WETS, a real stalwart on the classical scene for 34 years is switching over its weekdays to all talk, according to station manager Wayne Winkler. You can read about it here. Winkler says you can get music from so many sources: CDs, MP3 players, satellite radio…
I wonder how WETS’s abandoned classical listeners are going to feel about the change next Monday. It’s not as though Eastern Tennessee has a lot of classical channels to choose from. Winkler says he is reinventing radio to evolve with the times.
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I’m sure that the station manager there has thought it through, but aren’t we all trying to adapt to a changing media market? Is “going ‘All Talk'” the only answer? I’m sure that we at All Classical here in Portland OR aren’t alone in looking for ways to better serve the community with a more vibrant and vital classical station, one that fits the lifestyles and needs of its listeners, rather than finding a way to keep the lights on by following the usual course and switching formats.
John Pitman
Music Director/on-air morning host/producer All Classical Public Media, Inc.
I was raised in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, and WETS was the key reason I ended up becoming an orchestra teacher. The morning music show was full of eclectic and interesting repertoire (it was the first place I heard Korngold – every morning, in fact, as the third movement of his Violin Concerto was the show’s theme), and the Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcasts were more important to my musical development than nearly every other influence put together.
I no longer live in SW VA, but hate to see them go – even with the seemingly unlimited resources available to anyone with a computer, a little guidance from the DJs at the local classical station is certainly helpful in introducing and sustaining budding musicianship.
WETS had a high percentage of live on tape radio programs. 19 hours of it per week allowing for material not often broadcast by a classical or mixed station which typically 8 -11 hours. In addition WETS had a large amount of educational programming like Exploring Music (twice a day) and 5 other hours of that material per week. You are not going to find these “music choices with CDs and MP3 players” This statement does not apply to the many classical and mixed stations that program only from CDs and do not carry these more interesting and important live on tape broadcasts.
The late evening broadcasts of live on tape material was especially useful if you missed a program or the program was one not found at a good time on other stations with internet streaming. (WMCE also filled this role until it went of the air about a year ago). Most other station take the easy way out with the Beethoven Satellite Network or other late night service which required no work to program on the overnight hours except flip a switch.
The old mission statement is still up on the web site “WETS-FM serves as a cultural outlet for our region, presenting news, music, and information that is unavailable on other broadcast outlets. In carrying out this mission, WETS focuses much of its broadcast day on classical music. In addition to recorded performances from the great orchestras of the world, WETS records and broadcasts local and regional orchestras and ensembles, including the Kingsport Symphony, the Johnson City Symphony, the Johnson City Civic Chorale, the Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, and others. These recordings are featured each week on WETS Concert Hall…WETS recognizes its responsibility to reflect the concerns and interests of a broad spectrum of listeners who are not served by commercial broadcast media.”
One wonders if the local broadcast of the Kingsport Symphony, the Johnson City Symphony, the Johnson City Civic Chorale, the Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra will continue.
I admit I never contributed since the internet sound was not good relative to others running at its slow but usable speed of 80kbits/sec.
An internet listener also can only support so many stations they use. Its hard to support the ones like WETS which I listened to only 2 – 4 hours a week. Perhaps I need to support more stations but with a finite budget it means others will get less.
The station manager at WETS-FM has made some bad decisions in recent years. However, his plan to discountiue weekday music is the worse. Like the saying about the economy, when it comes to radio, it is about the music stupid!I believe this decision will destroy the local public radio station. Expect to see donations be greatly redued during the next fund raiser. Every public radio station plays classical music. WETS-FM did this and so much more playing a wide variety of music.Maybe we need to start an alternative radio station.
Steven Lawhon