September 4, 2007
Bluegrass Listeners Upset by WAMU Changes
If you were traveling over the holiday weekend, you would have easily missed the announcement that popular local NPR affiliate WAMU 88.5 FM will be making big changes to their broadcast schedule -- most notably moving the entirety of their popular weekend bluegrass programming to an HD Radio channel, leaving many listeners upset and confused as to how the station could abandon their signature music programs on the regular FM dial. Here's what's going to happen come Sept. 17 (or check out the entire programming scheme here):
WAMU 88.5 FM, as well HD Radio's 88.5-1 and the live stream at wamu.org, will switch to solely news, talk, and information, all the time. This includes the addition of public radio staples like Speaking of Faith and Bob Edwards Weekend, and a few new shows including The State We're In, a collaboration between WAMU 88.5 and Radio Netherlands. The Saturday schedule, including A Prairie Home Companion and This American Life, will stay the same. Sundays, however, will no longer carry any music, and instead focus on programming like Car Talk and repeats of The Diane Rehm Show.
In order to listen to any bluegrass, you'll need either to purchase an HD Radio or be one of the 1,000 individual subscribers selected by WAMU to win a free one. The Sunday bluegrass content, currently airing from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m., will move to HD at 88.5-2, where it will join the prerecorded automated music service Bluegrass Country currently heard in HD at 88.5-3, to turn HD 88.5-2 into an all-bluegrass station with live programming.
We got more than a handful of emails from disappointed and upset bluegrass fans, as well as from adherents to the AAA-public station WTMD at 89.7, which has been partnering with WAMU to broadcast independent rock and folk music but will now be relegated to HD 88.5-3 weekdays from midnight to 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. What do you think about the change? For those of you who look forward to bluegrass on Sundays every week, will you consider buying an HD Radio? Keep in mind, popular brands retail starting at around $200.
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Idiots. Just what people want to listen to on a Sunday morning. Politics. The fools running WAMU need to spend a weekend listening to public radio in Chicago, Detroit, New York, L.A. and take some serious notes.
RIP Dick Spotswood.
I was initially concerned with the loss of local programming and the conversion of WAMU into a repeater station for nationally-syndicated shows directly available -- without beg-a-thons and "underwriter acknowledgement" commercials – on satradio.
Then I heard from propeller-heads who seriously question the HD Radio monopoly’s broadcast system as well the reception quality.
See notionscapital.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/a-hole-in-the-air/
Why would a radio programmer in this market be an idiot for surmising that Washington audiences are interested in politics coverage? Seems pretty obvious to me.
Is C-SPAN Radio on the air in other cities? Are the Sunday morning talk shows required viewing for so many professionals in other areas? No. Why? This is Washington, D.C.
The demise of The Washington Post Radio and WETA's abandonment of talk also provide WAMU with a great opportunity to completely own this audience.
I'm also deeply skeptical that these bluegrass shows are "popular," a claim regularly made when this subject arises.
What is the basis for that assertion? Just because some people gripe loudly about something doesn't mean that a lot of other people agree with them.
Furthermore, does anyone actually believe that WAMU gets more pledge dollars from bluegrass listeners than talk listeners?
Frankly, I'm surprised it took the station management this long to make this change.
this is how i felt when wamu put the kibosh on jazz programming back in the day...
radio is a fickle lover...alas...
i guess each market has to make its own decisions
concerning programming, but there are a ton of npr shows we dont get here in the capital city... i've often wondered why...
I welcome this decision. Devoting hours of airtime to a niche (at best) music format vs. more quality syndicated NPR talk shows? Give me the latter. Get rid of the Thistle and Shamrock, while you're at it.
Boooooo! bluegrass rocks!
This decision is terrible specifically because it removes virtually all of WTMD from the DC airwaves except during graveyard hours.
In its place, we esentially get more talk and duplicative reruns of Kojo and Diane on the non-Bluegrass HD stream.
DC is one of the few markets that has zero non-com AAA/college music programming (beyond the now heavily scaled-back TMD). Why bluegrass is so much more important than AAA is absolutely beyond me.
AAA is a broad format that plays the artists that routinely pack local venues (9:30, Birchmere, Black Cat, et al), but are heard absolutely nowhere else on the local airwaves. What's more, since TMD is sort of local, it promoted local shows and actually helped to nurture the local music community (something satellite radio could never do). If you're over 15 and have more than a passing interest in pop/rock/folk music, there is now nothing for you on the radio.
Why is bluegrass, a micro-genre, getting 24-hour coverage, while the huge, wide gulf of music covered by AAA, which lies between the micro-formats and the bland commerical radiosphere, relegated to graveyard? Is bluegrass really serving the community more than WTMD would, to such a disproportionate degree that this timeshare would reflect?
WAMU may have a history of bluegrass, but that doesn't mean there are very many listeners compared to AAA in this transitory city.
When I first moved to the area, (1994) I thought it really odd that WAMU played bluegrass, and back then it was during the day, drive-time even. I grew up in a rural area, longed to get out, and always hated country music. Over time though, I came to appreciate the Bluegrass on WAMU. I wouldn't say a huge "fan", but I appreciate it as an American folk style of music rooted to a place, time, and people. Unlike the hokey garbage on todays mainstream chart-driven country music stations, bluegrass has an authenticity that attracted me. People singing about their lives, their loves, their land, their heartaches. The music is honest and it is what it is. I'm not very religious, but I was moved to tears more than once while listening to the "Stained Glass Bluegrass" program on Sunday mornings. It's said to see it go.
I don't like other WAMU programming changes made over the past couple of years. I can't listen during the day, so I always liked to listen to the repeats of Kojo Knamdi and Diane Rehm in the evenings, but they stopped those broadcasts. I also like Metro Connection, which used to be on Saturdays, but now is buried in off-hours and overnight. That was a really good LOCAL program that you couldn't get anywhere else, and they buried it. All the local or WAMU-produced content I used to listen to is no longer on the air during the times when I can listen.
Also, I've written WAMU 3 times trying to find out who/what is the (can't confirm spelling) "Sanjo K. Bansall Foundation" that underwrites programming during ATC? It's not listed among other foundations on their website, and I can't find out anything about it. I've emailed several people and they won't answer me. I'm starting think it must be some wacky cult.
When I heard about the programming changes, I've decided that I'm not going to be a "member" of WAMU anymore. I have Sirius, which has the national NPR stuff, and I have become dependent on Sirius for music- because music on the radio in DC is so awful. WAMU doesn't offer me anything unique or local anymore, so I don't see any justification for paying for it.
This sucks. Bluegrass makes hangovers go away!
The loss of Stained Glass Bluegrass makes the Baby Jesus cry.
boo to WAMU. very disappointing.
Amen Jeffery and westofrome. Don't let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out, bluegrass.
Guest 1: I grew up in Chicago and while I miss a lot about WBEZ, I can't tell you how HAPPY I AM TO NOT HAVE TO LISTEN TO MARIAN FUCKING MCPARTLAND ANYMORE. (Which some internet research tells me that even they seem to have dropped, jazz probably not being much more lucrative than bluegrass.)
Jeffrey:
Corporate underwriters are more interested in news-blather radio. Bluegrass -- and other locally-focused programming – built WAMU.
Terrestrial radio stations have only one advantage over satradio: they are local – they file maps of transmission coverage areas with the FCC. Exiling locally-produced programs on a format nobody hears so you can re-broadcast nationally-syndicated shows which are available on Sirius and XM is a recipe for disaster.
Who has an HD Radio (a registered trademark)? What kind? does it sound any better than regular FM?
Got HD in your car? Hear any difference in that noisy environment?
What a relief! I used to enjoy listening to Weekend Edition on WETA, and then they switched to classical and I had to make WAMU my regular radio station - except on Sundays. I don't like bluegrass, and I loathe the endless "my mother/significant other died but it's okay cause we'll meet again in heaven" of Stained Glass Bluegrass.
So, thanks, WAMU. I'll be glad to be able to keep the radio on all weekend once again. And I'll back that gratitude up with membership dues.
Sorry, bluegrass fans, but I'm thrilled.
I'm not anti-bluegrass by any means, but it's not what I want to wake up to on Sunday morning. Some bluegrass is fine with me, but there was just too much in the old schedule. Besides, Sundays were made for A Prairie Home Companion.
(-- Drew)
"Local" does not necessarily mean "bluegrass," first of all.
I'm sure that fans of this format are bummed. If there was a station for me and my friends that only played late-90s indie rock, I'd sure be bummed if it changed formats.
That wouldn't mean the station was making the wrong move, though. People with musical taste outside the mainstream just have to deal with it. I don't get to hear Pavement on WAMU, either. I've learned to live with that reality.
I'd also advise people not to fall prey to paranoid conspiracy theories about corporate underwriters. Large companies would prefer their names be associated with higher rated programming. They don't have some sort of intrinsic hatred for bluegrass music.
Likewise, radio programmers -- public or private -- have one responsibility: broadcasting material they think will attract the biggest audience. WAMU may learn later they're making a mistake. I'd bet the farm they won't.
"I welcome this decision. Devoting hours of airtime to a niche (at best) music format vs. more quality syndicated NPR talk shows? Give me the latter. Get rid of the Thistle and Shamrock, while you're at it."
Ditto that, guest number 7. I hate to come off as a coastal snob, but I just don't "get" Bluegrass music. Waaay too twangy and countrified for me. I'd definitely rather hear more talk, politics, and other non-musical content.
-Mr T in DC
I'll miss stained glass bluegrass, but I won't buy HD radio to get it.
Anyone know if Hot Jazz Saturday night is staying? If that got kiboshed too, then I'll be very sad.
It's bad enough having to use your alarm on a Sunday, but when you are then rudely awakened by Stained Glass Blue Grass? THAT is something to make the baby Jesus cry, folks. It's almost as bad as when Car Talk ends and that annoying "You Bet Your Garden" dude comes on.
I'm thrilled with this change. Not that I listen to the radio much on weekends, but still. Thrilled.
I have HD Radio in my car. It makes the music sound marginally better, but it does cut in and out at times. Public Radio stations seem to be the most fervent adopters of HD. You can drive all around the East Coast and pick up Public Radio stations broadcasting with HD. Sometimes they have other streams, sometimes they don't.
I happened to find a radio that had it built right in, so I didn't have to buy another component. Most radios though, are only "HD Ready".
I'm pretty pissed about all the changes that WAMU has wrought over the last 4 years. I hate Prarie Home Companion with a seething passion. I really miss American Routes coming on after HJSN. And to put Dick Spottswood out to pasture is pretty shameful if you ask me. (All the while we're stuck with FOUR HOURS of old timey radio Sunday nights). I always liked WAMU weekends for the very reason that it wasn't just like WAMU on the weekdays.
I used to give them money. No longer.
In response to:
Who has an HD Radio (a registered trademark)? What kind? does it sound any better than regular FM?
Got HD in your car? Hear any difference in that noisy environment?
Yes, yes, yes! I have one in my car and it rocks. It definitely sounds better. It's digital! But the cool thing is that you get double the amount of radio stations... new, different, unique stuff. Did I mention NEW???
WAMU didn't ditch bluegrass. They just moved it!
If you love bluegrass, just get a new radio. You'll have to upgrade to digital at some point anyway. Everything else is digital. Radio will be standard digital eventually. Might as well do it now!
HD Radio is the patented technology of the iBiquity Digital Corporation. It is the only FCC-approved system for AM and FM. It is not the only In-Band, On-Channel (IBOC) broadcast system out there. That is why there is consumer, broadcaster, and auto manufacturer resistance -- everybody remembers Betamax.
I'm definitely going to miss the overnight and Sunday morning bluegrass programming, but I'm almost definitely not going to buy an HD Radio just to get WAMU.
I can understand why they made the choice, but the replacement Sunday lineup is extraordinarily lame AND lazy: rebroadcast Diane Rehm, rebroadcast Car Talk, rebroadcast Prairie Home Companion, two shows about religion, a Bob Edwards clip show, and a bunch of early morning special interest talk shows that will be listened to by hardly anybody. They're expanding the mediocre (and far inferior to the BBC) Deutsche Welle program Newslink to a full hour every night, and they're putting On Point and To the Point, which are practically identical programs, on back to back. A lot of these schedule changes are mistakes, in my opinion. I suppose it's some small consolation that they're letting Mary Cliff and her Traditions program stay on for a while longer, along with Hot Jazz Saturday Night.
Also, for the anonymous and Google-impaired commentor above, Sanju K. Bansal is (was?) the COO and member of the Board of Directors of Microstrategy (a local corporation), and the Foundation is undoubtedly the vehicle he uses for his charitable giving ... but what in the world made that worthy of curiosity in the first place?
I just checked out the preview schedule (http://www.wamu.org/programs/schedule/preview/) and it looks like Hot Jazz Saturday Night will stay.
I'm sad to see the bluegrass go, but I would be even sadder if Hot Jazz went too.
#26 Nate,
Google only works if you know how to spell the search criteria, so thanks for answering my question. Despite several friendly inquires, WAMU could never be bothered to answer. I was merely curious b/c I hear it broadcast every evening and was wondering who/what it was.
Naturally, anything cultural or quirky gets expunged from DC eventually.
I certainly will not be sad to see Blue Grass go. Never listened to WAMU on weekends - they lost me as a listener every weekend. But I am not sure how the new lineup is going to draw me in. I love Dianne Rheim and Kojo but I am not sure that I am going to be tuning into a rerun production after seeing the Post and Sunday morning talk shows.
The show that they should rerun on Sunday is the DC politics hour - usually a great hour of radio but I rarely get to hear it because I am working (same is true for the rest of Kojo and DR but again, not going to tune into a delayed episode on a topic I can get elsewhere). And there has to be more they can get from NPR, PRI or BBC but its a start. And I may just listen if I turn the radio on in the car instead of the instant switch with the Blue Grass on.
Honest to god, I hope Dianne Rheim just goes ahead and fucking dies already. I know I'm supposed to be all "aawwwww, they kept her on after she lost all fucking use of her voice" but to hell with it. I don't prefer wheelchair basketball to the NBA just becuase they're trying. Sometimes I want something to objectively not suck.
I know, the usual response is "but she asks such good queeeessiooooonsssss..." Bullshit. She's considerably worse interview than Terry Gross. And even if she was such hot shit, that's what the position of producer is for.
If I ever hear her on my previously blissful bluegrass weekends, WAMU can shove my donations up their fucking ass.
Looks like HD Radio is DOA from lack of consumer interest - HD Radio is a scheme by the HD Radio Alliance/iBiquity to jam smaller stations off the dial with adjacent-channel interference:
http://hdradiofarce.blogspot.com/
I am GRATEFUL that I won't have to wake up every Sunday morning listening to another twangy bluegrass version of Amazing Grace.
I never understood why programmers think that NPR listeners just want to hear Bluegrass, Jazz or Classical music. I completely agree with westofrome - AAA needs a radio station in DC and would have a much larger audience than Bluegrass, Jazz or Classical.
It also always amazes me that NPR is completely at a loss for how to attract younger listeners, fresh voices, more money. Seriously? Try adding AAA music to your daily schedule. KCRW in LA has the right idea. Take some tips from their music programming. They have the largest Public Radio Market in the country AND they know what to do with it.
The saddest part of this is where it relegates WTMD. The Towson University station offers the best music in the area, but isn't banded widely enough to reach much farther than Columbia, MD. I am moving from Baltimore to DC this year and was counting on being able to keep listening to TMD on my as-yet-unpurchased HD radio. Now I won't spend the money, thanks to WAMU's misguided scheduling decisions.
just moved here and was looking forward to listening to one of the very few bluegrass resources in the area. welcome to dc.
I am happy to hear that WAMU will still provide http://www.bluegrasscountry.org for the bluegrass fans out there who listen to internet radio!
Compared to the execrable genre that is "hot country," I'll take bluegrass' authentic toothless inbred banjo twang and gutbucket boogie any day.
At least they're not singing about their pickup truck or kicking Saddam's ass.
According to WAMU, there is a public comment period at their quarterly Community Council Meeting, the next one being on Sept. 25 at 7 PM. I'm thinking of going to express dismay - and more to the point, total and utter confusion at how 24/7 bluegrass serves the community more than AAA would. Just because the area had a demand for bluegrass demographically 40 years ago does not mean this holds today, tradition or no. This doesn't mean that bluegrass shouldn't be on the air to some degree, just not at the total expense of all other non-com genres of popular music!
If nothing else, perhaps WETA could start using its HD channels to pick up WTMD, WXPN, or any of the other non-com AAAs around the country, or perhaps Minnesota Public Radio, which is about to buy the Christian station WGMS for a new talk station in DC, could run The Current on one of its HD subchannels.
When you think of other major cities, DC is almost certainly the least-served in the gulf between traditional NPR micro-genres and commercial pap. When you consider that even commercial radio in DC is terrible music-wise compared to other cities, the need for non-com programming is even greater.
To the guest who hates Diane Rehm so much, we readers of this article prefer comments from people who understand English grammar and know how to spell properly. Oh, and commenting to the topic at hand wouldn't hurt, either. I guess we are picky, too.
More political talk on WAMU? Great. In a city where everything revolves around politics, it's about the last fucking thing I want to hear when I turn on the radio. The demise of WTMD's relay on WAMU-2 will be greatly missed.
I'm surprised so many folks are surprised by the latest programming moves at WAMU.
They've been moving away from LOCALLY-PRODUCED, LIVE, UNIQUE music programming for several years now, using Internet-only feeds and now HD-radio as a supposed "separate-but-equal" dumping ground while more lucrative-audience network chat stuff goes up on the big and easy signal.
Don't like what WAMU does? Stop giving them money and tell them to put UNIQUE programming (and that doesn't include repeats of Diane Rehm) on the big signal.
At least WETA-FM is back providing something different to the Washington airwaves.