I am Paul Kaplan, a musician and music teacher from Amherst.

I used to listen to the events listings on Valley Folk, and, if one of the events had my name on it, often I would appear live on the show to drum up business, as would dozens of local and touring musicians. The many musicians and, just as important, the many businesses that present folk music in the Valley, came to depend on those listings to get the word out. Now there are not any listings of any kind on WFCR that I know of, not even the short segments during Morning Edition, telling of art openings, talks, slide shows, music, etc.

One anecdote might illustrate my frustration with WFCR.  Sometime shortly after the programming changes, a performer (Evelyn Harris, formerly of Sweet Honey in the Rock) due to appear on a Saturday night at PACE (Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton) became ill and had to cancel at the last minute.  A representative of the Center called WFCR during a late afternoon classical music show to ask that an announcement be made, as a large number of people had already bought tickets, and the public should be alerted.  She was told something to this effect: we no longer support that kind of music.  This is a classical music program, and announcements like that are appropriate for Valley Folk, but Valley Folk no longer exists. I think this shows the attitude of the station toward the community.  It was not a folk music problem, just a matter of courtesy to a large group of people, who might have tuned in “The Prairie Home Companion" at 6:00 and heard an announcement during the break before that show.

I originally joined with the other members of the Task Force because I was unhappy with the programming changes that eliminated folk music from WFCR.  After I became educated about the way many public radio stations work, I saw that WFCR was based on a different, insular model.  It is the lack of input from the local community that has made it possible for WFCR to have drifted so far away from the missions of both the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and of WFCR itself. The WFCR mission statement reads: "The station is committed to programming that entertains, educates and informs in a lively, provocative, varied and sensitive way."  This sounds like many stations I know of, but WFCR is not one of them.

The Pioneer Valley is a vibrant, creative community, a center of music, dance, literature, art, and political ferment.  This rich culture is made up of innumerable subcultures and sub-subcultures.  WFCR has been completely resistant to any suggestion that they open up their decision-making process to these valuable resources.  I believe Amherst Town Meeting has a responsibility to follow Pelham and Shutesbury in imploring UMass to create an effective Community Advisory Board.