I wrote this entry 30,000 ft in the air, as I travelled to Toronto (I would have even filed it online if I was flying Lufthansa, who now boast airborne internet access). Though I may have felt deprives of the web for the eight hours I was suspended in the sky, I wasn’t far from Broadway, at least: since I was travelling on Continental, who are the officially branded airline of Broadway, the put their audio channels where their mouths (and corporate sponsorship) is and offer a dedicated inflight “Live Broadway” channel.
It’s taken British radio stations long enough to cotton on the popularity of this genre, where Elaine Paige’s Radio 2 Sunday afternoon show on Radio 2, and Edward Seckerson’s Stage and Screen series on Radio 3, are the only regular games in town to treat the form seriously. Yet here’s an airline that dares to pay it similar respect; and the value is more than merely symbolic — that this is a genre as serious and substantial as the myriad pop, jazz and classical channels on offer — but also has a direct marketing value, too: the tracks are often tied to current Broadway attractions, and someone who either stumbles upon this channel, or makes a point of listening to it, could well decide on seeing a show after hearing it here.
Isn’t it time that British Airways was similarly persuaded that a West End audio channel might be a good thing?
