To the editors:
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I am appalled by the cancellation of Stuart Rosenberg’s shows [Hot Type, November 26] (and, quite honestly, while I have talked to many people about Torey Malatia’s misguided machinations, I have not talked to a single listener who did not find Rosenberg’s shows to be significant and valuable contributions to the station’s programming). However, it is important to see what this episode reveals about just one of the WBEZ family values. As symbolized by the on the air meetings with station management and show hosts, one of the major family values promoted by ‘BEZ was the sense that programming choices were not autocratically imposed from above, but rather were decisions infused with and reflective of desires of the listeners. When were the outcries of disturbed listeners who found Rosenberg’s shows deserving of cancellation? When were the open discussions centering around the proposition that what the station would do in the near future would be to drop five hours of music shows and replace them with talk shows? When were listeners consulted about a program with talk shows? When were listeners consulted about a program director’s realization that what he was doing was, in his own words, ” . . . the process Ken (Davis) wanted to start before he quit (sic)?” At what point prior to these decisions (i.e. during which of the on-air discussions held during the most recent fund-raiser) did someone from ‘BEZ say, “Oh, by the way, we are just about to institute a major restructuring of programming which itself reflects a shifting conception of the mission of the station”?
Michael Levin
