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Today Joe Whipple have posted a message in the Intelligencer board:

http://classical-scene.com/2009/12/10/wgbh-to-discontinue-bso-friday-afternoon-broadcasts/

I would like to re-print the Joe’s post:

Somehow, I had missed the article in the December 18 Boston Globe which verified the dropping of the Friday afternoon BSO broadcasts. Yesterday I got a letter from Mary Toropov at WGBH confirming my ongoing status as a Sustainer and a member of the “Leadership Circle.” Here’s my reply.

“Dear Ms. Toropov:

Thank you for confirming that my status as a Sustainer and a member of the Leadership Circle is continuing. However it is in jeopardy.

Somehow, I missed the article in the December 18 Boston Globe in which it was stated that WCRB would not continue the Friday afternoon BSO broadcasts. This is outrageous. As I stated in feedback in November, there are audience members like me who can listen on Friday afternoons but not on Saturday evenings. Some of us use it to rehear the concert of the previous evening; some to preview the following evening’s concert; some as their only opportunity to hear a given program; and some because they want to hear the BSO as much as possible. At the time, I got a reply which implied that the only issue was obtaining broadcast rights. But clearly there has been a decision to abandon me and the other members of the audience who relied in one way or another on those broadcasts.

Mr. Voci indicated that he considered the two live broadcasts in very different time slots ‘duplicative’ and has sent a letter to the Globe in which he claims, ‘As audiences listen to us, we’ll listen to them.’ Well, I want some evidence that he’s listening to the audience. How many audience members asked to have the Friday Symphony [broadcasts] dropped? How many have asked to have them continued? (Please don’t send me patronizing generalities. Please answer the questions.)

Mr. Voci also tried to justify the decision by pointing to broadcasts from Tanglewood and to BSO-related broadcasts on non-concert Saturday evenings. But for years all three weekend Tanglewood concerts have been broadcast on one or both stations, and WCRB has regularly broadcast BSO performances on non-concert Saturdays (”fantasy concerts” they used to call them). So neither represents an increase in BSO availability for the audience, and therefore neither justifies dropping Friday afternoon concerts. Mr. Voci must think we’re either stupid or without memory if he thinks we’ll fall for that nonsense.

At this point I am angry enough at the disregard for 58 years of tradition and lack of concern for the audience that I am seriously considering discontinuing my support. Certainly I must reduce it as it seems that management cares about nothing but money, and therefore the only thing that will tell them they made a big mistake is having it cost them money. But if the decision is promptly reversed I shall continue support at the current level. And if Mr. Voci soon leaves WGBH, willingly or unwillingly, I shall increase my level of giving.

Sincerely,”

Comment by Joe Whipple — January 1, 2010

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