On The Media

Reminds me of my plan a couple decades ago while in HS to get into local community radio. On air swaps, live local news, parade coverage, local advertisers, they were crucial to binding our once-close community. And the on air talents, talk about characters! It's where the local characters went to work. In the case of this station, ClearChannel bought its air rights in case it wanted to expand its broadcasting power.

Before the Rocky closed, Denver was one of the few markets left in the country that supported two major daily papers. One benefit of this was that for many years, both papers employed movie, music, theatre and arts reporters and critics. Denver has a very robust arts community, thanks in part to the lively competition between the two dailies. As the Rocky started to crumble, one of the first cost-saving cuts made by the Rocky was to eliminate a local movie critic, relying instead on wire service reviews. Now that the Rocky has closed, Denver relies on the Denver Post's one theater critic, one movie reviewer and one "cirtic at large" who must cover visual arts, dance and classical music. Now that TV and radio stations almost never offer any kind of arts coverage, the Post has a mighty burden to carry as the paper of record. The arts community is sure to suffer as it is unlikely that one reporter can adequately cover all the classical music, ballet, contemporary dance, opera, galleries and museum that our city has to offer.

Has OTM covered the current shrinking state of arts journalism in the U.S.?