Speculation and conjecture has been the pastime at work lately. As soon as a committee was formed to review possible changes to the station, everyone on the second floor knew it was bad news.
WUFT-FM is a great public radio station. It is an NPR affiliate, and, of course, the NPR programs we air–Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and so on–are fine programs that we all enjoy. But, when WUFT was founded over twenty-five years ago, classical music also figured prominently in the mission of the station. And that mission has been successful for all these years because the public has been very supportive.
Obviously, public radio support is measured in pledge dollars, and, from a cost/benefit perspective, classical music is probably the best format. While nationally-syndicated news and public affairs programming is very expensive (over $1,000 per broadcast hour), classical music is a relative bargain. The cost-effectiveness of classical music is such that, at WUFT, the pledges for classical make up for the deficits the more expensive news programs generate. That is not a bad thing, though. Rather, it is a mutually beneficial way to bring variety to the listening audience.
The first sign of trouble appeared during the membership campaign last April. A letter appeared in the Gainesville Sun–an unsolicited letter not tied to any previous article or op-ed–that complained about the classical music. It was a letter which ought to have elicited nothing but laughs and derision, since it complained that our format was devoted to “dead, white, slave-traders”. I don’t know a single classical music composer that ever owned a slave, much less traded slaves. A letter from a crackpot doesn’t have much power to change anything. But on its heels appeared an op-ed by a somewhat well-known local photographer, which posited that our format was stale and that Gainesville listeners were missing out on a host of other NPR programs. This op-ed initially had an effect that was the opposite of what may have been intended. The day after its publication, WUFT had a great pledge day for classical music, and the Sun eventually published a series of letters in support of classical music.
Then, after the seas calmed, word came that a committee was considering possible changes to WUFT’s format. A proposal to expand local news coverage and increase student involvement seemed perfectly sensible. And, perhaps that would be the extent of the change. But the minutes of the committee’s meetings suggested that bigger changes were on the table. On the second floor, it was clear that this wouldn’t end well. No one on the staff involved in music programming, including the station manager, was appointed to the committee. This led some to believe that a decision had already been made, and that the committee was merely window dressing. The rumors reached the public, and more letters appeared in the Gainesville Sun, including a scathing op-ed by UF music professor Raymond Chobaz, which alluded to UF president Bernie Machen’s involvement in the elimination of classical music programming from the radio station at his previous employer, the University of Utah.
This afternoon the official word came out: WUFT will go all-talk. No more classical music after August 3, 2009. Supposedly, the second HD stream will be devoted to classical music full-time. But it is unclear whether it will be locally programmed or come from a generic national satellite source. It is also unclear what jobs will be eliminated. And what will become of the other arts institutions in North Central Florida, which have enjoyed a warm relationship with WUFT, is also unclear.
I don’t speak for my coworkers, and I don’t speak for WUFT. But, as you all know, I certainly speak for my self. And for me, this is heartbreaking.
Filed under: Music, Work on July 2nd, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Samuel Barber was born a hundred years ago today. If he had only written Knoxville: Summer of 1915 he would still be important in my book. It is the perfect marriage of music and text, namely, James Agee’s recollections of his childhood.