From: Ed Shanahan [mailto:shanahanek@comcast.net] Subject: Re: Good piece on WFCR

Thanks for your note, I just got back to town after a week's absence and was pleased to see that some folks finally caught up with my piece which I did last summer. I spent a good deal of time on the article for downstreet.net and was not entirely pleased that I had gotten the right focus and found enough critics to present their case. I, too, find the station to be terribly smug, elitist and resistant to suggestions for new directions for the station.

I love classical music but I've heard enough to last me for a long long time on WFCR, and furthermore even in the classical genre the station plays countless pieces over and over again. I cut my teeth on Robert J Lurtsema's intelligent programming (see my remembrance of Robert J in the downstreet.net archives) and find the FCR classical segments boring, predictable, especially when the host tells me every 10 minutes or so that later today you can hear all Things Considered at 4 p.m, etc. It is as if the management believes that everyone listening is brand new to the station each day.

Buying programs from NPR is easy, just write a check. It takes no imagination whatsoever. Local programming is much more challenging but much more useful to local listeners. By the way, when we came to town in 1971 FCR had a habit of sending out people to record local talks and concerts for subsequent rebroadcast. The richness of the resources in the Five College area makes that almost mandatory. Just consider what WAMC has done to tap into its communities and resources, which are much less abundant than in our area.

It's ironic that your democratization effort should coincide with still another pledge drive. Wonder what the result will be. I wish you well. Ed Shanahan

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Hello Ed. I enjoyed reading your recent downstreet.net article on WFCR. I am part of a group of concerned citizens, dubbed the Coalition to Democratize WFCR, that is very unhappy with WFCR's recent programming changes and station management's unilateral and "un-public" mode of decision-making. I am very skeptical about Martin Miller's contention that there is an overwhelming cry for more classical music and jazz from WFCR's listeners. Among the people I've talked with, the opposite is true.

If you'd like to learn more about our organization, we have a web site at http://www.justiceandpeace.net/WFCRdemocracy.

Sincerely,

Jeff Lee Amherst, MA