My last WMBR show 9/30

[Eli Polonsky]

"All things must pass..." - (George Harrison)

To "Lost & Found" listeners, friends, radio colleagues and media folks,

Join me this Thursday September 23'rd, and then next week Thursday,
September 30'th from 12 noon to 2 PM ET for my last regularly
scheduled show on WMBR! It will be a celebration of my past 22
years on the air, and of moving on to seek new opportunities!

Tune in at 88.1 FM in greater Boston, northeastern Massachusetts,
and parts of southern New Hampshire, or listen on-line in high
or low bandwidth mp3 streams at http://wmbr.mit.edu/?p=listen

Requests are welcome by e-mail, either at my personal address here
elipolo@earthlink.net, or at eli@wmbr.org

Since 1982, I've enjoyed the privilege of hosting a weekly radio
program on WMBR radio, the college station based at MIT in Cambridge
MA, featuring music from the 1960's through approximately the mid-
1970's largely overlooked by commercial "oldies" and "classic rock"
stations.

The program began in 1980 as a weekday morning program block called
"Sleepwalk", from 7-9 AM. I joined as Tuesday host in June, 1982.

In June 1983, the program block moved to 12 noon-2 PM, and after a
couple of other short-lived names, was renamed "Lost & Found". Over
the years I shared the program block with many wonderful, excellent
DJ's and friends, far too many to list.

As many musical genres were played on the block during the course of
every week, the different hosts on each weekday specialized in the
types of music from the 60's/70's era that were their best personal
forté. My weekly edition became modeled after my personal memories
of listening to then-called "underground" or "progressive" early FM
album rock radio in the late 1960's and early 70's, which played a
mix of "psychedelic" album rock, folk, blues, R&B, and some various
other musical forms.

Though my program also included music by many artists never played
on commercial stations, much of it was music that had been, but was
later dropped from the playlists "up the dial". In more recent years,
commercial stations had reduced their repertoires of many artists of
the 60's and 70's to just a few of their "greatest hits", neglecting
a segment of listeners who had enjoyed the once-popular album cuts
and so-called "deeper" tracks from those artists, as well as younger
listeners who could no longer hear them for the first time elsewhere.
I've greatly appreciated the positive listener response I've gotten
over the years of providing this program.

After having to leave WMBR for a couple of years in the mid-1990's
following illness, I returned in 1998 and rejoined "Lost & Found" on
Thursdays. Now after 22 years since my first show on WMBR, I have
decided that with this autumns WMBR program schedule, that it's now
time for me to decline submitting their seasonal program renewal
proposal for my regular show.

As I'm sure you're all well aware, life is much more expensive than
it was in the 1980's and even in the 1990's. Most of you know that
WMBR is a completely all-volunteer station, never originally intended
to be anything more than MIT's college station. There was an extended
period of years in which non-MIT outside community people happened to
be allowed to join, but it has never been any kind of a business of
any sort, and it has always been a fully volunteer operation.

It's simply not possible for me to devote the volunteer time to WMBR
anymore. Though hosts are only heard on-air two hours (maximum) per
week, much more volunteer time than that is required, not only by the
station itself, but also for various work related to producing and
presenting the show, as well as dealing with other logistical issues.

I work two part-time paying jobs, and I barely scrape by financially
every month. Add the time required for WMBR, and I become physically
exhausted every week due to lack of sleep, regardless of how well I
take care of myself otherwise. After my Thursday all day at WMBR and
then my paid job Thursday overnights, I can't function on Fridays at
all. It's not healthy to live that way every week at 47 years old.

Involvement at WMBR also leaves me absolutely no time and energy for
any other pursuits. I plan to try exploring possibilities for paid
radio work in the Boston area and around New England, but it's not
possible for me to even begin while regularly involved at WMBR. I
plan to occasionally continue to assist WMBR with promotions (ticket
giveaways, arranging on-air artist interviews, etc...) and may do an
occasional fill-in from time to time, but not on a regular basis.

I will not be seeking further work at any all-volunteer stations.
Though I'm always willing to go the extra mile and beyond the line
of duty to provide extra help in most situations, I can no longer
afford to work regularly on an exclusively volunteer basis.

I'm very grateful and thankful for the audience who has listened to
and have supported my show on WMBR over the past two decades, and
always made it place consistently within the top five airshifts on
the station in their annual fall fundraisers. It's really been your
consistent positive feedback, phone calls and e-mails that kept me
going on the show on a volunteer basis for all this many years.
My biggest regret is having to leave you. Ideally, I hope to find
another on-air venue in the area for a somewhat similar show.

It's been a great 22 year run! It's often been more fun than I
could imagine. I've worked with many incredible people at WMBR,
and I'm very thankful for all their support and assistance. The
show gave me opportunities to arrange to meet and interview many
legendary recording artists, performers, authors, DJ's and other
luminaries of the 60's, 70's and beyond that I had never dreamt
possible. Too many to mention. I want thank all the many agents
and promoters I've worked with over the years.

The "Lost & Found" block will continue to play music of various
types from the 60's to mid 70's from 12 noon - 2 PM on WMBR. I
do not know at this time whether it will still air on all five
weekdays. I expect that it will, but can't speculate for sure.
 
I don't know who will be on the DJ lineup, there may be some
new voices. Alex McNeil, who has been doing alternating Fridays,
may be moving to the slot I'm leaving on Thursdays. For those
who don't know Alex, his style is different from mine, but he
is extremely knowledgeable and does a high quality program,
often with very interesting, well-researched thematic features.
We won't know for sure until a couple of weeks, though.

People have already been asking me what the first thing is that
I will do with the free time. Truthfully, the answer is to clean
my apartment. I haven't had time for many months. You don't want
to imagine it. Then, I'll finally be able to function in it...

I'll see you all at the shows!

Thanks for listening!

Eli Polonsky