It was last year on this date that I received the email notifying me that my long-running radio shows, “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” would “sunset,” beginning in ten days. Sunset. What a euphemism. I suppose it allows me the dignity of the Old West, to just mosey off into the twilight. However, nothing about my dismissal was dignified. As an employee of WWFM since 1995, I deserved better.
When I turned down an offer I can only guess they thought I couldn’t refuse – to produce one new “Picture Perfect” a month for no financial compensation (BUT with the satisfaction of enjoying a continued presence on the station) – they cut the cord. They had wanted to air the show on Friday evenings in rotation with three other, unrelated programs.
The shows’ cancellations were peculiar to me, for more reasons than one, but foremost among them surely was because at that point the station was already airing both of them for free. Granted, they were all reruns, but I had never previously, since the start of the pandemic, been invited back into the studios to produce fresh installments. The last I was told, no one was allowed in except management (the managers, of course, were never laid off), for safety reasons, and the rest of us would be brought back as soon as the situation permitted.
Once seemingly every other business had resumed normal operations, I even extended the offer to come in and volunteer my services during pledge drives. I heard nothing in return. It doesn’t surprise me, as communication was always one of the most glaring of WWFM management’s many weaknesses. But in allowing so many relationships with knowledgeable, capable staff to erode, they painted themselves into a corner. On one occasion, sudden illnesses and personal obligations caused them to have to totally reschedule a pledge drive, because they no longer had back-up staff to draw on in order to keep things running smoothly.
Of course, what they did have was their trusty automation, so that they could continue to pump in the aural wallpaper from a service they subscribe to in Minnesota (less expensive than maintaining a staff of local talent). When they took criticism from listeners for the apparent lack of local content, they began to rerun whatever locally-produced shows they had left, during daylight hours. Of course, most of the music-oriented shows had been cancelled. Those that were left were mostly produced by one person and stuffed to the gills with chat. (I’ll reserve comment on the production values.) I can only speculate the thinking must have been that now people were getting local content. What they weren’t getting was very much music! And somehow, still, whenever I turn on the radio, when I do get music, all I seem to hear is Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet (twice this week) and Edouard Lalo’s “Symphonie espangnole.” How many times a month DOES Classical 24 program that piece, anyway? I actually used to enjoy hearing it.
In any case, my tone was respectful. I did mention that if I were going to produce new shows, I would want it to be for a weekly slot. I know for a fact, reruns or no, “Picture Perfect” was an extraordinarily popular program. When it was cancelled, there was a roar of listener disapproval. I can recall multiple times over the decades when one listener complaint by telephone would be enough to send the current general manager into a tizzy and dicta would be handed down (No sopranos in the morning! No organ music! No Sibelius 4th!); but now, from everything that’s gotten back to me, complaints seem to be met with stony silence.
I concluded my email, “I sincerely thank you for the offer, and I am here if some opportunity should present itself to bring me back to do something more productive and satisfying in the future.
“I am still very interested in producing that light music show I proposed, for instance. If you’d like to talk about that, I am all ears.
In the meantime, best wishes.”
In response, I received a Dear John letter, thanking me for the shows I’ve produced over the years and wishing me the best of luck with my future endeavors. No suggestion that we might work together again in any capacity. Which is why I feel no compunction in raking WWFM over the coals every once in a while.
I was also asked if I might allow them to extend the 10-day sunset of my shows to May 20, since apparently they couldn’t get their act together in the amount of time stated in the first letter. So typical.
I can’t say that I am the station’s biggest fan now – I only listen in the car if I’m out for a quick jaunt or if I haven’t got a CD with me – but I have noticed they don’t seem to have ever implemented that Friday rotation of shows. Why drop locally-produced programs that you were already airing for free and then not do anything with the vacant real estate? WWFM, you sure does confuse me.
Anyway, even though I vent once in a while, I try not dwell too much upon it, as it’s in the past now, and I’ve got other things to keep me occupied. Still, you have to admit, 28 years is an awfully long time. What I miss more than the recorded shows are the live air shifts. That’s where I did my best work, providing my own programming, making alterations on the wing, and batting it back and forth during live interviews. These are skills I honed over nearly three decades of service. I understand (but only to some extent) the motivation in never paying me what I deserve (unless you’re in the upper echelon, classical music seldom pays), but the whole lack of respect, I never got. I should have been made full-time decades ago. How many people in the industry, my age, were as knowledgeable, capable, and good natured as I was?
I took an awful lot of abuse over the years, despite having gone above and beyond to literally keep the station on the air (in the days before automation, braving all weather, and in the days before 24-hour broadcast, actually turning on the transmitter, whatever the toll on my personal life and circumstances). I pulled everyone’s fat out of the fire on more occasions than I can remember. But always, a week would go by, and we’d be back to what-have-you-done-for-us-lately.
A lousy place to work, then, especially once they started to drive out all the good people. I would have been out decades ago, if not for the relationships I developed with my fellow announcers and for an unspoken covenant I tried to keep with my listeners, to just ignore all the crap, or push through it, so that I can continue to share music with people who genuinely appreciate it.
Anyway, it was in my dreams last night, probably because of today’s anniversary, so I figured I’d better get it out there and move on.
“Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” have found a new roost at KWAX, awaiting further efforts on my part to expand my Lilliputian empire. To these, I’ve added “Sweetness and Light,” first pitched to WWFM management years ago. But, as with the many, many times I pitched “The Lost Chord” before FINALLY getting the go-ahead, the idea was smilingly received, and then pushed off to the corner of a desk, never to be revisited until I next decided to bring it up. As seen in the excerpt from my email above, I suggested it one last time as a counteroffer to replace my sunsetting shows.
In my experience, any note that begins with “I hope this finds you well” and concludes with “Kind regards” seldom contains good news.
I do not expect to work at WWFM ever again. Those currently in charge would have to leave before I would even consider it. Bullshit and bureaucracy hold no interest for me. I’ve never been a phony. I’ve always been there for the music, rather than personal advancement. So, with nothing to lose, I can sit back and muse at how brilliantly the rotted wood of this bridge can burn.
More broadly, I lament the loss of quality classical music radio, which seems to have been compromised nearly everywhere. I do miss being able to just turn on the radio and being guaranteed to hear some professionally presented programs of engaging music, all uncut and presented as the composer intended.
That’s all for now, I hope you will continue to enjoy “The Lost Chord” (since 2003), “Picture Perfect” (since 2010) and “Sweetness and Light” (since December), by streaming them from their new home at KWAX.
