WMHT-FM & Marianna Cunningham
Donald B Drewecki
It may not be significant to most readers, but I'd like to mention
the recent resignation of Marianna Cunningham as the Director of Radio
at Albany, New York-area's WMHT-FM.
WMHT-FM was one of the finest classical music radio stations in the
United States during the first ten years it was on the air, from
1972-82. In the spring of 1982, Marianna Cunningham was appointed to
head the classical radio station, and four of that station's best
announcers resigned under protest.
In the years that followed, Cunningham switched WMHT over to a "light"
classical format -- no Mahler, Bruckner, choral music, modern music or
Broadway. She put on, and later cancelled, the outstanding "St. Paul
Sunday Morning" program. She eliminated all historic recordings from
airplay rotation. She scaled back live concert recording efforts, and
wiped out WMHT-FM's huge archive of recorded concerts and productions.
She hired ignorant or illiterate announcers who followed her dictates to
the letter, and, in the process, ruined an extraordinary radio station.
Numerous serious music lovers in the Capital District were furious, and
began withholding their pledge monies. Eventually, the station had to
raise funds over longer periods of time, and live, local announcers were
phased out in favor of the Beethoven Satellite Network, especially
during overnights, when WMHT-FM's programming was its most daring.
Last week, Cunningham, so the gossip goes, resigned after nearly 15
years as the director of radio. Well, those of us connoisseurs in the
upstate New York region can only celebrate the departure of someone who
epitomized the "dumbing down" of classical public radio in the U. S. My
hope and prayer is that, with this welcome news, WMHT might actually get
back to its radio mandate -- to "educate" the listening public.
Don Drewecki
<dre...@rpi.edu>
John Berky
Unfortunately, Mr. Drewecki made many assumptions in his newsgroup letter
which were inaccurate. Many of us in public radio admire Marianna for the
work she did.
Too many listeners attempt to place public radio on a pedestal,...to make
us into a shining beacon of intelligence, but then forget that the number
of people this programming attracts is not sufficient to pay the salaries
of the hard working and intelligent and highly educated people needed to
produce the programming. Too bad, but unfortunately, the radio producers
in public radio need to feed their families and hope to give their
children the college education that they received.
Sorry Mr. Drewecki, it just isn't as simple as you make it sound.
JOHN BERKY Radi...@prodigy.com
Connecticut Public Radio
WPKT 90.5 Hartford; WNPR 89.1 Norwich;
WEDW 88.5 Stamford
willi...@aol.com
"Unfortunately, Mr. Drewecki made many assumptions in his newsgroup letter
which were inaccurate. Many of us in public radio admire Marianna for the
work she did."
Well, I'm not one of them. In my opinion, Mr. Drewecki is absolutely
right. WMHT has deteriorated significantly in my 14 years in the Capital
District. Finally (and perhaps belatedly), I decided this year to
discontinue my support.
If the station wants to cater to everyone, it doesn't cater to me and I
won't pay to get the trash it purveys.
William H. Pittman
Gerry Liebling
Donald B Drewecki wrote:
>
> I'd like to mention the recent resignation of Marianna Cunningham
> as the Director of Radio at Albany, New York-area's WMHT-FM.
Gee - I wonder if there's an opening at WFLN. She'd fit right in.
Gerry Liebling
John Berky
As someone who knows Marianna, I find this chain of abuse offensive.
Many of us in public radio share your feelings about classical music, but
feelings don't pay electricity bills, and transmitters eat up thousands
of dollars of electricity every month.
We get letters all the time which say, "until you play more {x} and less
{y}, I won't support you." That's easy to follow, but one person's {X]
is another person's {y} and the list of composers offered up is endless.
Unfortunately, it is the lack of support which has caused stations to
program lighter classics for more casual listening, it is NOT the other
way around. We all wish it were. However, we have seen our listenership
and membership grow by programming music for the NPR news listener, not
for the classical music listener. That may appear to be a subtle
difference, but you are hearing it and we are seeing it in greater
financial support.
I'm sorry to say it but the facts speak for themselves. The loss of
serious classical music on public radio is the result of unstable public
funding. If the funding was there, we would be thrilled to broadcast more
adventurous fare.
Before you blame the demise of serious classical music on public radio
programmers, take a close look in the mirror first and answer this
question seriously...When the station did play the music you enjoyed, did
you support it financially to the level of its true worth to you? Recent
research shows that most people place the value of public radio at $20.
00/month; however few give that much.
At a time when federal funding is going down, public radio's ability to
provide a service to serious classical music listeners is directly and
inseperately linked to the financial support of classical music listeners.
Right now, however, the NPR news listeners, the CAR TALK listeners, and
the PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION listeners are beating you hands down...
So don't blame Marianna, she just saw the writing on the wall along with
the rest of us...she just saw it coming sooner.
Donald B Drewecki
As a matter of fact, we did support WMHT-FM, for the ten years before
Marianna took it over, and before it was certain the station would
succeed. Some of us gave fairly substantial sums of money, because we
enjoyed programming produced and hosted by musicians, music lovers,
record collectors and radio fanatics. WMHT had VERY SUCCESSFUL fund
drives for years before Marianna took over. Marianna did not take a
weak station and turn it into a successful one. She took one of the
finest stations in the U. S., and turned it into classical muzak. She
eliminated live announcers in favor of overnight satellite sources; she
cancelled a program that catered to historical recordings; she canceled
the "St. Paul Sunday" program (the finest classical national radio
program in the nation); she eliminated long music, choral music,
electronic music, Broadway and musicals, documentaries; and -- the
biggest crime of all -- she wiped out WMHT-FM's extensive library of
tapes of concerts and documentaries. At the same time, she collected a
salary rumoured to be close to $60,000/year, and hired announcers like
Eric Willette, who can barely speak English let alone any foreign
language, and Jill Pasternak (who went on to WFLN), who once played the
first movement of Schubert's Unfinished at 45 rpm, and didn't even know
it until nearly the end of the movement.
The facts are clear: WMHT-FM now must spend more time than ever to
raise funds to survive, because Marianna blew away the people who cared
(and put their money where their mouths were) long before she ever
showed up on the scene, and whose support she was willing to discard.
Don Drewecki
<dre...@rpi.edu>
willi...@aol.com
"As someone who knows Marianna, I find this chain of abuse offensive."
As someone who knows what WMHT used to be, I find Marianna's trashing of
it offensive.
As far as the rest goes, I know what sort of support I've given and
consider it adequate. If others don't like the reactions provided on the
Internet, they should stay off the Internet.
William H. Pittman
eac...@aol.com
>> The facts are clear: WMHT-FM now must spend more time than ever to
raise funds to survive, because Marianna blew away the people who cared
(and put their money where their mouths were) long before she ever showed
up on the scene, and whose support she was willing to discard. <<
This syndrome is playing itself over and over in this and other fields.
And the case of WFLN is now pretty well-known, too. In Dallas recently, a
great cafeteria, the Highland Park Cafeteria, went under after a few years
when a new owner removed all the _haute-cuisine_ from the menu that people
lined up for around the block and substituted generic cafeteria stuff. The
result: People stopped coming in droves. Last week, this great institution
folded as a result of its own commercial suicide.
Classical FM stations that take an analogous route are also committing
suicide. Chicago still has the great WFMT, but for how long? --E.A.C.
bani...@aol.com
It's not surprising that Berky is rushing to Cunnigham's defense.
Connecticut Public Radio is a disaster, and Berky dissembles. I grew up in
Connecticut, and in fact got some training at a Bridgeport station that
CPR tried to muscle in on.
And I moved to Schenectady to work at WMHT-FM. I'm one of the four who
quit after the Cunningham appointment--although that hardly was the sole
reason. Cunningham, famed for asking, early on, "What's an elgar?" was a
management pawn. The then-general manager, a Napoleonic despot, was
threatened by those who knew more than he, which meant just about
everybody. So he promoted the second-rate, who'd dance to his tune.
WMHT-FM was in the unique position of being able to concentrate on music
because it shared the market with NPR-affiliate WAMC, which removed the
burden of public affairs programming. While I was there, we not only
presented a varied schedule of intelligent programming, but we also
focused heavily on local events, trying to serve as a backbone for the
musical community. Needless to say, that went by the wayside. Shortly
after I left, the loathsome Karl Haas was heard and it devolved into a
terrible Top 40 playlist.
Berky sounds the typical funding cry of someone who's never been off the
federal tit -- he and the Cunningham types are working tirelessly to help
bury good classical radio once and for all. There are fundraising
alternatives that work wonderfully -- and in Berky's home state, too!
Drewecki may be overstating his case, blaming the messenger too much, but
he's got the right idea.
-- Byron
John Berky
Berky sounds the typical funding cry of someone who's never been off the
>federal tit
Nice choice of words-- It just so happens that CT Public Radio is one of
the leading stations in the country for listener support. Over 66% of our
funding comes directly from listeners. 15% comes from employee matching
gifts and corporate underwriting, 6% comes from special events (opera
tours, record sales, etc.) so our federal bite is about 15% and getting
less significant every day.
This argument has nothing to do with Marianna or me, and too many people
on this newsgroup tend to focus on individuals and not on trends.
You all love your music, so do we (I'm listening to Krenek's 2nd Symphony
on CPO as I write this), but it just doesn't happen unless there is
financial support. The radio producers and orchestra musicians will do
what they can, but they also have bills to pay. Have you noticed how
many orchestras are on strike??? Doesn't that tell you something???
In Europe, the arts are subsidized, in the US, they are not and the
federal cuts to the NEA may have been pointed at the Mapplethorpes of
this world, but they also cut deeply into symphony and opera
organizations as well.
So you can keep putting us up on a pedestal for all to admire, but don't
forget that someone has to pay for the upkeep.
As for my station, we're doing fine. Listenership and membership at an
all time high...so much for disaster.
willi...@aol.com
"So you can keep putting us up on a pedestal for all to admire, but don't
forget that someone has to pay for the upkeep."
Fine. I'm willing to pay for the upkeep if I feel that the station has a
sensible, and classical-oriented, programming approach. It has become more
and more evident that WMHT doesn't, any longer.
I can't speculate on CT Public Radio. All I know is what I hear, and CT
doesn't show up in Schenectady airspace yet.
William H. Pittman