcasts--but unfortunatley, cutting everything else, in favor of programming for which there is no public need whatsoever, since DC is already overserved with news and talk radio, and has a number of other NPR stations.
My guess is that the reason is political, to put more liberal propaganda on the air to attack the Bush administration from NPR, instead of cultural programming which is an oasis from politics.
The news at least gives me a personal project. When I come back to the USA next month, I hope to start an American version of Russia's TV and Radio Kultura, so that Washington might become competetive with Moscow again in the culture department. A C-span for music and the arts...
