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WUMB GM Pat Monteith "Retires"

I wonder if this has something to do with why WUMB cancelled it’s festival this year?
 
I find the attitude of the UMass spokesman DeWayne Lehman' statement to the blogger Steve Ide*, "there are no changes in format planned at the folk music radio station" to be rather "high handed.

As WUMB's license is held by the University of Massachusetts, Boston, shouldn't that decision be made by that instutution's legislative body, the Faculty and Student Senate?

I also find it incredulous that after all the effort WUMB went into re-branding itself, some still insist on calling it a "folk" station.

===

*In "WUMB assures listeners that there are no plans to change its folk music format" - http://idesigngraphics.com/folkblue...are-no-plans-to-change-its-folk-music-format/ -they are quoted as saying,
 
It appears others are suspicious about the circumstances (my reason for the use of quotation marks in the subject line).

""By coincidence, I received my printed Member Newsletter today. Previously, there has always been a message from General Manager Pat Montieth on the front page, with news and updates. This time, the message was "from the staff." No mention of Pat anywhere. It seems to me that if she were really retiring, there would be tributes and farewells -- not silence.""

Source - http://www.patriotledger.com/blogs/goodage/x1120196357/Missing-Pat-Monteith-at-WUMB
 
notlob said:
I also find it incredulous that after all the effort WUMB went into re-branding itself, some still insist on calling it a "folk" station.
Click to expand...

Well, it's been nearly four years since WODS completely dropped the word "Oldie" from all on-air and online usage, and dropped all 1950's and early '60s (pre-'64) music and added music through the 1980's, however many listeners still refer to it as "Oldies 103.3".
 
Eli Polonsky said:
Well, it's been nearly four years since WODS completely dropped the word "Oldie" from all on-air and online usage, and dropped all 1950's and early '60s (pre-'64) music and added music through the 1980's, however many listeners still refer to it as "Oldies 103.3".
Click to expand...

I'm probably an old crank, but I have always had my doubts about people in the industry who refer to radio stations by imaging liners rather than call letters.
 
WUMB did folk well and it filled a market niche. Its general manager was one of the city's most important and undervalued broadcasters.

But folk music is not the type of format that a radio station owned by the University of Massachusetts at Boston ought to be doing. This is an urban school with a community-based mission and its broadcasting resources are better aimed at serving its community, not a wider public of folk music buffs.
 
thirdendorsed said:
But folk music is not the type of format that a radio station owned by the University of Massachusetts at Boston ought to be doing. This is an urban school with a community-based mission and its broadcasting resources are better aimed at serving its community, not a wider public of folk music buffs.
Click to expand...

If you check the FCC Web site, you'll see that WUMB is licensed to the University of Massachusetts, which is a system of five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Lowell, Dartmouth, and Worcester). WUMB serves the Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod, and (via WPNI, Amherst) Springfield markets through seven transmitter sites in various parts of the Commonwealth.

Which community do you imagine WUMB should be serving?
 
4CX1000A said:
WUMB serves the Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod, and (via WPNI, Amherst) Springfield markets through seven transmitter sites in various parts of the Commonwealth.
Click to expand...

I count eight transmitter sites:

91.9 FM WUMB Boston (tx Quincy)
91.9 FM WFPB-FM Falmouth
91.9 FM WBPR Worcester (tx Paxton)
91.7 FM WNEF Newburyport (tx Amesbury)
91.7 FM WUMT Marshfield
91.7 FM WUMG Stow (tx/time share WAVM Maynard HS)
1170 AM WFBP (AM) Orleans (daytime only)
1430 AM WPNI Amherst
 
4CX1000A said:
[
If you check the FCC Web site, you'll see that WUMB is licensed to the University of Massachusetts, which is a system of five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Lowell, Dartmouth, and Worcester). WUMB serves the Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod, and (via WPNI, Amherst) Springfield markets through seven transmitter sites in various parts of the Commonwealth.

Which community do you imagine WUMB should be serving?
Click to expand...

IT should be serving the community for which it was licensed to serve the public interest, necessity and convenience.

It is the University of Massachusetts at Boston radio station and the University of Massachusetts at Boston is an urban university with an urban campus in an urban community which is underserved by electronic media.

It is not licensed to Amherst, Dartmouth, Worcester or Lowell.

The fact that the station's programming is rebroadcast elsewhere is irrelevant.
 
Thirdendorsed as you well know "Serving the Public Interest" has nothing to do with a stations format and the FCC stated this over and over. It just means being a good licensee.... playing your public service programming, EAS, Public File, ETC, etc. The FCC stays completely clear of how folks program short of violations and they should as this would affect commerce and corporations real requirement to their stockholders.


thirdendorsed said:
4CX1000A said:
[
If you check the FCC Web site, you'll see that WUMB is licensed to the University of Massachusetts, which is a system of five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Lowell, Dartmouth, and Worcester). WUMB serves the Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod, and (via WPNI, Amherst) Springfield markets through seven transmitter sites in various parts of the Commonwealth.

Which community do you imagine WUMB should be serving?
Click to expand...

IT should be serving the community for which it was licensed to serve the public interest, necessity and convenience.

It is the University of Massachusetts at Boston radio station and the University of Massachusetts at Boston is an urban university with an urban campus in an urban community which is underserved by electronic media.

It is not licensed to Amherst, Dartmouth, Worcester or Lowell.

The fact that the station's programming is rebroadcast elsewhere is irrelevant.
Click to expand...
 
Eli Polonsky said:
4CX1000A said:
WUMB serves the Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod, and (via WPNI, Amherst) Springfield markets through seven transmitter sites in various parts of the Commonwealth.
Click to expand...

I count eight transmitter sites:

91.9 FM WUMB Boston (tx Quincy)
91.9 FM WFPB-FM Falmouth
91.9 FM WBPR Worcester (tx Paxton)
91.7 FM WNEF Newburyport (tx Amesbury)
91.7 FM WUMT Marshfield
91.7 FM WUMG Stow (tx/time share WAVM Maynard HS)
1170 AM WFBP (AM) Orleans (daytime only)
1430 AM WPNI Amherst
Click to expand...

They are planning a new transmitter at 88.7 for Milford N.H. according to posts on Northern New England.
 
But folk music is not the type of format that a radio station owned by the University of Massachusetts at Boston ought to be doing. This is an urban school with a community-based mission and its broadcasting resources are better aimed at serving its community, not a wider public of folk music buffs.
Click to expand...

If there's one thing I've learned from reading these boards over the last ten years, it's that anytime someone says that a particular station "ought to be doing" some other format, it's a sure sign that they have no idea what they're talking about. ::)

Cue the "WFNX should be Spanish" posts any second now... ;D
 
Johnster said:
Thirdendorsed as you well know "Serving the Public Interest" has nothing to do with a stations format and the FCC stated this over and over. It just means being a good licensee.... playing your public service programming, EAS, Public File, ETC, etc. The FCC stays completely clear of how folks program short of violations and they should as this would affect commerce and corporations real requirement to their stockholders.
Click to expand...

You just don't get it. I never suggested that the licensee has an obligation under federal law and regulations to provide any sort of format, nor did I suggest that a review of format decisions are within the purview of the licensing authority.

I don't give a hoot what the FCC says.

What is important is the mission of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. It is a school formed from the former Park Square UMass-Boston and Boston State College. Its mission includes serving an urban community. That urban community is under-served by both broadcast and print media. For the University of Massachusetts at Boston to program a licensed educational radio station for the gratification of an audience beyond that urban community is irresponsible and an abrogation of the university's core function. UMass Boston was not created and funded by the people of Massachusetts to operate the flagship of a fiddle-music format.

And no, it's not the same as WBUR, nor is it the same as the student-operated radio stations at Boston College, Northeastern, Tufts or assorted high schools.
 
thirdendorsed said:
Johnster said:
What is important is the mission of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. It is a school formed from the former Park Square UMass-Boston and Boston State College. Its mission includes serving an urban community. That urban community is under-served by both broadcast and print media. For the University of Massachusetts at Boston to program a licensed educational radio station for the gratification of an audience beyond that urban community is irresponsible and an abrogation of the university's core function. UMass Boston was not created and funded by the people of Massachusetts to operate the flagship of a fiddle-music format.
Click to expand...

Technically, WUMB hasn't been doing a "fiddle music" format for years. On the weekdays, they're an acoustic-leaning AAA. Along with the weekend specialty shows and the extra web streams, they've kept the image as a folkie station, but they're more AAA these days. Which is why folk purists have complained about the station ever since the change was made some years ago. WUMB's goal was to knock down their median age 10 to 15 years and attract the younger end (35-49) of the NPR news/talk audience. Even though their 6+ ratings pretty much remain the same as they did when they were more purist folk, I suspect that their numbers are much younger than they used to be (and their pledge revenue has remained the same or better). The problem with the established public radio music formats is that they all skew over-60, with the exception of AAA.
Click to expand...
 
Call it "fiddle music", call it AAA, or use WUMB's own term, "WUMB music mix", call it whatever, that is not the point.

The point is WUMB is operated under license granted to UMass, an educational institution, but is not run in the interest of the UMass students and the area "urban community." Explain the lack of student involvement. Are there any UMass Boston student-produced news, public affairs and news programming? No. Are there any UMass Boston student-produced music programs? No. Does WUMB programming reflect the culture and diversity and interests of UMass Boston students? No.

Compare and contrast the diverse music genre / public affairs schedules of the other three UMass campus student/community-based radio stations
WMUA - UMass Amherst -http://www.wmua.org/programming
WUML - UMass Lowell - http://wuml.org/schedule.php
WUMD - UMass Dartmouth - http://www.893wumd.org/programs.html
...with the homogeneity (especially weekday) that is WUMB - http://wumb.org/programs/schedule.php

Now tell me how WUMB serves the UMass Boston student and urban communities.
 
Yes...quick check of WUMB sched did turn up one slot where supposedly UMass DJs play blues
(in the wee hours on weekends) but mostly public radio/NPR/non-students.

WBUR the same way. Wiki.: "WBUR first went on the air March 1, 1950. Initially, most of WBUR's staff were Boston University students and the station broadcast a number of BU sporting events. By the 1970s, WBUR began receiving funding from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting and became a "public radio station" with a professional staff."

UMass and B.U. using their "student stations" (does BU still have WTBU-CC 640?) with big signals
for professionally staffed public radio.
 
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