I am reluctant to direct anyone to the WWFM website at this point, after having been treated so shabbily. However, I wanted to let you know, if you are a fan of “Picture Perfect” or “The Lost Chord,” that webcasts of my recorded shows have been brought up to date and will remain accessible there for an undetermined amount of time.
This is not the same as indefinitely. As soon as upper management gets around to it, they will be removed. So it could be a week, or they could last the summer, or it could take six months. Certainly, as the shows begin to gain traction elsewhere, I will want them taken down myself. In the meantime, you can listen to them here:
PICTURE PERFECT
https://www.wwfm.org/show/picture-perfect-with-ross-amico
THE LOST CHORD
https://www.wwfm.org/show/the-lost-chord-with-ross-amico
If you haven’t heard the news, both have been dropped from the WWFM on-air line-up, as part of a bewildering and characteristically slow-moving shake-up. Their inherent qualities aside, both have amassed large followings on the strength of their longevity alone, with “Picture Perfect,” the movie music show, a presence on the station for 13 years, and “The Lost Chord,” devoted to unusual and neglected music, running for 20.
With only ten days’ notice, I was contacted by the station manager via email and told that the shows would be “sunsetting” at the end of April. (Then, for some reason, “Picture Perfect” ran for another two weeks beyond the stated time.) I was given a Hobson’s choice to continue “Picture Perfect” on a once-a-month basis, to be aired in rotation with three other shows on Friday evenings at 6:00. All episodes would be newly-recorded. Should I be amenable to this, I would have the privilege of producing them without pay. I was given a week to get back to them with my decision. (Did this mean I would be permitted, finally, after three years, to come in and use the station facilities?)
Obviously, for a professional broadcaster whose show had run weekly for 13 years, the terms were unacceptable. Matters of exploitation aside (nothing new at the station, unfortunately), the show would be lost in a rotating line-up. How do you build and hold onto an audience when you’re only on the air for an hour the first Friday of every month?
I hasten to add, despite my disappointment, I sent a temperately-worded response, hoping to keep the channels open for the possibility of future collaboration, but in turn I received, after two weeks, what was essentially a Dear John letter.
All the same, webcast audio for the the recent shows, especially, has been brought up to date. I also now have copies of every sound file in my possession, so I will begin promoting and distributing to other markets, with the possibility of getting the shows on another local terrestrial radio station.
To further ensure their rehabilitation, I have ordered recording equipment so that I can begin supplementing archival material with newly-produced programs, which I have been chafing to do, especially as my collection and contacts have continued to grow for three otherwise stagnant years, as I was led to believe I would be welcomed back into the WWFM studios. And certainly I have no shortage of ideas.
Thankfully, in the meantime, the shows ARE syndicated. For now, I have a foothold at KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon. You can listen to them there at the following times, with East Coast conversions in parentheses:
PICTURE PERFECT – Fridays on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)
THE LOST CHORD – Saturdays on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)
KWAX is an excellent station that demonstrates evident respect for everything it broadcasts, presenting the music complete, and with minimal chatter. Do make it a point to check out their programming, especially during the week. After three years of classical radio swamp gas in central New Jersey, it’s like a breath of fresh air. The station manager? Fellow WWFM exile Peter Van de Graaff.
Whatever my future success, having been associated with the station for 28 years, it’s hardly surprising that I view the handling of the entire situation by upper management as a betrayal, of both me and the shows’ listeners and supporters. And it would be one thing (two things?) if it were only MY shows, but the entire station is seemingly in free-fall.
Remember, if you’re not happy with the changes the station has undergone in the past few years, it’s not too late for you to voice your dissatisfaction.
WWFM announced the cancellation of “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” (along with Carl Hemmingsen’s “Half Past”) on its Facebook page, WWFM The Classical Network, on May 13. You can scroll down to the relevant post after following the link.
https://www.facebook.com/wwfmtheclassicalnetwork
But if you really want to reach the top, consider emailing the station manager at alice@wwfm.org.
Don’t believe it if they blame the changes on finances. Live on-air hosts cost money, for sure, but none of us have been paid for our recorded shows for a long, long time, well-predating the pandemic. To cancel a popular show like “Picture Perfect” and to drop “The Lost Chord” from a Sunday-at-10 p.m. timeslot – not exactly prime real estate, but a great cult slot – demonstrates a baffling lack of awareness. What’s airing at those times now? More canned music from that service in Minnesota.
I’m pretty confident that it’s because of listener blowback from good people like you that the webcasts are being kept up for the moment. So thank you to those of you who have already come forward. Don’t think that your complaints don’t make a difference. Even if the shows are not restored, management should know when it’s made an unpopular decision, even as it continues to circle the drain.
The one silver lining is that it looks like the station finally removed that horrible looking photo of me from its website, thank goodness. Lord, how I hated that photo.
I thank WWFM for all the opportunities it has afforded me over the years to share great music with an incalculable number of listeners. And thank YOU for being among them. I am sorry for all of us that it is not the same quality classical music station it was 28 years ago.
On the bright side, there’s nowhere to go but up. Excelsior!
