Monday, May 7, 2012

Montheith and Laurenti Out at WUMB


Going back a week and a half or so, talk on the street that Pat Monteith was out as general manager of "Boston's NPR Music Station'" reached the internet last Thursday, first in "A new era?" in Fans of Former Folk Radio WUMB (Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 2:24pm). The rumor was substantiated in Steve Ide's blog entry titled "WUMB assures listeners that there are no plans to change its folk music format".


In a related development, two sources on the same day reported John Laurenti had moved from WUMB to WODS.


John Laurenti Joins Karen Blake For Mornings On WODS
May 3, 2012 at 7:55 AM (PT)
and
CBS ADDS JOHN LAURENTI TO MORNINGS IN BOSTON
5-3-2012






Due to his AAA pop background, Monteith brough Laurenti to WUMB as music director to manage the transition from "Folk Radio WUMB" to the "music mix" format it adopted when it became Boston's third NPR affiliate.


WUMB operates as a professionally managed and operated station under a broadcast licence granted to UMass Boston.


Conspicuously missing. In Sue Scheible's blog article "

Missing Pat Monteith at WUMB (Quincy Ma Patriot-Ledger, May 4, 2012) we read 

But as a folk music friend from Cambridge noted: "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."
Indeed, when WUMB produced a tribute to Dick Pleasants at Sanders Theater, there was much hoopla. If Ms. Monteith's career was esteemed by the UMass administration, why was her departure veiled in secrecy and silence?


The following images of wumb.org were made Monday, May 7.


WUMB HAPPENINGS



Farewell, Levon…
April Centenaries, 2012
A Tribute to Lowell George
It's baseball time!
Earl Scruggs - The Father of Bluegrass Music
She Exemplifies International Women’s Month!
Stuck in Traffic

No comments: