Staff and listeners take issue with WUFT’s switch

In the last few days more has surfaced online about the format switch at WUFT in Gainesville, Fla., which I wrote about Monday. The Gainesville Sun ran two collections of letters from readers, most of whom wrote to oppose the change. Their comments echo some of the critical comments on my previous post and in e-mails sent or forwarded to me. One Sun correspondent in particular wrote movingly about the importance of music:

On July 2, my mother passed away. Her final illness was sudden and brief, but she lingered for several hours before making a peaceful departure. During those hours, I was so glad that I could turn on the radio and fill her room with beautiful classical music. I believe that both she and I benefited from the peace and serenity that the music brought with it. I didn’t have to search the internet or look for CDs to give her that final gift of beauty; Classic 89 was right there at my fingertips.

Just one example of how music surpasses mere entertainment. The compiled letters are here and here.

In addition, Current, the trade newspaper covering public broadcasting (and to which I occasionally contribute as a reporter and copy editor) ran a lengthy article about the changes taking place at WUFT and its affiliated stations, both public and commercial, at the University of Florida. The change to all-news, it turns out, is just one facet of a larger overhaul.

The Current article sheds light on an issue I’d been wondering about: Why did a university dean, rather than someone on the staff of WUFT, make this announcement about the new format? It’s usually a general manager’s job to announce a format change and explain it to the public. And WUFT-FM does, in fact, have a general manager, as well as a program director.

Such a situation tends to set off alarm bells for me, in part because of an incident in my professional background. I was a reporter at a public radio station licensed to a university where, in one instance, the university tried to dictate how my department would cover a sensitive story in which the university was a major player. The whole experience left me with concerns about relationships between public stations and their university licensees. Unfortunately, there have been other cases similar to what I went through.

As it turns out, a producer at WUFT says the staff has mostly been left out of setting the new direction for the station.

WUFT’s g.m. and program director, both of whom know the Gainesville market and have strong connections to the local arts community, have also have had little input in the format decision, Green-Townsend [the producer] said. The station recently completed its best-ever membership drive, and WUFT staffers don’t understand the sudden push for change, she said.

“I appreciate that someone is willing to take a look at how the stations are operating, but it’s the process that’s disturbing,” Green-Townsend said. If WUFT staff had been able to work on the format change themselves, they would have had “more respect for the process” and buy-in for the final decision.

Why has the staff been excluded? Shouldn’t they know best? And what exactly were they hired to do, anyway?