Cher to Donate Portion of Tickets Sales to Nevada Public Radio

It would be intersting to find out if Cher is actually actively fundraising or if KNPR bought the house and then priced the tickets to include a membership. Public TV does this with concerts featuring groups like the Moody Blues and artists like Yanni. At times the price of the ticket will include a meet and greet with the star. It would also be intersting to find out what the classical audience thinks about this benefit. It would seem Cher is somewhat outside the core values of the classical music audience. Still...it's a good idea and may generate some new memberships.
Cher at The Colosseum

Framing Health Care Debate As Battle Of Sexes

Here's another reminder that health care reform is about affordable health care. It is not about illegal aliens, or death panels, or the communist plot to fluoridate the water, or who can shout the loudest.This story from NPR covers the disparity in the cost of health insurance between men and women.Recently I've been asked to participate in a dialog about the rise in racism and how to make more people aware of how destructive and dangerous racism is in our society. Hand-in-hand with racism is discrimination.Are the dramatically higher premiums for women's healthcare insurance a case of discrimination? The term used by the insurance companies is called "gender indexing" according to Liz Halloran's story on NPR. Gender indexing is used by insurance companies to set premiums. Halloran explains, "Historically, it has disproportionately affected women who buy plans in the individual insurance market, and, to a lesser degree, those who participate in some group plans." Perhaps this is not direct discrimination, but it may be indirect discrimination according to a definition at Equality Diversity Services a company committed to providing training in the workplace and developing a change in organization culture in the UK. According to their definition, "This includes practices which might look fair but which have discriminatory side effects. It applies when an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice disadvantages members of a specified group relative to others." Charging 86% more for Women's health insurance would seem to put younger women at a disadvantage.

New Music Software Predicts The Hits

I found the Morning Edition feature about Music Intelligence Solutions to be both fascinating and scary. Pop music can often be formulaic. Adding another layer, a layer of surefire software induced formulas for success, could make the music unbearably dull.
Will the software sacrifice artistic expression for hook filled production values?
But then it’s easy for me to say. I’ve never had a hit.

NPR Still Hurting

Inland NewsToday reports that NPR is going to lose another 8.5 million dollars in the current fiscal year. Station program dues, the endowment, grants and underwriting are not enough to make ends meet. Read more at InLand News Today.

What's next? Drop more marginal programs? Cut staff further? Raise program dues? A national membership drive? On-line pledges at npr.org? Maybe all of that.

(Sources: Sacramento Bee and INT)

More but Selective Music for the New WQXR

Here's a first look at what the playlist will be like at WQXR. Based on my experience, WNYC is headed in the right direction . Everything that is put on the air matters, and the selection of what music to air when is as critical as what the announcers say in the breaks. Because classical music fans are passionate about the music and feel invested in the music, there's going to be a lot of heat around WNYC's (WQXR's) choices.
I'm wondering what they mean by a younger audience. A median age of 55 would be a lot younger than the median age of most classical music stations (65 to 70).
This articles was in the New York Times on September 30th.