Vin Scully, the long-time announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, died the other day at 94. (Yes, I was a Dodger fan and frequently listened to him.) KUSC wasted something like 15 minutes of airtime with an essentially non-musical tribute to Scully. I was incensed and sent the following note to the station:
I do not expect any response. Just to mention his passing in a brief note would have been fine, but it was ridiculous to waste 15 minutes. (That is far more time than they gave to honor Jessye Norman or Andre Previn when they passed away.)I am highly incensed that you would waste a substantial amount of airtime commemorating the baseball announcer Vin Scully. Yes, I am a Dodger fan and frequently listened to him; I definitely mourn his passing. However, you are a classical music radio station and your focus must be on that art form. Recently, the Southern California-based composer (and former principal percussionist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) William Kraft passed away. You completely failed to acknowledge him or play any of his music, some of which had been recorded by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Also, the internationally-known composer Louis Andriessen, whose music had also been recorded by Los Angeles-based ensembles, passed away and you failed to acknowledge him or play any of his music. Yet you wasted 15 minutes of airtime to honor a baseball announcer whose life and career had no relevance whatsoever to classical music. You need to do much better.