Licenses for WGBH FM and WCRB FM in Boston being challenged before the FCC
Committee forCommunity Access4 Carol Avenue | Suite 6 | Boston | MA 02135617.277.4715
Media Contact: Sue Auclair, 617-522-1394 _jazzwoman@earthlink.net
March 25, 2014
For Immediate Release:
Broadcast Licenses for WGBH FM Educational Foundation and WCRB FM in Bostonbeing challenged before the FCC by Committee for Community Accesshttp://www.CCAccess.info
Boston, MA--The Committee for Community Access, a local public interestmedia advocacy umbrella organization, filed Petitions to Deny Renewal ofthe licenses held by WGBH Educational Foundation and WCRB FM with theFederal Communications Commission, Washington D.C. on the first business dayin March, which was March 4, 2014. (The FCC was closed on Monday March 3 dueto asnowstorm.)
Massachusetts radio stations have a 10-year FCC renewal cycle and 2014 isthe year for all radio stations in the state to renew their licenses withthe FCC.
The WGBH Educational Foundation's Oppositions to Committee for CommunityAccess's Petitions to Deny are due 30 days later, or on April 3, 2014. CCA's Replies to the Oppositions will be due 20 days from when theFoundation's Oppositions are filed or April 23rd, whichever is later.
On behalf of Classical, Jazz, Folk and Blues music lovers, The Committeefor Community Access is requesting that the trustees of the EducationalFoundation restore full time music programming on the high power, clearsignal facility of WGBH-FM 89.7 mHz.
CCA calls on members of the public who wish to protest the WGBH EducationalFoundation's dropping of almost all of WGBH-FM's music broadcasts,canceling all Blues and Folk shows, ending its decades long tradition ofjazz all night by limiting jazz to weekend evenings, and its relocation ofall classical programming to a weak out-of-town station, to mail theirsupport of CCA's FCC petitions within the next two weeks to the FCC and tothe WGBH Educational Foundation's Board of Trustees, so the station and theCommission may understand the depth of public feeling on this issue.
A sample letter for the public is on CCA's new webpage: _http://www.ccaccess.info_ (http://www.ccaccess.info/)
Addresses:Media Bureau - Audio SectionFederal Communications Commission445 12th Street S.W., Room TW-A325Washington D.C. 20554
RE: License Renewal Applications ofWGBH-FM #BRED 20131202BIAWCRB-FM #BRH 20131202BIR
Board of TrusteesWGBH Educational FoundationOne Guest StreetBrighton, MA 02135
A steering committee, led by CCA's Chairman, Jacob A. Bernstein andincluding lobbyists for Classical, Jazz, Folk and Blues music programminghas been formed to publicize and raise funds to support these efforts.
"We cannot believe the trustees approved the way Jazz radio was decimatedin June 2012," states Jack Bernstein, Chairman of the Committee forCommunity Access. "Management is chasing a pot of gold in their combinedradio/TV/Web News/Talk format infiltrating and taking over the proud musicbastion they spent 40+ years in the making. We're opposing what they'redoing because they created the demand among New England music lovers forthe best presentation and reception of music. WGBH-FM was an establishedhighly polished exposition of music that was TOO ESSENTIAL TO LOSE!"
Brief History of Eliminating Music at WGBH:
September 1995: Ron Della Chiesa's Music America scrapped by management
September 2009: WGBH bids to purchase WCRB
November 2009: WGBH purchases WCRB for $14 Million
November 2009: FCC approves WGBH purchase of WCRB; WGBH moves all classical programming to WCRB FM. A protest is held at Old South Churchwith a panel featuring Chris Lydon, Richard Dyer and others. John Voci wasrepresenting WGBH at this event.
December 2009: WGBH Discontinues BSO Friday Afternoon Broadcasts
January 2010: Folk and Blues shows dropped
June 20, 2012: WGBH FM cuts jazz programming; fires Steve Schwartz, cutsEric in The Evening to weekends only; cuts all-night