Maire-aine, the description you gave of your radio habits are similar to calls that we get from what would be called casual listeners. "I only listen on Sunday afternoons", "I only get you when I'm in my car", "I can only listen at work", etc.    What I find though, is that come pledge time, we do not hear from them. I find most of our pledges come from long-time listeners who pledge year after year. They may not listen every single week, but they make it a point to tune in when they can. Many of them tune into similar programs on our station as well.

I will not ask you if you ever pledged to WDET. What I will say is that many people tend to get comfortable with tuning into programs while driving in their car or as background to other activities.   They won't bother to pledge, maybe because they can't get to a phone, and their "vote" never gets counted.

Of course, Matt had a very successful pledge drive by all accounts. That did not enter into the management decision. Frankly, they probably did the math and Matt lost out.   I know when WFUV dropped their very popular polka show, there was an outcry, but it quickly disappeared.

The only advice I could give is - support your local folk radio program. Your pledge is a "vote". Not every radio station will be following WDET's game plan. Matt's story could turn people off from supporting shows, saying "why bother"?   That is far from the truth. Reality is, numbers do count.   I know Matt and Larry will end up somewhere.   When they do, I hope the listeners will make their voices heard.