Worcester Art Museum to Host Country Blues Summit, 3/30

Big Jon Short is the man behind the Worcester Art Museum's Country Blues Summit, featuring some of the genres' top artists, including Blues Music Award winning duo Paul Rishell and Annie Raines, acoustic blues icon and 12 string guitar master Paul Geremia, 2012 Boston Music Award winner Erin Harpe, Marylou Ferrante, Big Jon Short and Zack Slik. 

Sunday, March 30:
11:30-12:30 - Renaissance Court - Big Jon Short and Zack Slik
12:00-1:30 - [remastered] - Marylou Ferrante
1:00-2:30 - Renaissance Court - Erin Harpe
2:00-3:00 - [remastered] - Paul Geremia
3:00-4:30 - Renaissance Court - Paul Rishell and Annie Raines

This is part of the KNIGHTS MUSIC FESTIVAL which features electric blues Friday night and Saturday and country (acoustic) blues on Sunday,
When: Friday March 28, Saturday March 29, Sunday March 30, 2014
Where: Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609 
See the full schedule at http://www.worcesterart.org/

4th anniversary of WGBH killing the peoples' music

Today we mark the fourth anniversary of the day the peoples' music died on so-called pubic radio WGBH, Boston. WGBH management terminated "Folk on WGBH" and "Blues on WGBH" at the end of November, 2009, betraying its public mission as well as all members of the folk and blues communities.

"I can only assume this has something to do with the almighty dollar. Isn't this supposed to be public radio and aren't we the public. Folk music has been a mainstay on WGBH for as long as I can remember. Acoustic artists are as popular as ever and in some ways even more popular then in days gone by. I don't get it. WGBH should be ashamed of itself. Well, as Ma Joad said, "We're the people and you can't stop us and you can't lick us. We just keep coming, 'cause we're the people." -Jim Kweskin, 11/11/09

You can learn more at WGBH Drops Folk and Blues Programs from this blog.

You can stay in touch with fellow community members and learn what actions you can take to restore the programs through a discussion group.

Remember WGBH's action when you receive that solicitation envelope or phone call or email. Refuse them! Return the envelope marked "refused, you killed the peoples' music." Tell the paid phone solicitor why and ask your name be removed from their call list and database. Remove yourself from the WGBH mailing list. And it would not hurt to write a letter to the WGBH Board of Trustees, tell them public radio and the airwaves belong to the people, not the bluebloods.

Then consider supporting a community or independent college/community radio station where the volunteer producer/hosts, not the corporations that pull WGBH's strings, determine their program content.

Massachusetts community stations:
WBCR-LP, Great Barrington
WCUW, Worcester
WMCB-LP, Greenfield
WOMR/WFMR, Provincetown
WXOJ-LP, Florence

See a listing of others, including independent college / community hybrids, here.

Share this blog post and a related Facebook event with friends.

A pair of blues greats giving concerts on their own birthdays, how cool is that!

notloB Parlour Concerts presents... 

a pair of

 blues greats giving concerts on their own birthdays!

Dakota Dave Hull
Friday, April 19, 2013

Doors 7:30, Concert 8:00

Preceded by a separate admission workshop*

Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street, Jamaica Plain

“One of the best guitarists in the world.”

—Dave Van Ronk

“Hull is something of a guitar god in his native midwest, where he’s been 

dazzling audiences for over 30 years with his lush finger-picking and quicksilver 

flat-picking. He is also a sly raconteur with an encyclopedic knowledge of vintage 

American music.”

—Scott Alarik, Boston Globe, March 2004

“There’s a million good things I could say about Dave Hull but I’ll narrow it down 

to two: He’s an excellent picker, both flatpick and fingerstyle, he collects some 

fine instruments, and we’ve been at a lot of good places to eat together.”

—Norman Blake

“Hey Dave, thanks for sending me your Loyalty Waltz album. I just put it on to 

use as background music for something I was reading. Damn you, I never read a 

thing. Listened to the whole album straight through. Nice album, my good man. 

Keep on.”

—Geoff Muldaur

Hailed by everyone from Dave Van Ronk to Doc Watson, from the Washington Post to downbeat, Dakota Dave Hull’s guitar style spans a wide musical geography to create an infectious, uniquely personal blend of jazz, ragtime, folk, blues, Western swing, and vintage pop. Dakota Dave is a restlessly curious, adventurous traveler along the broad highway of America’s music. In his playing the masters speak, but in a vocabulary that is Dave’s alone: alternatively mirthful and moving, always melodic.

A gifted composer as well as a strikingly original interpreter of older tunes, Dave calls what he does “classic American guitar.” Folk legend Van Ronk called Dave “one of the best guitarists in the world.”

Most of all, Dakota Dave’s music is great fun. As Douglas Green (Ranger Doug of Riders in the Sky) puts it, “There is an imp within Dave Hull that always expresses itself on the fretboard; a witty, intelligent yet respectful imp who frolics in his music, an imp Dakota Dave neither fights nor lets take control, but simply absorbs into the heart of his style.”

On stage or in the recording studio Dave has performed with Utah Phillips, Doc Watson, Robin and Linda Williams, Dave Van Ronk, John Renbourn, Paul Geremia, Spider John Koerner, Cam Waters, Sally Rogers, Butch Thompson, Peter Ostroushko, Garrison Keillor, and Norman Blake, and many others. His albums include three with early performing partner Sean Blackburn and six solo efforts (the acclaimed Hull’s Victory and Reunion Rag, both on Flying Fish) with four more, New Shirt, Sheridan Square Rag, The Loyalty Waltz and Time Machine on Arabica Records. Airship, a duo album with singer/guitarist/fiddler Pop Wagner was widely praised. His three albums with guitar and mandolin ace Kari Larson (also on Arabica) have become legendary. Most recently, Dave recorded an album of mostly traditional music duets with the noted guitarist Duck Baker, When You Ask a Girl to Leave Her Happy Home.

Dave is a recipient of a 2013 Traditional Arts grant from the Minnesota State Arts board.

*WORKSHOP: "The Art of Making Arrangements" $30 (less 20% JPTC members). RESERVATIONS AND PRE-PAYMENT REQUIRED. Arrive 6:30, workshop 6:45-7:45pm.

"This special workshop from acclaimed guitarist Dakota Dave Hull offers something for all levels of player, either fingerstylist or flatpicker, or both. Some of the things that'll be discussed: Melody, Harmonization, Transposition to other keys and registers, Improvisation, Solo, Playing nicely with others, Backup, Right-hand Technique, Rhythm, and Bringing it all together. We'll also talk some about right-hand technique, that singularly overlooked and incredibly important part of guitar playing, whether with a pick or fingers. Dave will happily try to answer most any questions a participant may have about arranging for the guitar or a group."

CONCERT: Doors 7:30, concert 8-10pm. $20 at the door, $15 in advance. 20% discount for JPTC members + $1 preservation fee. 

COMBINED WORKSHOP AND CONCERT: $10 discount for combined concert + workshop.  

email notlobreservations at gmail dot com

In your reservation request please specify you are reserving for the workshop, the concert, or both.

Coffee from JP Licks

Pastries from Fiores Bakery

Dakota Dave Hull / The Extempore Rag

The Hink

Paul Geremia

Sunday, April 21, 2013 

Doors 6:30, Concert 7:00

A private residence in Watertown

notloB Folk Concerts' 100th concert was supposed to be on the 6th year anniversary (June 2, see below) but when a living legend calls AND it's his birthday, how can one say "no?"
For almost forty years, Paul Geremia has survived solely by the fruit of his musical labours. Having abandoned all other means of support in 1966, he has been travelling far and wide ever since, performing in every capacity from street singing to club and concert bookings, throughout the U.S.A., Canada and Europe.

In the years since, Geremia has built a reputation as a first rate bluesman, songwriter, a "scholar" of early jazz and blues, and one of the best country blues fingerpickers ever with his tools - six and twelve-string guitars, harmonica, piano and a husky soulful voice - and with an innate sense of the humour as well as the drama of the music, he keeps traditional blues fresh and alive with his performances.

Combining his interpretation of the earlier music of people like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Scrapper Blackwell and Blind Blake, with his original compositions, he has created a style which is very much his own and which has received accolades in the U.S.A. and Europe, too numerous to mention.

Geremia's background isn't typical for a bluesman. He is a third generation Italian-American who, as he laughingly puts it, "was born in the Providence River Delta". Growing up in a family that moved across the country and back numerous times weaned his appetite for music, history and travel, which served him well later on.

During the sixties, Paul noticed that the music he had enjoyed playing on harmonica (his first instrument) was now referred to as "Folk Music" and was enjoying popularity. During his short time in agriculture college, he was mostly occupied with learning guitar and hitch-hiking to where the music was. He soon left college and hit the road permanently. He found paying gigs in coffee houses and "basket houses" in cities and at college campuses and made occasional forays South and West in search of the music he loved and what gigs he could find.

During these years, Geremia crossed paths with people whose influences were beneficial to his development and understanding of the tradition. He worked as opening act for some of the early blues "legends" thereby gaining an immeasurable depth of knowledge from people like Babe Stovall, Yank Rachel, Son House, Skip James, Howlin' Wolf, and many others, especially Pink Anderson whose career he helped revitalize.

Geremia has recorded ten solo albums, and has appeared on numerous anthologies and compilation discs. His superb recordings have made him a critical favorite and place him firmly among the legends who inspired and influenced him over the past four decades.

Celebrate Paul's birthday at a house concert in Watertown.

Sunday, April 21, 7pm
$15-20+ suggested donation.
Dessert pot luck.
Reservations are required - notlobreservations@gmail.com
Paul's website
Facebook event

"Tootie Blues"

Called a "national treasure," Paul Geremia is perhaps the greatest living exponent of the East Coast and Texas fingerpicking and slide guitar styles. Here he performs "Tootie Blues," from the newly released DVD "Guitar Artistry of Paul Geremia.

More info at https://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic/home

Dakota Dave Hull Comes to JP April 19

notloB Parlour Concerts presents

Dakota Dave Hull
Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street, JP
Friday, April 19, 2013

Doors 7:30, Concert 8:00

Preceded by a separate admission workshop*

Hailed by everyone from Dave Van Ronk to Doc Watson, from the Washington Post to downbeat, Dakota Dave Hull’s guitar style spans a wide musical geography to create an infectious, uniquely personal blend of jazz, ragtime, folk, blues, Western swing, and vintage pop. Dakota Dave is a restlessly curious, adventurous traveler along the broad highway of America’s music. In his playing the masters speak, but in a vocabulary that is Dave’s alone: alternatively mirthful and moving, always melodic.

A gifted composer as well as a strikingly original interpreter of older tunes, Dave calls what he does “classic American guitar.” Folk legend Van Ronk called Dave “one of the best guitarists in the world.”

Most of all, Dakota Dave’s music is great fun. As Douglas Green (Ranger Doug of Riders in the Sky) puts it, “There is an imp within Dave Hull that always expresses itself on the fretboard; a witty, intelligent yet respectful imp who frolics in his music, an imp Dakota Dave neither fights nor lets take control, but simply absorbs into the heart of his style.”

On stage or in the recording studio Dave has performed with Utah Phillips, Doc Watson, Robin and Linda Williams, Dave Van Ronk, John Renbourn, Paul Geremia, Spider John Koerner, Cam Waters, Sally Rogers, Butch Thompson, Peter Ostroushko, Garrison Keillor, and Norman Blake, and many others. His albums include three with early performing partner Sean Blackburn and six solo efforts (the acclaimed Hull’s Victory and Reunion Rag, both on Flying Fish) with four more, New Shirt, Sheridan Square Rag, The Loyalty Waltz and Time Machine on Arabica Records. Airship, a duo album with singer/guitarist/fiddler Pop Wagner was widely praised. His three albums with guitar and mandolin ace Kari Larson (also on Arabica) have become legendary. Most recently, Dave recorded an album of mostly traditional music duets with the noted guitarist Duck Baker, When You Ask a Girl to Leave Her Happy Home.

Dave is a recipient of a 2013 Traditional Arts grant from the Minnesota State Arts board.

For more information about the concert and separate admission "The Art of Making Arrangements" workshop and making reservations, go to https://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic/

Other upcoming concerts:

February 23 - Fellswater – notloB @ LGH    

March 5 - Richard Wood and Gordon Belsher @ Johnny D's

March 9 - Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and Catherine Bowness w/ George Clements – Celtic Fiddle, bluegrass banjo and guitar accompaniment workshops (registration required) and concert @ LGH

Blues Living Legend PAUL GEREMIA to Tour the Northeast

It's not every day that one gets a phone call from a living legend, but that happened to me this evening. On the other end was the one and only Red House Records recording artist and notloBBer (4/20/12) Paul Geremia.

One of the outcomes is I offered

to help spread the word of his upcoming Northeast bookings, which, to our benefit, are many:
08/17 - Amazing Things Art Center - Framingham, MA
08/25 - The Gas Light - New York, NY
09/30 - THe Last Green Fest - Brooklyn, CT Fairgrounds
10/13 - Stone Soup Coffee House - Pawtucket, RI
10/27 - The Bull Run - Shirley, MA
11/03 - The Vanilla Bean - Pomfret, CT
11/17 - Common Fence Point Center - Portsmouth, RI
11/30 - Cafe Lena - Saratoga Springs, NY
12/08 - The Sandy Woods Concert Series - Tiverton, RI

Go to Paul's website - http://www.paulgeremia.org/ - for more information.

www.paulgeremia.org

www.paulgeremia.org

Folk, Blues, Classical and Jazz Funeral for Passed WGBH Music Programs, Copley Plaza, 7/27

Hundreds of jazz musicians and fans turned out at the "public" radio WGBH studios in Brighton this past Thursday to hold a funeral for the reduction of WGBH jazz programming. 


A second funeral, not limited to just the passing of jazz, is planned for Friday, July 27, starting at 6pm, in Copley Plaza. Fans of all passed and endangered music forms (folk and blues were killed in 2009, classical was shuffled off to an inferior carrier in 2010, and there is no guarantee from WGBH management that Celtic, the only remaining form, will not be next) are expected.  The second funeral will be held in conjunction with the Boston Summer Arts Weekend, which is sponsored in part by WGBH. A bit of irony is that with Steve Schwartz terminated after 27 years of service and Eric Jackson's (30 years) program reduced and moved from weeknights to weekends, some WGBH blueblood will have to emcee the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as there are no remaining jazz staff available.


For more information about the funeral, click here.

Read more about the July 5 funeral here.
Read more about WGBH reducing jazz programs in 2012 here.
Read more about WGBH dropping folk and blues programs in 2009 here

The New England Folk Festival Comes to Somerville

Showcase concert to feature NEFFA artists Lynn Noel, Corvus, Wear My Letter and Marylou Ferrante

Somerville - Although the New England Folk Festival has been around since 1944 and in April will present its 68^th annual edition in Mansfield, “NEFFA” (the “a” stands for “association”) is not necessarily, to the general populace, a household word. To increase public awareness, and to entice new patrons to the festival, the non-profit educational and cultural organization, whose mission is “to encourage, sponsor, and preserve high standards of performance of the folk arts and traditions in New England and elsewhere” will present in Somerville a pre-festival “showcase” concert featuring a representative sample of four distinct music genres that are typically found at the festival.

“The festival is well known to and attended by those already connected with folk arts, and NEFFA produces a weekly contradance series at the Scout House in Concord. But at our 2011 retreat and subsequent meetings, the board of directors decided that more could be done to bring folk music to the community,” said Jeff Boudreau, who serves on the NEFFA board.

The New England Folk Festival has many components: folk arts and crafts; folk music, including concerts, workshops, and jams; International Dance Performance in traditional costumes; Ritual Dance Performances; and participatory dancing, including International line dance, Couple dance, and Contra/Sqaure dancing and other traditional dance forms. When NEFFA says “folk” it means “folk”. “The general public often confuses “contemporary” singer-songwriter music with folk music, NEFFA presents the real deal, the kind of music and dance that has been handed down from generation to generation. The showcase will present an opportunity to experience a taste of what NEFFA has to offer.

“Using the roster of some 400+ artists who will be performing April 20-22 in Mansfield, we selected four distinct musical genres to present at the showcase,” The four acts, all residents of the Commonwealth, are Lynn Noel - solo voice/group sing, Marylou Ferrante - pre-war blues, Wear My Letter - old-time music and Corvus – Celtic. “With a deep talent pool, it was very difficult to select just a few performers for the showcase. We hope that this concert becomes a tradition each year, so that we can feature different performers.

The NEFFA Showcase will be presented at Unity, 6 William Street (near Davis Square), Somerville, MA. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for NEFFA members. The 68^th annual New England Folk Festival will be presented April 20-22 at the Mansfield, MA Junior and Senior High Schools. Membership, showcase and festival information and tickets are available at http://neffa.org.  Information is available by calling the NEFFA office, (617) 299-1590.

In addition to his duties as a NEFFA director, Boudreau also hosts a folk music program on community radio WCUW in Worcester (91.3fm, http://wcuw.org/). NEFFA showcase and festival specials will air on Tuesday, March 20, Tuesday, April 3, and Tuesday, April 17th. Watch the NEFFA and WCUW websites for more information.

SHOWCASE ARTISTS

CORVUS

Genre: Celtic

Website: http://seansmithmusic.webs.com/corvus.html
Biography: Corvus is a trio of Boston-area musicians who play traditional Irish tunes and songs on a somewhat unlikely but quite pleasing combination of instruments. Emily Peterson (concertina, flute) has been a self-taught concertina player since 1996, learning Irish tunes in sessions while moving around the US for school and her day job in optical physics. Steve Levy (tenor banjo, mandolin, bouzouki, lead vocals) fell in love with Irish music during the 1970s and went on to study with eminent Boston-area musicians such as Peter Maguire, John McGann, Matt Heaton, and the late Tony Cuffe. Sean Smith (guitar, bouzouki, bodhran, lead vocals) began playing traditional Irish, Scottish and English music as a teenager, and since then has appeared, solo or in various collaborations, at various coffeehouses, festivals and other venues around Massachusetts and New England.

Lynn Noel 

Genre: Solo voice/group sing

Website: http://homepage.mac.com/lynnoel/

Biography: Noel celebrates a sense of place in song and story through bluewater and whitewater music. She captures the spirit and joie de vivre of the voyageurs, the raw energy of working chanteys from the days of sail, the exploits of adventurous women from Vikings and pirates to industrial mill girls, and the magic of the seasonal round in ritual dance and drama.

Marylou Ferrante

Genre: Pre-war blues

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marylou-Ferrante/141951529188772

Biography: Ferrante was described by music critic and writer, Daniel Gewertz, in the Boston Herald, as the Bay State's finest female acoustic blues interpreter. Performing pre-war blues from the 1920's & 30's, she covers major artists from the delta to east coast Piedmont style players such as Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Blind Boy Fuller and Memphis Minnie along with mandolin players such as Yank Rachell. Her passionate expression of these old songs comes from a love of the music and the arrangements themselves, as well as what she says is an appreciation for "the history of these folks and the difficult circumstances they endured." Marylou has honed her craft listening to the old recordings and learning from some of the great blues players today such as Paul Rishell, Guy Davis, Robert Jones and mandolin great Rich Del Grosso. Marylou has taught at The Cellar Studio, Salem MA.

"Marylou is a killer. I have watched her grow, and now she's taking over. Blues lovers look out!" ~GUY DAVIS

"Marylou has the soul of a blues woman." ~Detroit's Blues Man ROBERT JONES

Wear My Letter 

Genre: Old-time

Website: http://www.wearmyletter.com/

Biography: Wear My Letter is comprised of musicians Justin Nawn and Bronwyn Bird. Natives of Doylestown PA, they are now Boston based, adding their unique sound to the city's diverse music scene. As multi-instrumentalists they hit the stage with an arsenal of instruments, including the nyckleharpa (swedish keyed-fiddle), mandolin, accordion and guitar. Justin's background in Rock/Pop music is combined with Bronwyn's love of early Jazz and traditional folk from Scandinavia and Appalachia, creating a fresh and original style that all audiences can enjoy!

NEFFA Showcase Concert Featuring Lynn Noel, Corvus, Wear My Letter and Marylou Ferrante

Friday, March 23 – 8:00pm

Unity Somerville, 6 William Street (corner College Ave, just north of Davis Square), Somerville

$15, $10 NEFFA members (join at neffa.org or at the concert).

Lynn Noel - Solo voice/group sing - http://homepage.mac.com/lynnoel/

Marylou Ferrante - Pre-war blues - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marylou-Ferrante/141951529188772

Wear My Letter - Old-time - http://www.wearmyletter.com/

Corvus -  Celtic - http://seansmithmusic.webs.com/corvus.html

NEFFA Info/tickets - http://neffa.org/

Concert website - http://concerts.neffa.org/

Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-England-Folk-Festival-Association-NEFFA/120214314744779

Facebook event - https://www.facebook.com/events/189275524510773/

Dinner and a Show 

Concert patrons can save 10% when they bring proof of concert reservation to The House of Tibet Kitchen, 235 Holland Street, Somerville - 617-629-7567.

Patrons who make a dinner reservation and show proof of concert attendance (printed confirmation) will be entitled to 10% off their dinner bill.  Tax and tip not included.

To receive the discount, make a reservation and identify yourself as attending the NEFFA showcase.

More information about the Showcase and tickets here. 

Blues benefit for community radio WCUW, 11/26, Worcester

Information provided by Shakey Jake and the Blue Vibrations


Proceeds from the night will go to support Worcester community radio station WCUW programming. This station plays solid Blues in the early evening on Thursday and Friday. You can listen online as well at http://www.wcuw.org/

"Shakey Jake and the Blue Vibrations" will be playing along with "Shakey Ground" and "Charley Dee and the Blues Doctrine". Come on out for a night of great music for a great cause where you can dance off the Thanksgiving dinner you might have digested by then! :-D

Time	26 November at 20:30
Location	Gilrein's 802 Main St. Worcester, MA

On the demise of folk, blues and classical on WGBH-fm. one year on.

Has it been one year already?  Time flies, and so are their executives' (note labor is working without a contract and management wants their union to make salary concessions), but WGBH-fm's ratings certain are not.

Jim Kweskin shared this observation early on:     "I can only assume this has something to do with the almighty dollar. Isn't this supposed to be public radio and aren't we the public. Folk music has been a mainstay on WGBH for as long as I can remember. Acoustic artists are as popular as ever and in some ways even more popular then in days gone by. I don't get it. WGBH should be ashamed of itself. Well, as Ma Joad said, "We're the people and you can't stop us and you can't lick us. We just keep coming, 'cause we're the people."
-Jim Kweskin, November 11, 2009.

In commemoration, we recommend you read this post from the Boston Music Intelligencer (a blog of classical music), in which Lee Eiseman writes scathingly of the format change at ‘GBH one year later:

“Accountability and transparency are two of our watchwords . . .” according to the WGBH website, except seemingly when management doesn’t like BMInt’s questions.
Within the last few days, according to sources I believe to be knowledgeable, WCRB station manager Jon Solins resigned (effective next month). He was one of the prime architects of the new All-Classical WCRB. On the WGBH radio side management just posted an opening for a new program director in order, according to an industry expert, to help that station improve its dismal performance in building listenership and differentiating itself from WBUR.
In their apparent quest for WBUR’s 400% higher audience share, WGBH radio has elected to duplicate WBUR’s NPR program during about 36 hours of every week. The FCC awarded WGBH radio its potent clear channel in order to serve a disadvantaged public. Since listeners can hear NPR on many outlets, is there any current justification for making such a claim to the FCC? This redundancy of programming also creates an unfortunate waste of resources — natural and financial. WGBH radio’s 100,000 watt transmitter (consuming about 40 kw per hour at the mains) also requires the emission of a rather large carbon footprint. About 200 lbs of coal equivalent per hour or 14 tons per month are burned for this duplication of services — not a very green enterprise.
The readers of The Boston Musical Intelligencer have responded to our coverage of the changes in classical music broadcasting in Boston like no other topic. It has generated much debate and many hits and comments. So as the anniversary of the changes approaches, we are revisiting the consequences of the move of classical music broadcasting from Boston’s powerful 100 kw WGBH radio to Lowell’s 27 kw coverage-challenged WCRB, eliminating clear reception to most of downtown Boston and to the south and east.  BMInt hopes that this article will foster useful discussion.

Has the change wrought new gains for the stations, brought fans flocking to the “revitalized” format?

So how is the WGBH radio strategy working nearly a year later? Average daily adult rating figures obtained from the marketing department of another radio station in Boston show that in the eleven months since the multi-million dollar changes, WCRB has lost one-third of its listeners while WGBH’s listenership has been flat. Of greater Boston’s average daily audience of 4,300,000, WGBH’s share hovers at 1% and WCRB’s has dropped from 3% to 2% — a loss of almost 40,000 daily listeners. The rival WBUR has retained its 4% share.
WGBH Audience Survey Reports show that 25% of respondents think classical programming on WCRB is dumbed-down, 25% think the programming is too demanding, 25% report that they are happy that classical broadcasting still exists in Boston and 25% complain about reception issues, according to sources whose veracity I respect.
But beyond statistics, redundancy and wastefulness, there are issues of content, coverage and finance that continue to nag.
Some months after the changes, the quality of WCRB programming has been improving from the perspective of former WGBH listeners even as one-third of the former WCRB listeners have abandoned the station (according to rating numbers). Yet there seem to be fewer live performances and fewer on-location recordings than on the former some-classical WGBH. Indeed, All-Classical WCRB is also seemingly resorting more often to re-broadcasting locally recorded music from its archives rather than offering newly produced programming, though we have not been able to get accurate statistics. Public broadcasting should support its local community, which WGBH formerly did so very well with its peripatetic recording engineers and luxe Fraser Performance Center, in support of Greater Boston’s vibrant classical music scene. We nevertheless remain hopeful that WCRB, when it can increase its signal coverage, boost its recordings of local artists and reduce its dependency on syndicated programming, will once again honor its local mission rather than functioning as a mere jukebox.

Not quite. At least part of the complaint is due to the problematic signal of WCRB — and the answer ‘GBH pencil pushers have arrived at involves buying another station, WPLM in Plymouth:

With that station out of the way and no longer requiring protection from interference, WCRB could increase power and change the antenna pattern to get more signal to the south and east in areas they no longer reach. Or alternatively it could simulcast WCRB on WPLM. The same industry analyst speculated that the reason for moving classical music to WCRB rather than news and public affairs was that classical listeners are much more generous than news listeners and would be much more likely to respond if a debt-ridden WGBH management came back to them with requests for contributions to buy yet another station. Radio stations are seen as bargains at this time, and classical listeners are seen as generous enablers.
Thus it should be no surprise that sources within WGBH tell me that in terms of donations, WCRB is the tail wagging the WGBH dog, maintaining that WCRB’s listener contributions are running four to five times higher than WGBH radio’s. WCRB’s spring fundraiser was evidently the best ever for a WGBH-owned radio station. What does that say for classical listeners as a breed?
The WGBH glossy Annual Report — which, it must be noted, is not an official filing document  —has a couple of interesting facts: 48% of revenues come from listener/viewer support, and 6% of all revenues go to support radio. That’s about $12 million of $200 million total revenue. Since nearly half of WGBH revenue comes from “viewers/listeners like [us],” we have a stake in what’s broadcast and we should make our voices heard, both in praise and criticism. The cautionary admonition to me from a WGBH director, “Gentlemen don’t criticize WGBH,” certainly raised journalistic hackles.

Hoo, boy! Where have we heard that before? It’s not our business how they spend money donated by listeners and fronted by the government? You might as well be requesting financial disclosure of the CIA.

Repeated calls and email requests to top management for fact-checking and responses for this article have met with “….we respectfully decline” to answer BMInt’s questions. It is therefore impossible, using financial statements available to the public to tease out official numbers pertaining to radio alone, let alone to compare expenses and donations between WCRB and WGBH. These numbers should not be treated as proprietary by a publicly supported entity, but rather as WGBH often says, “…shared with the world.”
Forced to make its own analysis of WGBH finances based on publicly available reports, BMInt’s troubling conclusion is that the WGBH Foundation had a $21 million loss in their fiscal year ending in August 2009 and doubled its payment of debt service from 3% to 5.8% of total expenses in the past two years. As per the 2009 IRS Form 990 reporting, and before additional debt was incurred for the purchase of WCRB, debt was 33% of net assets versus 0% for New York City’s WNET and .5% for Washington, DC’s WETA. BMInt’s spreadsheet [downloadable here] provides a detailed analysis of the situation at the WGBH Foundation with names redacted. The website Guidestar offers much more financial data than we are able to present here.
Meanwhile, WGBH’s organized labor is apparently working without a contract and management is reportedly asking for concessions even as the top twenty employees continue to get raises.

And as one R. C. Knox commented:

Whether its numbers are going up or down, CRB is irrelevant for those of us who live in parts of the city or greater Boston who cannot receive it. A year later, the essential point is that GBH, a so-called public radio station with a strong signal, no longer brings the public any classical music. The damage to the region’s cultural life is immense. There are many other good options for news and information. For most of us, there are no good alternatives to the high-quality classical music programming GBH used to provide. No one in the mainstream media has even told this story. It’s a shame that classical music listeners, who are more “generous” contributors, didn’t make a bigger stink. We’ve canceled our membership. If everyone stopped contributing — and that includes to CRB — the soulless suits who run the place might get the message.

And in a long, highly engaging comment, Romy the Cat ventured this:

I can give literally a thousand critical points of what WCRB does wrong (in my view) starting from retarded hyper-cheerful woman who spin con-bravura marches in major key at 6AM in a morning and ending with absolute contribution non-transparency. But the short point of those thousands and one complains is that somebody who runs WCRB does not really like or understand what they are doing. A year ago John Voci bravely brought himself to public as a front face of the new WCRB. I do not know if he truly “owns” WCRB or if he is just a well-oiled clerk in a large machinery of NPR lubrication. Regardless who he is, from the comment he made is was self-evident that he has nothing personally vested in classical music and no specific personal interests the station specialty. I am sure that if tomorrow somebody above him would decide to make WCRB dedicated to art of yodeling then Mr. Voci’s outlook would not be affected. Again, I do not know who is responsible for it but I know that I would like to see a person who is in charge of decision making for Boston classical musical station to have personal vested interest in classical music and in the using public broadcasting for advancement of classical music. You would never have a butcher who hate meet and you would never have a fat personal trainer. Why wouldn’t we permit the same in people who run out public radio. To love what you do — it is a too demanding requirement?

Comments?  For readers who use Facebook, a link to the Intelligencer's essay has been placed in WGBH radio's fan page.  And/or in the original Intelligencer article.