No-par Periproct Rehash

Dear Michael Krall, Program Director, WBHM,

Thanks for your quick response to my inquiry. I guess I can see how detrimental a volunteered, two-hour exploratory show tucked away in a night slot would be for your listenership, let alone your resources. I faced an identical problem with NPR affiliates 89.5 FM WSCL, for whom you once worked, & 91.3 FM WESM back home on Delmarva, and they wouldn't budge, despite my being a member of both at one point. In the case of WESM, they flaccidly expressed their disinterest to me regarding a free jazz show I proposed. Interesting that a station would be comfortable broadcasting one facet of a distinctly American musical genre, allthewhile skirting the other facets based on a perceived lack of popularity.

I have listened to all the shows on WBHM you listed so it's not diffcult to understand that you'd want to keep the fringes of your programming confined to Irish and new age, two of the most resilient genres among the young people I know and associate with who reside in the listening area! Of course classical music is consistently the most important music service you could offer to complement the news and miscellania — as I understand it from those who've resided here some time, there's never been a shard of divergence from it in your weekly schedule. Even Ted Askew exclaims on your website, "...it's incredible that so little of the great music of the past 75 years has had a chance to be widely heard." I wouldn't say incredible; unsurprising, yes, given the severely deflated airtime afforded it by community public radio in general. In a listening area where three-fourths of the population is African American, one might assume that community public radio programming would in some ways reflect its host city's majority. Do you think it's too late or perhaps unsafe at this point in WBHM's stride to attempt to attract a potentially major listening base that otherwise wouldn't pay as much attention? Or is everything dictated according to the whim of those who contribute the most financial support?

I am sincerely not in the know regarding the prioritization of WBHM's broadcast elements so any insight you may have would be greatly appreciated. If you have the time in your schedule, my constituents and I would still like to meet with and talk to you in person regarding the viewpoints many, many young folks and others here share with me about public radio's responsibility, we believe, toward hearing out and taking into consideration its unspoken, somewhat reluctant audience's input.

Speechlessly,

B