Rooney, Greater Boston cover the WGBH/WCRB deal

[raccoonradio]

http://www.wgbh.org/greater_boston/index.cfm

Look for "classical changes"

"Boos and hisses; problems, complaints, and some support"

 

[thetheo]

Thanks for posting this!

Still baffled how much bad press WGBH is getting for this move.

There were 2 ways things could have gone....

#1 - WGBH gets rid of classical because no one was listening, replaces it with other music / talk / news / etc......WCRB stays as is for a feew more months, til another suitor comes in (Entercom?) and buys it and flips it and then there is no Classical at all in Boston.

#2 - What actually happened.

There was no 3rd option the way I see it. Sure the signal may not be as great, but come on, it's better than NO Classical station right????

There's plenty of markets that no longer have a classical station, or do but only for a couple hours a day, or do but it's a national feed, and so on.

Be happy you have a 24/7 Classical station that is actually on the FM dial people!

 

[raccoonradio]

Classical fans wish that the switcheroo a few yrs back didn't happen where Greater Media moved country to 102.5 and classical wound up on 99.5. Not as centrally located.

 

[thetheo]

Totally.

I get there being a little bit of unhappiness.

But these people make WGBH sound like the devil, when in fact if it wasn't for them there would be zero Classical on the radio here eventually.

 

[pqgeorge]

Thanks for posting this!

Still baffled how much bad press WGBH is getting for this move.

There were 2 ways things could have gone....

#1 - WGBH gets rid of classical because no one was listening, replaces it with other music / talk / news / etc......WCRB stays as is for a feew more months, til another suitor comes in (Entercom?) and buys it and flips it and then there is no Classical at all in Boston.

#2 - What actually happened.

There was no 3rd option the way I see it. Sure the signal may not be as great, but come on, it's better than NO Classical station right????

There's plenty of markets that no longer have a classical station, or do but only for a couple hours a day, or do but it's a national feed, and so on.

Be happy you have a 24/7 Classical station that is actually on the FM dial people!

Couldn't have said it better. Consider this, Philadelphia had WFLN/95.7 for the better part of 60 years playing Classical music 24/7. Today, Philly has only half-time Classical WRTI from Temple University. A great station but only plays Classical for 12 hours a day. New York had WQXR since the 1920's on 1560 AM and 96.3 FM. Today, WQXR is on a much weaker signal on 105.9 that barely covers the 5 Boroughs. Considering that WCRB is a full Class B (50,000 watts equivalent radiated power) on 99.5 FM, that covers quite a lot of real estate in 4 states (MA, NH, RI and ME), it's time to cool it and accept the way things are. After all, WCRB almost became yet another Sports FM'er (no joke). You'd be screaming to high heaven about that! 'GBH has made their decision (right or wrong) about what they think is best for the Corporation. It could have been worse. It's time to live with it and go on.

 

[fybush]

Classical fans wish that the switcheroo a few yrs back didn't happen where Greater Media moved country to 102.5 and classical wound up on 99.5. Not as centrally located.

Given the disparity in stick value between a Lowell-licensed, Andover-located class B (99.5) and a Waltham-licensed, Newton/Needham-located class B (102.5), it's questionable whether WGBH would have been able to afford the purchase of 102.5, had that been the signal that came on the market in 2009.

Instead of a $14 million purchase, 102.5 would likely have been valued at more like $25 million, maybe even more. Would WGBH's pockets have been deep enough to sustain that kind of a financial commitment?

 

[DanStrassberg]

Given the disparity in stick value between a Lowell-licensed, Andover-located class B (99.5) and a Waltham-licensed, Newton/Needham-located class B (102.5), it's questionable whether WGBH would have been able to afford the purchase of 102.5, had that been the signal that came on the market in 2009.

Instead of a $14 million purchase, 102.5 would likely have been valued at more like $25 million, maybe even more. Would WGBH's pockets have been deep enough to sustain that kind of a financial commitment?

I guess this mindset is characteristic of people who think of themselves as intellectuals. You should have heard what went on in the Save <whatever> group! If you analyze the postings, what those folks were really saying is that no Boston AM signal execpt for WBZ would have satisfied them as the home of Progressive talk. WRKO? nope; can't hear it in MetroWest at night. WEEI? nope; pretty much ditto WRKO and not as good north and south of Boston--especially at night. So of course, WWZN didn't satisfy very many of them. Yet I doubt that Jeff Santos is going to be able to tap into somebody's deep pockets to keep it on the air on WWZN for much longer.

The mindset seems to be, "I don't care about reality. I know what I want and if I can't have exactly that, then screw everybody." This is not a scenario designed to provide satisfaction or success. But maybe these so-called intellectuals are really looking only for a reason to continue complaining--because complaining, as opposed to achieving anything--is really what they are all about.

 

[raccoonradio]

Yes, you have to be realistic about what you can achieve; accept what you have and hope that maybe it will improve with time. Everyone wants it all, right now. (A good example would be some on the Right who are told that the Republican candidate for Senate has a chance of beating the Democrat, for once, but they moan "oh, but he's squishy on one issue! He's Republican in Name only!" Thus they would rather have the candidate whom they'd agree with on zero issues win, not the one they agree with on 7 or 8 of 9 issues. Smart.)

Yes WWZN is no WBZ and neither is WKOX; and WCRB is no WGBH, but at least classical was saved. Perhaps efforts could be made to get another signal to simulcast it (again, WPLM doesn't want to sell but that would be perfect). And in the case of the blues and folk fans of the WGBH shows that got cancelled...yes we can try to change their minds, but we could also do such things as try to take the idea of this programming to another station. I said, "What about WFNX? True, they got rid of their long running weekly jazz show last year but propose a blues or folk show and see what they say." They may feel, "well, our core audience is more into alternative rock than folk or blues" but why not at least make the case?
Or try someone else (I'd say WATD, for example, but actually they already have a blues show, not that
all could hear it...)

As the saying goes "you go to war with the army you have". You accept that you can only do so much.
True, things could improve in the future but you can't expect miracles _now_. We'll see what happens
with Santos and Blackstrap, etc....and the other ones I mentioned.

Appreciate what you have--don't expect to get everything at at once--though certainly you can
hope for the future.