Dear Mr. Miller,

I'm a contributing member of WFCR, and have been for several years. I strongly believe that the community needs to support Public Radio, and so I put my money where my mouth is. I'm also a UMass Amherst Alumni with both a BS and an MS degree from the University. In addition, I've worked at UMass for almost 34 years. So, my commitment to the Pioneer Valley and to the University is strong and long. Having been around here for so long makes me a good witness to the changes, good and bad, that have taken place in the Valley, including programming at WFCR. I'm sorry to say that WFCR has been a big disappointment for me over time, and I'm finally ready to give up contributing to the station. What pushed me over the edge was the cancellation of Valley Folk, Tertulia, Afropop, and Thistle and Shamrock. Although I'm glad that Tertulia was saved, I have problems with all the decisions that have been made, especially in regards to Valley Folk. That program, and just a couple of other locally produced programs, were the only reasons I ever contributed to WFCR instead of to another Public Radio station that I have always considered to have far better programming overall. With the loss of Valley Folk, my incentive to support WFCR is considerably weakened, if not gone.

Several years ago, I became so frustrated with the poor programming at WFCR, that I called the management to complain. At least I cared enough about my local Public Radio station to do that. The station was (and still is) very heavy into Jazz programming (award winning though it may be), and flooded the airway with Jazz even over the dinner hour. Every other Public Radio station that I could tune in had NPR news, local news, and other talk programming during that time slot, so I always tuned to them instead of WFCR. I couldn't believe that the majority of the WFCR listening audience really preferred Jazz at that prime time slot. I wondered if others agreed, so I challenged WFCR to send a survey to at least its contributing members to see what listener preferences were (email and internet surveys were not an option at that time). At first, I was told how impossibly expensive a survey would be to send, so I suggested that the survey be attached to the regular "Of Note" mailing, or to contribution solicitation materials. WFCR actually took up the challenge, and a survey was sent. Even though it was, in general, a poorly written and pretty biased survey, at least it was something. My bet was that WFCR was more in love with their heavy Jazz programming than its listeners were. We'll never know, because WFCR decided that the results of the survey would not be made public (wonder why?). At least some programming changes did happen, and news was brought to the prime time dinner hour. However, my favorite weekend afternoon program, Valley Folk, was moved to late Saturday night (in my opinion, Jazz fans are looking for late night programming, not Folk fans). Valley folk was never elevated from its late night slot, but at least it was still on the air...until now that is.

Obviously, I'm not a Jazz fan. I prefer Classical and Folk music, and enjoy news broadcasts, informative talk shows, and comedy shows. But, I do believe that a Public Radio station should be a reflection of as much of its audience as possible. If all Jazz programs were canceled, I would be just as disappointed, as I realize there is an audience for that music. I also know that WFCR has financial constraints, but they do manage to fund their heavy Jazz schedule instead of a wider variety of music. So, here are the problems that I have had with WFCR's recent decisions:

No real survey was done to see what listener preferences are.

The shows were canceled over Intersession, when a lot of listeners are not in the area to protest.

A popular show, Valley Folk, was canceled, despite a strong listener protest. WFCR says there are other Folk options in the area. Using that logic, there are far more other Jazz options available everywhere, so why not just cut down on the Jazz a little, if listeners prefer? Both the Jazz and Folk programs on WFCR are (or were) excellent, so PLEASE don't use the "other options" excuse for ANY programming changes...that's so lame.

Why cancel a knowingly popular show to free funding for an untested new one? Let's see your surveys.

WFCR caved to the political protest of canceling Tertulia (and I'm glad they did), but didn't save a program that was certainly more popular. Us Folk fans can't play the race or Hispanic card, but NOBODY should have to...VARIETY in music should be the driving force. It is PUBLIC radio after all.

Well, that's my opinions, and I just wanted to tell you why I will be contributing to WAMC instead of WFCR. My support of Public Radio is still strong, and I'm really sorry to not be contributing to the most local one. But I've had enough, and I'm not the only one. Several people I know stopped giving to WFCR years ago, and, as you know, many others are withdrawing support because of your recent programming changes. I hope, in the future, that WFCR will stop patting itself on the back for disconnected reasons, and stop biting the hand that feeds them. When WFCR management is ready to listen to the public, maybe I and others will be willing to support WFCR.