The Day the Music Died

Redskins Owner Set to Buy Last Classical Station - washingtonpost.com

Washington Redkins owner Dan Snyder is primed to wipe out Classical music radio in Washington, D.C. so that he can increase the number of radio stations broadcasting his team's games. The Washington Post reports:

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has reached a preliminary agreement to buy classical music station WGMS-FM in a deal that would expand his budding sports-talk radio empire and likely be the swan song for the area's only classical outlet.

Snyder and the owner of WGMS, Bonneville International Corp., have established a price for the sale but had not formalized the deal as of yesterday, people close to the negotiations said. They said, however, that an agreement could be wrapped up within days.

I have a personal stake, since a member of my family works part time for the station. More importantly, however, it seems that Snyder is sacrificing what remains an important cultural and educational resource in order to glut the insatiable appetite of the city's football empire: it is like smashing a Stradivarius to make room for a plasma TV.