Public radio programs targeted
Friday, April 13, 2007
By DIANE LEDERMAN
dlederman@repub.com


AMHERST - Over the years, Town Meeting has voted against genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan, to boycott trade with Nigeria and make the town a nuclear free zone.

Last year, voters urged Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

And while not everyone agrees that Town Meeting is the proper forum for non-town business, next month meeting members will again be asked to go beyond normal business and address concerns about public radio station WFCR.

In January, the station dropped a number of programs that petitioners and others want back. They also want the station to be more accountable to its listening community.

Newly elected Town Meeting Member Jeffrey C. Lee said he was upset with the cancellation of "Valley Folk," a locally produced folk music show that had been broadcast on WFCR for more than 25 years. And so were others from the folk scene, he said.

Lee, a member of the Pioneer Valley Folklore Society, said he also learned others were upset by the cancellations of "Thistle and Shamrock," "Afropop Worldwide" and "Tertulia!," a Spanish language program. That show has been brought back although it's on for a shorter time and on a different night.

If Town Meeting supported the resolution, "we were hoping that would be a way to convince the radio station the public is wanting more public accountability," Lee said.

He said the community is not well-represented on WFCR's Advisory Committee, which does not advise on programming.

Petitioners want an advisory board that would represent the ethnic, cultural and geographic diversity of the listening area and have an open application process for board members among other resolutions.

Lee said petitioners are hoping that the station will bring the programs back and then run any future cancellations by the advisory board.

Martin C. Miller, WFCR's general manager, said yesterday the station does not currently have this kind of advisory board and referred any comments to the University of Massachusetts about the resolution.

He said in the 12 years he's been at WFCR, the station has received two petitions directly but nothing such as this seeking accountability.

A University of Massachusetts spokesman had only briefly reviewed the resolution and referred questions back to Miller, who could not be reached for a follow-up call.

Town Meeting begins May 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Amherst Regional Middle School.