...or at least, this is how it starts:
CBC to announce Radio 2 remake in pursuit of younger audience (found via the well tempered blog)
The excuse to drastically reduce Classical Music to the office-and-housework background music slot (10am - 3pm) is the usual one: the kids don't like it, and the station needs to attract listeners. However, the wrinkle in this argument is The State Broadcaster's Obligation, which is.....what, exactly?
The ideal behind all government funding of the arts (which is essentially what CBC 2 or BBC 3 or RTBF Musique 3) is that it's a good thing for the government to provide arts to the people. Obviously there is a direct legacy in Europe from the private orchestras of princes and archbishops to the modern concept of state-funded orchestras and opera companies. But there is still the idea that the art of music (Classical, in this case) has cultural value, and there is a benefit to society in promoting it.
With this ideal as the basis for Radio 2's brodcasting of Classical Music, what happens when the culture no longer appreciates the value? Either the State continues to spend taxpayer money on something most taxpayers don't use or want (which never stopped any government before), or they shift that funding to something which will get the listeners' attention.
The main argument that we always hear whenever government funding is taken away from Classical Music is the one voiced by Ian Morrison, spokesman for the watchdog group "Friends of Canadian Broadcasting":
The Radio Two makeover is also a departure from CBC's mandate as defined by the Canadian Broadcasting Act, said Mr. Morrison.
"The
Canadian public broadcaster has a responsibility to transmit world
classical culture to new generations of Canadians," he said. "They are
substantially moving away from that responsibility. They falsely assume
that world classical culture is not something that can be marketed to
appeal to younger audiences."
The CBC Mandate doesn't say anything about which artforms the broadcaster is required to promote or support. There is, however, plenty of language here and elsewhere in the Program Policies about the organziation's obligation to promote Canadian culture, and to help maintain it. While that's certainly a pretty broad canvas, it's hard to prove that Classical Music in general is expressly protected. Now, there is probably a solid argument for government support of Classical Music organizations which have been around long enough to become cultural institutions, such as the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, or the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. However, the CBC was most certainly in violation of that policy when they decided to disband the CBC Radio Orchestra.
A main part of that orchestra's mission - and rightly so - was the promotion of music by Canadian composers. It's no surprise that once the beancounters at the CBC took the position that this part of Canadian culture was no longer of value, they would next devalue the artform itself.
But is the CBC's obligation to a specific artform, or to the public which pays for it? Obviously, Classical Music fans are going to hold the position that the high arts are beneficial to society, much more so than pop music. Sadly, the programmers seem to have redefined their mandate from providing the public with (musical) culture to just enlarging their audience share. In other words, the goal is now ratings, not to promote culture. Once we switch to "giving the audience what they want", then Mr. Morrison's claim that the CBC's responsibility is to market Classical music to the younger audience they seek is irrelevant.
The problem is that Mr. Morrison's interpretation is based on public tastes from 1932. Back then, Classical Music was mainstream, and there was nothing like the competition for everyone's ears like there is today. It was an Important Cultural Artform, and was very much connected to the mostly European origins of Canadians of the time. It still is, of course, but the younger generations just don't learn about it. Worse, the artform itself has become devalued in certain academic circles by post-modern relativist influences due to those very European origins. Then there is the "elitist" charge that Classical Music comes from the world of princes and archdukes, and is therefore no longer as relevant in today's more democratic society.
But it's really all about the ratings. We're hearing the same noises from the British public about the BBC, which is behaving more like a commercial institution than one interested in providing public service. The bosses at both believe that they can only justify their existence by the size of their audience. Quality programming equals quantity of eyeballs and/or ears to them, so "culture" becomes relevant. Or, even irrelevant. Of course, catering to the lowest common denonimator also renders the original ideals behind the CBC Mandate irrelevant.
Classical Music radio audiences are dwindling, and the CBC chose to go elsewhere for those ears, rather than to try to bring them back. This phenomenon is everywhere these days. I know, I know, it's more due to lousy programming and poor marketing and all those other reasons. But culturally, the CBC bosses have made a decision. The artform I call Classical Music is not as important to them as pop culture because it cannot match those audience numbers.
The only way to beat this is to prove that there is in fact a substantial audience for Classical Music. That can only be done online, through internet radio, blogging, and webcasting. Once the numbers are there, the CBC and the rest of them come crying back home in pursuit of ratings. But by then it will be too late, because they will have probably already rendered themselves irrelevant.