So much for long symphonies

Continuing with long symphonies not being broadcast on FM anymore.

KVOD in Denver broadcast Mahler Symphony #3 7 times in 2004, twice in 2003 and not at all by this time in 2006. Why? Probably because it's about 94 minutes long. It doesn't matter that it's a wonderful symphony that deserves a listening public, it's just too long.

KVOD is a publicly supported FM station that fund-raises a few times each year. It doesn't have advertisements, but has constant fillers of 10-20 second musical snippets and or station announcements. Yet, it still seems to feel that the audience isn't mature enough to listen to anything substantial or of any length. Three of top 4 most frequently broadcast pieces are by Ravel, "Allborada del gracioso" (#1), "Le Tombeau de Couperin" (#2) and "La Valse" (#4). Vaughn-Williams "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" is # 3. All fine pieces but not really substantial. It seems that classical music broadcasting continues a slide from quality to mediocrity.