I have to second (or third) Mr. Collins statements about the wasteland that Folk-oriented radio in Chicago has become. And it appears that Toronto is heading down the same road. It's great that New Hampshire was apparently able to swing things around through pledges, but I'm afraid that the size of the market in cities like Toronto and Chicago makes that strategy less effective. Unfortunately, when things like public radio get opened to the forces of Capitalism, this is the end result.

I hate to get political, but it's all about dollar democracy. There is a movement that feels that the best way to improve publicly supported programming is to open it to market forces. Though there may seem to be some benefits in putting the feet of programmers to the fire (created by the "competitive market"), the end result is always the reduction in choice. Here's how it appears to work (appears to me, at least, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong):

"Competing in the market" requires the focusing of dollars in those areas that are perceived to be most profitable (as opposed to beneficial)and least expensive. Jazz is seen in public radio as turning out the biggest numbers among the "alternative music" crowd and, hence, you get a lot of jazz and faux-jazz programming. Following jazz there's blues - another good seller, particularly in urban markets like Chicago and Toronto (mostly electric blues, by the way). After that you get syndicated stuff like Thistle and Shamrock, which can be purchased rather than produced and brings in the Celtic audience. It's often cheaper and with broader appeal than "home-grown" programming an leaves the production studios free to crank out more jazz programs. Finally, at the bottom of the food chain, competing for the remaining musical "shelf-space", is traditional folk, bluegrass, world music, reggae and God-knows-what-all (polka, dixieland, cajun and other "local-color" stuff). There is almost no chance that you will get the focused pledge money necessary to change the economics that you're facing here. So what do you do?

Develop and support the alternatives.

When I was in Boston I heard more folk music at more hours of the day on more days of the week than I thought was possible. It seemed that a lot of this was from college stations; maybe it was because you could pick up Public stations from more than just one market. I dunno. I was never there long enough to really figure it out. It know that in Chicago the best folk I hear these days is on a local college station (WDCB form the College of Dupage). Before that there was a smaller, local station (WCBR in Arlington Hts.)that was a great supporter of acoustic music until it got bought by a major broadcast syndicate. Maybe you have to by-pass the big public radio stations and put your money and support behind the smaller, private stations.

I don't mean to ramble and I sure don't mean to get negative. I believe that opening public service outlets to capitalism eventually reduces choice. (All of you in the states who are so enthralled with vouchers and other plans to open schools to market forces should think about this before the next election). I also think that once it's been done you're sunk. You might as well tell your story walking. Write a letter if it makes you feel better, but don't waste your energy "fighting the power"; all your compelling arguments get washed away by one stinking demographic spreadsheet. Find and nurture the alternatives.