WGBH classical revisited

["David W. Harris" <dwh@totalnetnh.net>]

Remember all that fuss last year about the "dumbing down" of classical
programming on WGBH-FM?  Anthony Tommasini's item in the Sunday New York
Times (5/31/98) cited guidelines in a staff memo "signed by Carl
Watanabe, who coordinates classical programming, but spearheaded by Mr.
[Ron] Jones [director of programming]."

In today's Boston Herald, Ellen Pfeifer observes that things seem to
have loosened up again at 89.7, with longer works and vocal pieces
returning.  The article ties this to Mr. Watanabe's departure and
mentions his position remains unfilled after 4 months.  (It seems to me
that it's been a bit longer than that.)

<http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/entr/wgbh03031999.htm>

The article does not mention what became of Mr. Watanabe.  One might
assume he disappeared into the night with his tail between his legs, but
I wouldn't exactly call becoming station manager of Capital Public Radio
in California a demotion.  He's in charge of  KXJZ (jazz & NPR news) and
KXPR (classical) in Sacramento plus KKTO Tahoe City and KXSR Groveland
which carry portions of the Sacramento stations' programming.

Many of us in the Land of Live Free or Die remember Mr. Watanabe as
volunteer host of blues and jazz shows at WEVO in the early '80s.  Some
with very good memories may remember him singing and playing mandolin at
the New Hampshire Folk Festival.  My memory is not good enough to recall
the name of the band he was in but I'm sure they never played the Mozart
Requiem, the piece which inspired Ms. Pfeifer's thoughts today.

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