Old South Church Meeting

[lglavin@mail.com]

I have just returned from the surprisingly-well-attended gathering at Boston's Old South Church to discuss the changes at
WGBH-FM and WCRB.  There were four primary commenters there: Chris Lydon, late of WBUR and WGBH-TV;  Richard
Dyer former music critic of the Boston Globe;  Dave MacNeill, formerly of WCRB through several incarnations; and John Voci,
now in management at the WGBH Educational Foundation.  First point:  boy, that Chris Lydon can talk and talk without
reaching the point of what he had to say!  The Globe's music critic commented that he grew up in small-town Texas and
Oklahoma, yet via network radio, was able to listen to enormous amounts of classical music and opera...something that
is absent from the media world inhabited by young people today.  Dave MacNeill went through the history of classical music
broadcasting, placing WBMS-AM on 1470...I thought it was on 1090, and ignoring the presence of WBCN from 1958 till
1968, I believe.  John Voci had to toe the corporate line and when people pressed him about the costs associated
with the Friday afternoon BSO broadcasts (the ostensible REASON for the confab in the first place), he reiterated a
number in the tens of thousands.  Later, it was revealed that the players of the BSO donate their services for ALL
concerts that are broadcast.  Seemingly, all this money goes for technical considerations.  Every mention of the
repetitive and unadventurous fare served up by WCRB for the last dozen years was met with applause from the
multitude (which I reckon at close to 1,000 people, filling a large section of the sanctuary).  Several rows of seats
were set aside for members of the press, so stories may soon appear in The Globe or Chicopee Herald, and who
knows, on "Beat the Press" Friday night.