U.Mass radio programs: the reality today

Subject: WUMB-FM radio, U. of Mass.
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 11:34 AM

It feels funny being the member who starts this thread.
Of all the Mudcat members,
I am the most ignorant about WUMB-FM radio and its programs.
That's because I just stumbled across the station's broadcasts
listening to my car radio since New Year's,
and previously I knew nothing about the station.

Searches through Mudcat threads reveal
that some ten or fifteen years ago,
WUMB-FM was very important to a number of Mudcat members.
Changes were happening, and many people
were displeased with the changes.

Maybe you are still a subscriber/contributor to this station.
Or maybe you stopped subscribing a long time ago.
Some of you, regardless, have been paying attention
for many years to this station and its announcers,
and its programs that were/are inclusive of acoustic music.

The voice that jumped out of my car radio and grabbed my attention
was that of Mavis Staples -- today's Mavis Staples
who has survived the demise of her relatives, the former Staples Singers,
and now soldiers on in solo albums and performances.
She has spent decades raising her voice and making herself heard.
The album from which Ms. Staples' performance was broadcast is called
"If All I Was, Was Black."

What has changed about the WUMB-FM of your personal history?
What has endured, if anything, to remember those days by?

Subject: RE: U.Mass radio programs: the reality today
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 11:53 AM

They used to bill themselves as "folk radio", and now, it's a college radio station. Sometimes when they get too weird, I change to WUNH, who can be playing more folkish stuff than the formerly folk radio.
They once had more traditional music on, and now it's new CDs of folk and folk-like music. Not bad, if you want to hear stuff you haven't bought yet.
It's pretty good a lot of the time. Then they get some things very wrong, and the third time they say the wrong thing, you write them an e-mail, and you never hear back (didn't expect to), and you don't know if they're saying the wrong thing anymore, because the only time you can get the station is in your car, sometimes. You just wonder how these folks who present the music to a fairly large number of people can just not (apparently) read the liner notes...not that it'll stop me listening.
It's not what I WANT it to be, but what ever is?

Subject: RE: U.Mass radio programs: the reality today
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 12:02 PM

WUMB-FM broadcasts are a sometime thing in my car, as well,
sometimes they can be heard and sometimes they can't.
And my home actually is eastern Massachusetts, so that puts my location
closer to the actual station, and still the quality varies --
of the transmission, that is to say.

I haven't tried for the University of New Hampshire station
to see if my car radio will catch it.

Just yesterday, I heard something on WUMB-FM in my car that
caused me to post to the permathread on summer music camps.

First, during the radio broadcast, came the announcement promoting
SAMW which stands for Summer Acoustic Music Weeks,
of which it seems there are two each summer.
WUMB claims to sponsor these particular music camps.

I followed up the radio broadcast experience
online, by pulling up webpages for the specific camps
and for the radio station in general.
It was after checking for this info that
I posted to the music camp permathread.

The SAMW website claims that Dick Pleasants started the music camps
sponsored by WUMB over twenty years ago.
They are held, not in Massachusetts,
but in New Hampshire around Lake Winnepesaukee. (sp?)

Seems a long time for such an acoustic-music event to be going on
and be so little spoken of at the Mudcat --
I went searching threads here and found next to nothing.

Has anyone presented/taught/attended SAMW?

Subject: RE: U.Mass radio programs: the reality today
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Apr 18 - 12:15 PM

I thought about going to SAMW, but it was way too expensive for me. I used to listen to Dick Pleasants's's show on my way to work. Sexiest radio voice ever.

Subject: RE: U.Mass radio programs: the reality today
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 11 Apr 18 - 08:50 PM

I've only begun listening to WUMB recently, but I've been aware of it for years. I couldn't get the signal in my home or car. Then my son's family moved near Worcester and I found the signal while driving there. Sometimes during the drive I listen to it, but if I don't like what the host is playing I switch to the classical station. I'd I dont like that, I'll play a CD. U Mass-Dartmouth has a station that I could easily pick up at home and in my car when driving locally. While it is not all folk, I know when to listen. Then it sold its signal and now only streams. I can't listen to it in my car. It exhausts my phone's battery too quickly, and my tablet is wifi only. I sometimes stream it if I'm home when the programs I like are on.
Beware: if U Mass-Dartmouth sold its signal to get money, U Mass-Boston may do the same!

Subject: RE: U.Mass radio programs: the reality today
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Apr 18 - 08:58 PM

Just came in to a [public] computer,
having parked my car outside.
On the drive here, I had the radio tuned to WUMB-FM.
It was my first time listening at this hour.

It's Saturday night, when there is a radio show on said station
called "Spinning the Blues."
In quick succession, I heard:

Bessie Smith [her birthday tomorrow]:
Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle o' Beer

Dinah Washington:
You've Been a Good Ol' Wagon

Teri Lynn Washington? Carrington? ye gods, my memory
aw SHOOT! forgot the name of the blues, as well --
a Bessie Smith tune, "woke up this mornin'," yada yada yada

but I missed Memphis Minnie's Bumble Bee, sad to report.