[Antiracism] Fw: Fwd: Valley Folk, Thistle and Shamrock and Afropop Worldwide

[Marty Nathan]

In follow-up of the wfcr issue. I agree with Carolyn. We should do something. Marty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Helen Barrington 
To: martygjf at comcast.net 
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 9:28 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Valley Folk, Thistle and Shamrock and Afropop Worldwide


My apologies for not getting back to you yesterday. 

Thank you for your e-mail and calls. I understand that you are upset. 
We are sorry to lose Susan Forbes Hansen, and we know how deeply people feel about Valley Folk, Afropop and The Thistle and Shamrock.  We respect the hosts of all of these programs and their work.  We are also greatly indebted to them for decades of service to and great programming at WFCR. 

You can still hear Susan Forbes Hansen hosting folk music on WHUS, 91.7 FM, in Storrs, Connecticut on her program. There she hosts a program called Sunday Night Folk Festival, Sunday nights from 7-10 PM and online at www.whus.org.  

However, at the present time, we are under budget pressure, due to an increase in programming fees from NPR and other national program providers, increased employee benefits charges from the State, and the ever present prospect of reduced federal funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). These factors mean that the station must now allocate its resources in a different way.

WFCR is also now more than just 88.5FM.  It is a media organization operating on multiple platforms.  It will continue to serve all of the constituents it currently serves across its platforms:  88.5FM WFCR; 88.5FM WFCR HD2; 1430AM WPNI; and wfcr.org where there will be multiple links and where 88.5FM and HD2 are also streamed.  This is the direction that all media organizations are headed in. We are able to do things we haven't been able to do before.  Yet cuts on one broadcast platform are required as we pursue the station's core mission and meet its strategic goals on multiple platforms.

We are also committed to expanding the programming on 1430 AM to Springfield, which is vitally important to serving listeners. If such an expansion becomes possible, it would lead to additional operating expenses.  

In addition, the demography of WFCR's listening area has changed, so we are hiring a reporter who can speak Spanish. We are committed to better serving WFCR's audience by bringing more, diverse voices to the airwaves.  This increases WFCR's ability to stay in touch with the region at large, with more reporting in English on emerging and established communities of color.  

Part of the rationale behind these changes, is to make the programming we offer more consistent, which is key to audience growth and to the financial health of the station. Jazz can now be heard 6 nights a week from 8-11 PM: Jazz a la Mode, Monday-Friday from 8-11 PM and Jazz Safari on Saturdays from 8-11 PM.  As you may know,  The Thistle and Shamrock and Afropop can be heard Sunday nights on WAMC, 90.3 FM, between 7 & 9 pm.  Afropop also maintains a list of stations on its website,  afropop.org, where you can stream the program live. 

WAMC also airs folk music at several times in its program schedule. The Hudson River Sampler airs on Saturdays from 8-10:30 PM.  Mountain Stage features some folk groups (Mountain Stage is a two-hour radio show recorded before a live audience in Charleston, West Virginia. Now in its 20th year, the show has established a long tradition of featuring national and international acts in almost every style of music). Mountain Stage is on Monday nights from 9-11 PM. WRSI, 93.9 FM, also airs folk music Saturdays from 9 AM to noon on their program, "The Backporch."  In addition, WFCR is adding a link on our website, www.wfcr.org, to our sister station, WUMB-FM, at UMass Boston, which has 5 on-demand folk streams available.

Thanks so much for writing. I'd be happy to talk with you in further depth about this if you'd like to call me.

Helen Barrington
Program Director, WFCR
413 577 0541
=============



WFCR 88.5 FM wrote: 
----- Forwarded message from Marty Nathan <martygjf at comcast.net> -----
    Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 08:33:55 -0500
    From: Marty Nathan <martygjf at comcast.net>
Reply-To: Marty Nathan <martygjf at comcast.net>
 Subject: Valley Folk, Thistle and Shamrock and Afropop Worldwide
      To: WFCR <radio at wfcr.org>

There is a rumor circulating that you are planning to eliminate Valley Folk,
Thistle and Shamrock and/or Afropop Worldwide. Are you planning or even
thinking about doing any of these things? If so, I am a high-donor (dollar a
day) and have been for many years and would stop donating. If not, please
clarify.

Thank you.

Marty Nathan MD
Northampton, MA
----- End forwarded message -----


  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  There is a rumor circulating that you are planning to eliminate Valley Folk, Thistle and Shamrock and/or Afropop Worldwide. Are you planning or even thinking about doing any of these things? If so, I am a high-donor (dollar a day) and have been for many years and would stop donating. If not, please clarify. 

  Thank you. 

  Marty Nathan MD 
  Northampton, MA 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.hampshire.edu/pipermail/antiracism/attachments/20070116/dc21b466/attachment.htm>