Good people, you have not even the slightest inkling of an idea just how important radio station WFMT-FM (91.7) has been to the folk community----to all of us on the folk scene in Chicago-----for over FORTY f***ing YEARS ! Hearing this does give me sad pause. THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL radio program was our P.A. bullhorn to the many fans and lovers who kept us going as we sang our way through the exhilerating '60s, the spandex and plaid '70s, the no-name '80s, and then the $$$$$$$$$$ and the greed of the second coming in two centuries of the gay '90s. (The old cliche became profound even as we watched.) But, friends, seeing this radio station in hard times is like watching my family and my mentors slowly die right in front of me. WFMT was where we got to hear the then still-alive masters of this roots music that became our lives' passions. ---------- Yes, I know; the more things change, the more they get different. But those of us who went up to WFMT every New Years Eve we weren't on the road gigging have memories of songs and singers and harmonies that will never die until we do.

Maybe I'm reacting strongly to the posted article because I'd not known of these happenings, but forcing WFMT and other stations to quit broadcasting on the web just so $$$$$$$$$$$ can change hands and dumb-ass laws enforced, well, it is a travesty akin to tossing the baby out with the washwater.   

Art Thieme