Recently, I looked at several daily playlists from a Classical station. I was pleased that late in the hour, four or five times a day, spaces were left on the playlist for "music selected by the announcer."
When you have knowledgeable personnel in place, that's the way radio stations should operate. Listeners should trust that music lovers who respect the station's format will choose appropriate pieces--hopefully imaginative, tuneful ones that are generally underplayed. They should also trust that the announcers won't choose discordant pieces just to be contrarian. Also, they should trust that the audience is interested in hearing what compelling pieces the announcers choose; after all, they know their music--and their audience.
Long live freedom of decision.
