Here in RI, we used to enjoy the old programming schedule – the mixture of talk and radio.

But now, forget it. From my point of view, I used to tolerate the often one-sided NPR news and editorials. Without the music, GBH isn’t GBH.

What will happen when the big-time underwriters learn of the diminishing listener audience?

rb

” … What does this [the WCRB acquisition] mean to WGBH’s classical music listeners and supporters?

> You can count on the same thoughtful, engaging presentation of the best in classical music by our knowledgeable hosts.

> The additional hours will allow us to expand the scope of our service, maximizing WGBH’s alliances with the area’s premier performing organizations.

> New opportunities to optimize the use of our state-of-the-art Fraser Performance Studio here in Brighton.”

Items 2 and 3 sound almost too good to be true. Would John Voci be willing to sign a blood oath, in public, as to the particulars?

Item 1, on the other hand, makes the blood run cold. Or mine at least. I cannot forgive WGBH for its willingness to let yammering “personalities” interpose themselves between music and listener. Did we — do we? — really need the blood-curdling note of bogus enthusiasm that Ron Della visits on BSO broadcasts? And would it have been too much for Richard Knisely to prepare himself for interviews or, when the last note of a live performance has barely died away, to keep himself from exclaiming “Sheer mysticism!” or some such. The explanation is clear: these people cannot hear themselves.

In documenting Boston’s abundant concert life over the years, WGBH has been a musical good citizen of the highest order. It has helped give the musical community a sense of itself.

Which makes the shortcomings I’ve mentioned all the more regrettable. They would not be tolerated in European radio. Anyone who has discovered the world of Internet streaming broadcasts can attest to this.

Two cheers, then, for what WGBH says it will be doing. The rest needs work.

rb

PS I will now toot my own horn. The programming ideals Joel Cohen gives voice to above have indeed been realized — elsewhere. I know of no better guide to same than http://theairthisweek.blogspot.com. Its compiler, who covered classical music for the Globe for three decades, may be assumed to know what he is doing.

The results after the switching WGBH/WCRB for December 2009. WBZ AM 5.6 – (for reference)
WGBH: 0.9 -
WBUR: 4.5 +
WCRB: 2.9 +

When I was broadcasting on Cape Cod WFCC full time classical(1989-1995)my weekend ratings for the Cape Cod Market were between 5 and 8.1. Why? I did not program classical music to myself, had a full knowledge of discography both historical up to current recordings, refused to be snooty(WGBH AM was “If it ain’t French it’s piano!), did not take minutes to beging speaking(Lurtsema), did not suffer from “one-lung” delivery,(WGBH 12 to 4 PM) put chamber music programming secondary, orchestral music primary. Finally, “One does not air music played by the Iceland Symphony when you can choose the same played by Munch and the BSO, for example…
It is simple to build and keep an audience when you know what to do ansd what to say and how to say it. Where I or any of my WFCC associates at WGBH instead of WFCC today, ratings would be much higher and WGBH would be full-time classical music with rating oh so much higher than 0.9%!

With deep regret and sadness we are discontinuing our WGBH membership, which had been a joy to us since the early 90s.

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Wasting 100,000 watts….
=========================

89.7 was the only FM station on the east coast with 100,000 watts of output power. It was given a special dispensation from the FCC to have doubled the power of any other station on the east coast.
I believe it was due to the fast that it was in the under-populate range of the “educational” range of the then new FM spectrum. I believe it is also a clear channel, meaning no other stations are allocated the 89.7 frequency for hundreds of miles therefore no signal contention in fringe area. (I think the first to the west is Hobart college station in Geneva, NY).

I appreciated GBH’ attention to audio quality and for years they would under-modulate their signal to provide headroom for dynamic range instead of compressing or limiting. Yes, this made them more susceptible to noise but it was worth it. My ears could not, and still cannot, tolerate listening to CRB (I’m too far away to receive HRB and can’t comment on its fidelity (to both sound and artistic integrity)).

Broadcasting talk programs that are carried by every other NRP station in the northeast is being a negligent steward of the precious resources of clear channel and extraordinary output power given to WGBH/89.7. I think the coverage map above is very conservative.

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Musical education is lost
=========================

I am not musically trained as most of you who are reading my comments. A lot of my musical awareness came through insightful analysis offered on GBH through the years. This was not simply canned liner notes or reading somebody’s class notes read by an announcer. The people behind the mic were practitioners who communicated interest, excitement, passion and infused that into me.

Musical education has been overrun by musical entertainment; I suppose that’s what sells .

I sensed the end of GBH as an expository present with the passing of Robert J. I do not know the inner politics (but I’m sure it’s butt ugly) but the first thing that changed was providing detailed information about the recording, performance, the environment, and most importantly to me, the recording identifier (This is minimalist audiophile recording on the Dorian label DOR-90117).
I scream and yell, even to this day, when a piece ends and the announcer does not tell me the recording information!!!

I am appalled to read the comments above about the degradation to canned programming from quality original material. Please note, there are many good programs that originate from MPR/APM. I was always sad that GBH never carried “Pipe Dreams” and I was too far away to get it from MPR.

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Put the talk on 99.5
====================

I appreciate the desire to provide “classical” music 24 hours a day and not divide it up with Jazz, Ethic, and Folk (rest in peace). Dedicating one of the frequencies for that purpose seems like a reasonable idea. Wasting the high quality, high power, clear channel frequency for talk, and the same talk hear on many other stations in the area, is a foolish and terrible waste of precious resources. Others above have already made great comments on the loss of “classical” music coverage and audience regarding 99.5.

Voice and monophonic material will be well served on 99.5 frequency (and compression) and will overcome many of the signal problems very well. Shift all the talk to 99.5 and put all the music back on 89.7. Gee, what a waste – broadcasting talk material over 100,000 watts of clear channel that I can also get on a local college NPR station a few towns over.

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Stop trying to crush BUR
========================

Hey, GBH, success does not have to limited to you. Grow up and get over your idiotic competition with BUR. Long ago, when NPR first came into the picture you claimed to be Boston’s NPR station.
Then BUR grew in stature and began producing original material and then called themselves “Boston’s NPR new station”. Okay, they needed a way to differentiate themselves from you. That seemed to ruffle your feathers and you retaliated by calling yourselves “Boston’s arts and culture station” (as in “we’re not that low life ‘news’ dribble”). Okay, you differentiated yourself from BUR in a good way. Now you have devolved and now call yourself “Boston’s NPR station”. Hello???

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Conclusion
==========

GBH, be great again based upon what once made you great. Yes, you need to evolve but please do so with intelligence, quality for material/music and fidelity. Music intelligence is important to our lives and you are a great vehicle for communicating that awareness to the diverse public. Most musicians have all this stuff in their heads, in their private collections, or live it every day. While “they” appreciate your former glories, “they” can probably do without you. Those of “us” less musically fortunate or less directly involved need your musical offerings and enlightenment.

One enjoys one’s local people, who can present with a fair degree of consistency, unlike the round of voices we’re now given. As for musical taste, frankly it’s minimal, with a movement here, an extraction there, a Beethoven work then a Strauss waltz, often in pedestrian performances. Exactly to whom does this mishmash appeal? Certainly not to the Boston listener who’s been raised on the old GBH and the ever-current WHRB! Where does one go for the Metropolitan Opera on Saturdays? We all know the answer.

I can’t for the life of me comprehend why anyone should want to contribute money to this GBH folly. And by all indications, they don’t.

Well, good.

Time remains for GBH to get its act together and become once again a contributor itself to Boston’s musical life. The best way to begin? Reinstitute the Friday BSO broadcasts, afternoons and evenings alike. That would be a great start. Then reinstitute local programming of recordings. Such moves would truly support the community, which GBH often announces as its intention.

One more thing. For decades now my friends, family and I have ushered in the New Year with the broadcast of the Boston Pops live over one of these same stations. This year (or should I say “last”?) there was nothing. Nada. Nor on TV. We were extremely disappointed. Channel 2 featured a second-rate rock band from Times Square when we tuned in, then out. O tempore!

At least it got us to sing together ourselves. I suppose things could be worse.

Clark Johnsen

PS While I’m at it: WCRB in its recent commercial phase (after Ted Jones) became highly irritating for what some called the “CRB chuckle” — a little hahaha that always sounded forced; one assumes the announcers all hated it but were made to do this, but rarely did they put it across. And who could blame them? That has now been replaced by the “PBS chirp”, a falsely merry style practiced by most of the female staff and a few of the men as well. Please, please give it up. You should be embarrassed.

But, do you Boston Classical music lovers realize that what WGBH is giving you in fully seven of the ten on-air slots, the ones in yellow on the weekly schedule is actually canned music from Minnesota Public Radio? Go to http://classical24.publicradio.org/, check the names of the hosts, then go back to the yellow sections of the weekly schedule. Also, at Classical 24, you can see who and what is playing right now, and often it will be a different host than you have on WGBH, i.e., not only rented, but canned, what one noted Classical music critic called “musical wallpaper” designed not to intrude. Really, Boston, you deserve better.

I’m coping with classical radio disappointment by listening to http://sites.radiofrance.fr/francevivace/prog/. Music lovers who like to plan their listening, as I do, will appreciate the 24-hour detailed listings with specific playing times. The listings are given for two weeks in advance! Many 3-hour segments are devoted to a single composer, performer, conductor, orchestra, ensemble, form or subject – all both well- and lesser-known – and definitely not the top 40 or top hundred or top thousand.

Let’s hope that the WGBH administration can be persuaded that to restore what’s been lost is in the best interest of public radio’s mission. Until then, I’m listening to France vivace and NOT supporting WGBH.

Staff music critic Jeremy Eichler has nailed it again (“A new WCRB, and a shrinking classical dial”); the man’s a most worthy successor to Michael Steinberg and Richard Dyer. Original investigative reporting and a nuanced view of the local radio scene have produced an article both informative and prescriptive. For instance, it was news to me that the BSO charges nothing for broadcast rights, making WGBH/WCRB’s decision to drop the regular Friday live transmissions all the more perplexing. WGBH manager John Voci declared that these are “duplicative performances”, a baldly straight-faced statement given that his station has for years been broadcasting NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered simultaneously with WBUR. That’s real duplication, whereas two different live performances even of the same music by the same band are often interestingly dissimilar.

Ironically, Alex Beam’s column in the same g advances similar arguments, and we learn too that WGBH is staffing up to compete with WBUR on the talk front. Beam drolly notes, “’BUR staffers have an almost mystical faith in WGBH’s management ineptitude, and in the past they have not been disappointed.” That maladroitness seems also to extend to WCRB, where now one can hear not just a movement ripped from the same old Brahms symphony, but from a Mahler as well. Perhaps that’s an improvement, but if management really cares to contribute significantly to Boston musical life they will restore the broadcasts of the Friday BSO concerts, afternoon and evening series both.

Clark Johnsen

Jamaica Plain MA 02130

“Dear Ms. Toropov:

Thank you for confirming that my status as a Sustainer and a member of the Leadership Circle is continuing. However it is in jeopardy.

Somehow, I missed the article in the December 18 Boston Globe in which it was stated that WCRB would not continue the Friday afternoon BSO broadcasts. This is outrageous. As I stated in feedback in November, there are audience members like me who can listen on Friday afternoons but not on Saturday evenings. Some of us use it to rehear the concert of the previous evening; some to preview the following evening’s concert; some as their only opportunity to hear a given program; and some because they want to hear the BSO as much as possible. At the time, I got a reply which implied that the only issue was obtaining broadcast rights. But clearly there has been a decision to abandon me and the other members of the audience who relied in one way or another on those broadcasts.

Mr. Voci indicated that he considered the two live broadcasts in very different time slots ‘duplicative’ and has sent a letter to the Globe in which he claims, ‘As audiences listen to us, we’ll listen to them.’ Well, I want some evidence that he’s listening to the audience. How many audience members asked to have the Friday Symphony [broadcasts] dropped? How many have asked to have them continued? (Please don’t send me patronizing generalities. Please answer the questions.)

Mr. Voci also tried to justify the decision by pointing to broadcasts from Tanglewood and to BSO-related broadcasts on non-concert Saturday evenings. But for years all three weekend Tanglewood concerts have been broadcast on one or both stations, and WCRB has regularly broadcast BSO performances on non-concert Saturdays (“fantasy concerts” they used to call them). So neither represents an increase in BSO availability for the audience, and therefore neither justifies dropping Friday afternoon concerts. Mr. Voci must think we’re either stupid or without memory if he thinks we’ll fall for that nonsense.

At this point I am angry enough at the disregard for 58 years of tradition and lack of concern for the audience that I am seriously considering discontinuing my support. Certainly I must reduce it as it seems that management cares about nothing but money, and therefore the only thing that will tell them they made a big mistake is having it cost them money. But if the decision is promptly reversed I shall continue support at the current level. And if Mr. Voci soon leaves WGBH, willingly or unwillingly, I shall increase my level of giving.

Sincerely,”

I don’t need another talk show repeating all the sounds of the politicians at 7:00pm. I would rather listen to Eric in the Evening at 7:00 or even better at 6:00. Make everything the same. You can feel and hear this change everywhere in the world. Make everything the same and make the most profit doing it.

If you want more quality FM options and audio get and old FM tuner from the 70s or 80s, set up a roof top antenna with rotor and have at it. The guys in the suits are not here to give you good music options because there is no money in it. WICN from Worcester has jazz on all day and other different stuff at night. Try it.

The FM money is in car FM and talk radio. Very sad. People can’t understand the audio quality of BGHs LIVE BSO or Eric the Evening live broadcasts at 9:00 in your car. Sorry.

Maybe we should all go back to $10 transistor radios and be happy.