Classical Music America
ClassicalMusicAmerica.com is an online classical music radio station operating out of Metro Detroit.
The website was launched in November, 2000 and was founded by Robert F. Ottaway, a local advertising agency owner. Ottaway founded the site in response to the re-purposing of WQRS-FM, Detroit's only classical music radio station, in 1997 (Caprara, 2002). WQRS-FM was transformed into an alternative rock station, WXDG-FM “The Edge”, and over the course of three years, many bumper stickers began to appear around Metro Detroit, emblazoned with the phrase “Detroit needs classical music”.
Ottaway initially launched the website as ClassicalMusicDetroit.com, and recruited three former WQRS-FM DJ's: Davis Gloff, Jack Goggin and Pat McElroy. ClassicalMusicDetroit.com followed the traditional broadcast model with live and local announcers who gave the local weather and read advertising.
When asked about why he thought an Internet-only station would work, Ottaway said he looked at Internet success of WGMS Washington, D.C., where it could be heard over the air and was also one of the highest ranked streamed stations.
On why the creation of this website was important and notable, Ottaway said “We're paying a service to the fine arts community that ceased to exist when WQRS-FM went off the air in 1997... There are no classical music stations in Detroit. If you live in Detroit, you're forced to listen to a Canadian government-owned station that doesn't even play classical music all the time."
Even with globalization, ClassicalMusicDetroit.com managed to pull in a large crowd of listeners, mostly from Detroit and ranked as high as No. 40 in the Arbitron webcast ratings. Eventually the site was renamed from ClassicalMusicDetroit.com to ClassicalMusicAmerica.com since a vast majority of listeners were found outside of Michigan.