I refer readers to NEFolknRoots article #6202, posted December 9, 2008, published when WUMB began re-branding itself away from "folk radio" towards AAA "music mix", playing pop music and "cancelling" (sic, WUMB's spelling) the folk festival. The premise was that if the festival were to be brought back it would be under some other name that excluded the word "folk" as the music presented would be something else.
Re: Boston Folk Festival canceled
It could be a strategy to dump WUMB's folk legacy.
I predict there will be a 2009 WUMB-sponsored festival, but it will be billed as the "Boston Pop (or insert a word meaning AAA) Festival", with
artists from those listed in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NorthEastFolknRoots/message/6195
Last year's indoor festival was titled "Boston Folk Festival" but this year it is being referred to, in the UMass Boston calendar and recent on-air announcements, as the...
WUMB Music Festival (1/ 1)
| Date/Time: | Saturday, June 5, 2010, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM | |||
| Location: |
| |||
| Organization: | Radio Station WUMB | |||
| Requestor: | Monteith, Pat  7-6900 | |||
 Current and future activities | |||||
| Date | Time | Location | Comments | ||
| Songwriting Contest-Lipke | Saturday, June 5, 2010 | 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM | S02-0003A | ||
| NEED TO ADD Ryan Lounge | Sunday, June 6, 2010 | 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM | Soccer/Lacrosse field | ||
| Music Festival | Sunday, June 6, 2010 | 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM | |||
And as a further reminder to the UMass Boston administration, WUMB management and all taxpayers who fund both, the WUMB mission statement has not changed since the rebranding efforts began. It mandates WUMB is to be a FOLK and ROOTS station and the UMass Boston festival is to be a FOLK festival. Copied 3/28/10:
Serving radio listeners, particularly the folk and roots music audience, through WUMB-FM, the university's public radio station; and promoting WUMB-FM and its relationship to UMass Boston. Through WUMB, producing such activities as Summer Acoustic Music Week in New Hampshire and the Boston Folk Festival on the UMass Boston campus.
MR. UMASS BOSTON CHANCELLOR, WHEN MS. MONTEITH'S FAILED AAA EXPERIMENT
| S-09 | O-09 | N-09 | D-09 | Holiday | J-10 | F-10 | |
| Est | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| % cume | 59300 | 44300 | 33500 | 52300 | 54600 | 52900 | 41300 |
| Source | |||||||
...IS OVER, CAN WE PLEASE HAVE OUR FOLK STATION AND FOLK FESTIVAL BACK?
==============
Update 3/29/10
Further evidence that the former Boston Folk Festival is now the WUMB Music Festival, from boston.com
WUMB Music Festival at University of Massachusetts Boston - Boston.com
Find info about WUMB Music Festival, happening on June 5 at University of Massachusetts Boston. Location: Science Center, second floor, Herbert Lipke ...
calendar.boston.com/boston-ma/
WUMB Music Festival
Saturday, June 5 6:00p to 9:00p
at University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 287-5000
Age Suitability: None Specified
Tags:
Location: Science Center, second floor, Herbert Lipke Auditorium (0003A)
Caveat: zvents.com hosts the UMass calendar, this may be an automatic/bot creation in boston.com.
============
A tip o' the hat to Ron Newman, who provided this confirmation on 3/31:
From: Ron Newman
To: WUMB ; Pat Monteith
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 1:26 PM
Subject: no more 'Folk' in 'Boston Folk Festival' ?
I read that you have changed the name of the festival so that it no longer contains the word 'folk' -- is this true?
http://notlobmusic.blogspot.com/2010/03/boston-folk-festival-rebranded-as-wumb.html
------
and got back this reply:
Hello Ron,
The music festival we are holding in June, in partnership with other campus departments during UMass Boston's Commencement week activities, is not being called the Boston Folk Festival. However, we encourage you to check out our announcement next Tuesday of the Festival's line-up, to determine for yourself if the event is consistent with the talent we have brought in during past Folk Festivals.
Thanks for your interest. We hope that when you hear who's playing, you'll want to attend.
Regards,
Pat Monteith
General Manager
WUMB Radio
=============
Added 4/3/10.
Copied from the WUMB website:
4.1.10 | Festival Line-Up to be announced on Tueday
The WUMB Music Festival moves to Sunday, June 6th from Noon-7:00pm at the UMass Boston campus -- and goes back to having a large outdoor stage! They'll be two additional indoor stages. It's going to be a great day. The Line-Up will be announced on WUMB this Tuesday, April 6th at 9:00am and tickets will go on sale then, also. Big ticket price discounts to members on Tues & Wed. More details on Tuesday here.
Notice the cheesy logo.
They took the old one
...replaced the dreadnaught with an f-hole archtop, reworked the colors a bit and deleted the words "Boston Folk"
.
The WUMB Music Festival moves to Sunday, June 6th from Noon-7:00pm at the UMass Boston campus -- and goes back to having a large outdoor stage! They'll be two additional indoor stages. It's going to be a great day. The Line-Up will be announced on WUMB this Tuesday, April 6th at 9:00am and tickets will go on sale then, also. Big ticket price discounts to members on Tues & Wed. More details on Tuesday here.
Notice the cheesy logo.
They took the old one
.
7 comments:
Could this be a separate and different event? Whether outdoors or in, the Boston Folk Festival has always been in September.
"the Boston Folk Festival has always been in September."
That is true, but not 2010.
"As a result, we have decided to utilize some of the outdoor stages with tent-covered seating, that the Campus will be setting up for Commencement activitites the first weekend in June...."
"Activitites"?
Source - http://www.bostonfolkfestival.org/
I sent this e-mail to WUMB:
--------------
From: Ron Newman
To: WUMB ; Pat Monteith
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 1:26 PM
Subject: no more 'Folk' in 'Boston Folk Festival' ?
I read that you have changed the name of the festival so that it no longer contains the word 'folk' -- is this true?
http://notlobmusic.blogspot.com/2010/03/boston-folk-festival-rebranded-as-wumb.html
------
and got back this reply:
Hello Ron,
The music festival we are holding in June, in partnership with other campus departments during UMass Boston's Commencement week activities, is not being called the Boston Folk Festival. However, we encourage you to check out our announcement next Tuesday of the Festival's line-up, to determine for yourself if the event is consistent with the talent we have brought in during past Folk Festivals.
Thanks for your interest. We hope that when you hear who's playing, you'll want to attend.
Regards,
Pat Monteith
General Manager
WUMB Radio
The list of performers is now online at http://bostonfolkfestival.org/performers.html . Looks like a pretty 'folky' lineup to me. The eventfront page uses the word 'folk' four times in one paragraph, so I don't understand why they needed to change the event name.
Tickets are $25, or $18 for WUMB members, if you buy them on April 7. I think prices go up after that day.
"I don't understand why they needed to change the event name."
That answers is simple.
1. WUMB wants to have its cake and eat it, too.
They outwardly distance themselves by using terms such as "WUMB music mix" in place of folk, yet their monthly e-newsletter remains "Folk Ripples." 2+ years after the format switch a google search of WUMB still returns "WUMB Public Radio - Boston Folk Music Radio
WUMB WBPR WFPB WNEF Radio | University of Massachusetts 100 Morrissey Boulevard Boston MA 02125-3393 Office: (617)287-6900 Studio: (800)573-2100 ...
www.wumb.org/ ......"
2. WUMB is managed by the gang that cannot shoot straight. In 2008 I predicted the festival would be re-branded, replacing the word "folk" from the festival. But it seems its marketing team did not fully read or comprehend the "scrub" memo as its lead bullet reads "A world class Folk Festival in your own backyard...", Wait a day or two, after reading this they will realize the mistake and that too will be replaced.
As far as the "folkiness" of the lineup, our definitions must differ. 80-90% of the artists are, in my opinion, of the "singer-songwriter" variety.
Remember what Geoff Muldaur, one of the scheduled performers, says: "The whole singer-songwriter thing has blurred the lines...A person standing there with a guitar is not necessarily playing folk music, but they are presented as a folk musician..."
If only WUMB would either live up to its charter, or petition UMass Boston to change it.
Source: http://www.umb.edu/administration/enrollment_services/overview.html
"Serving radio listeners, particularly the folk and roots music audience, through WUMB-FM, the university's public radio station; and promoting WUMB-FM and its relationship to UMass Boston. Through WUMB, producing such activities as Summer Acoustic Music Week in New Hampshire and the Boston Folk Festival on the UMass Boston campus."
WAIT A MINUTE, THERE'S THAT PESKY "F" WORD AGAIN!
The Boston Folk Festival used to sell square buttons each year with a different logo on them. The yellow-background logo is from the 2005 button. The "cheesy logo" with the blue background is actually the 2006 button, but with the words "2006 BOSTON FOLK" removed. It only lasted a day or two on the site, and has now been replaced with this:
http://bostonfolkfestival.org/images/ButtnClr-200.JPG
I still have all of the buttons from 2000 to 2006, plus one without a year that I think was from 1998 or 1999. I plan to wear them to this year's event, as a statement that they should change the name back.
More fuzzy math...and will it really last SIX+ months?
In order for something to be the nth annual, do there not first need to be predecessors?
"Boston Folk Festival" name has morphed again. First rebranded as "WUMB Music Festival" now, in Craigslist, it has become "The 13th annual WUMB Music Festival"
"The 13th annual WUMB Music Festival returns to the UMass Boston campus on Sunday June 6th from noon700 pm Attendees will hear music on three different ..."
boston.craigslist.org/gbs/eve/1691677237.html
While in Craigslist, read the heading, "6/6-12/31: WUMB Music Festival (UMass Boston Campus)", does anyone really think it will last 6+ months as advertised? That would be one hell of a festival!
At least the Craigslist ad does not state it will have 9 stages.
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