Good morning,

I am writing to express my displeasure with the decision to remove Valley Folk from WFCR programming. I have been an FCR listener for over seven years, and a Valley Folk enthusiast for about five. I have been a contributing member for the majority of these years. I was thrilled when i first found this special folk program, in that i heard many of my favorite artists aired on the radio, and i was also introduced to new artists in a special way. Further, i enjoyed hearing the calendar of local folk performances, and i watched many live shows thanks to the announcements made on Valley Folk.

I was very confused one Saturday evening when i heard Susan Forbes Hansen announce that the following week would be the final broadcast of Valley Folk- i thought i must have misheard the information, that this show paramount to my radio listening enjoyment could not possibly be ending. I listened the next week to sadly realize that i was not mistaken, and Valley Folk was in fact in it's last broadcast. I heard no explanation why this change was happening, and in turning to the WFCR website i found no explanation at that time.

I have subsequently read correspondence from folks at WFCR explaining that the decision to remove Valley Folk was made for financial reasons and was in the interest of its listeners. Such a decision was not in my interest, and i will not financially support FCR if it will not respond to my interests. WFCR is waging a fund drive at this time, and i will not pledge my support. I have in fact started to listen to another NPR station, and have pledged my support to that station instead of FCR. I have relied on the schedule and programming of WFCR for the better part of a decade; i am saddened that i need to change that routine because of distasteful decisions made by the folks at WFCR.

The one decision that i appreciate is to partially bring Tertulia back. Although i prefer to hear the program in its entirety, i have been placated to hear the host and music for a couple hours on Sunday evenings.


Sincerely,
Sarah Peters