Sunday Live is the latest program to be axed as part of the station’s significant ongoing reductions.

ABC Classic FM listeners are off to a disappointing start to the new year with the news that Sunday Live, the station’s weekly free public concert broadcast, has been axed from the broadcaster’s schedule in 2015. Classic FM is yet to officially announce the loss of the program, but sources within the station have confirmed that the live broadcast concert series has been cancelled.

According to a senior Live Music Producer at the station the decision not to recommission what was an indisputably popular program was “as a result of the cuts to the number of concert recordings undertaken by the network.” Sunday Live was one of Classic FM’s most significant platforms for promoting chamber and recital performances, with concerts broadcast live throughout Australia.

The ABC has so far made significant reductions to its current affairs, investigative reporting and radio output in the wake of federal funding cuts announced on November 24 last year. Classic FM has suffered a number of major programming changes and staff redundancies. The number of live recordings made by the ABC each year is to be reduced by 50%, with just 300 performances across the country due to be recorded and broadcast in 2015.

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