Leaving aside the question of what Classic FM is or should be - did nobody else raise an eyebrow at the language with which Darren Henley chose to make his guns-blazing defence of his station?
Classic FM, he tells us, is for those "who do not consider themselves to be part of the classical elite". Its listeners "exist outside of classical music's inner coterie". They are not "inside the club".
Eh? Hands up all of you who consider yourselves to be members of "the classical elite". Come on, there must be some of you on this blog. And while you're at it - how exactly would you define that elite? What do you need to join "the club"? A music degree? The ability to play an instrument? Or simply an unattractively superior attitude? If, indeed, that "elite" truly exists at all. Perhaps it's just a useful inverse-snobbery term that makes those who use it seem like the friendly, no-nonsense underdogs.
There are certainly classical music snobs, and yes, you can find them playing their grating games of one-upmanship in the foyers of classical concert halls - just as you can find snobbishness at any artistic event where fans can compete with one another. And at some concerts, especially those involving new record-company signings or new music, there is a small, identifiable music-business in-crowd of managers, publishers and administrators, whose groupings and (mostly) ungroupings might make good spectator sport for anyone who cares. But this is a handful of people, hardly enough to make up the discouraging, territory-defending "elite" that Henley refers to.
Myself, I think that the kind of defensive "us and them" stance that Henley is propagating here does more than almost anything to put people off coming through the doors of concert halls for the first time. However Henley defines the aims of Classic FM, that can't be one of them.
