by Peter Berryman
Cool Music for Cool People?
Folk and early-style country western singer and songwriter Matt Watroba's folk music radio show called Folks Like Us was dropped last week by its home station, WDET Detroit, like a hot ocarina. Before going any further, I should confess that Matt is a dear friend, and that his show has given a great Michigan welcome to me and my music partner Lou and our music over past two decades.
The outcry from Michigan and beyond about Matt's show's cancellation has been loud, and in many formats, but probably to no avail. The show, beloved by thousands of loyal Michigan folksters, is no doubt gone from the lineup for good, along with a similarly popular bluegrass show, hosted by Larry McDaniels, which broadcast on WDET for 27 straight years. The two shows were unplugged with a quick yank, without even the opportunity for a radio good-bye to listeners.
WDET and other (not all; not yet anyway) Public Radio stations are leaning toward the same programming that has proven lucrative for much of commercial radio. This features a genre of music referred to as "Triple-A" (Alternative Adult Album) music. "Think cool music for cool people," says the Detroit Free Press a bit sardonically, in an article about the loss of Matt's show.
Like the argument about the definition of folk music, the role of Public Radio is a gnarly debate. But however Public Radio is defined, it shouldn't have the same definition as commercial radio. If it did, what would be the point of it? It'd be like choosing between Seinfeld with commercials or Seinfeld with pledge drives. And the idea of paying taxes to support Triple-A Public Radio in direct competition with Triple-A commercial radio could almost turn a person Libertarian.
It's certainly not true everywhere, but in many areas there seems to be a plot afoot to silence or at least subdue folk music on Public Radio. Never mind that whenever Public Television stations have pledge drives they run folk music specials, and never mind that Garrison Keillor's folksy and folky show is one of the most popular in the history of Public Radio. In recent years I have talked with Public Radio folk DJs who, even if their shows are still being aired, have been told for some unfathomable reason to stop announcing local folk music events. Other folk shows are being shortened, and others moved to Saturday nights, where they have to compete with live performances of their own artists.
Some people recommend subscribing to satellite radio as an alternative. For from ten to fifteen dollars a month you have access to more than 100 stations commercial-free, in your car or bathtub or wherever you have a receiver, with folk music included in the mix. Not a bad idea.
But satellite folk radio is an incomplete substitute for local folk programming. On a show like Matt's, when a folk musician was coming to the area, Matt often would have her on his show, or would at least play a song or two of hers and announce that she was coming to town, say where she was playing, what her web site URL was. Folk music festival lineups and venue schedules would be announced, and related CDs played. In these ways and more, local programming can be directly involved with the community and can enliven it by letting people know where to point their snowshoes that night.
Amazingly, when I called Matt after hearing about his predicament, he was optimistic. Matt is one of the most upbeat blokes I know, and even this latest misfortune didn't change his nature. He is hopeful his show will be picked up by another station in the area, and also feels good, as he should, that it did last twenty years on WDET. And he feels great that the show ended by corporate whim and not because of a loss of the popularity of folk music in general or of his show in particular (which probably would have made ME feel WORSE, but I'm a glass-half-empty kinda guy).
Maybe it's time for commercial radio to court the audiences left behind by such disoriented Public Radio stations. As I've said before, I think it's fabulously ironic that after being blessed with a whole commercial free time slot, A Prairie Home Companion found it appropriate to INVENT pretend sponsors to make the show feel more authentic. Among other thoughts, Matt told me he has wondered: Why not go back to the early commercial tradition? Find a sponsor who will buy an hour of radio time, and work the sponsor's product into the dialog of the show, as everyone from Jack Benny to Arthur Godfrey used to do. Nowadays it may be called "product placement," but I think if done honestly and creatively, it could actually add to the show, as the Powdermilk Biscuit spots add to Keillor's show.
Anyway, I was first bummed by Matt's blow, then actually unbummed by talking on the phone with Matt himself thanks to his infectious optimism. He once again made me feel good about this folk music subculture, rich with media boosters like Matt and Wisconsin Public Radio's Judy Rose (Simply Folk) whose passion for the music does wonders for all us zitherheads.
And once again, as I have so many times, I came back to how lucky those of us are who have a listener-supported community radio station within the range of our sofa blasters and Studebakers. The incomparable WORT 89.9fm of Madison and stations like it in a few fortunate little nooks across the country are true wonders, without most of the shortcomings of commercial radio, Public Radio, internet radio or satellite radio. Someday may folk (and other non-mainstream) music fans everywhere have a situation like we do in the Madison area, with WPR's Simply Folk AND the treasures of WORT Radio, a number of whose DJs have also had shows for twenty years or more.
Meanwhile, may Matt Watroba and Larry McDaniels be reunited with their listeners soon, be it by satellite, internet, tin can telephone, smoke signal, or Vulcan Mind-Meld. NOTE: See NEWSFLASH, below...
Webliography:
--Detroit Free press: www.freep.com
9/21/04. Sminty's Electronic Circus: WDET choice stirs up criticism
--WDET, 101.9FM: www.wdetfm.org
--Folks Like Us
(Matt's ex-show's site, which he plans to keep up for awhile):
www.folkslikeus.org
NEWSFLASH: Here's an update: Matt and his show have found a NEW HOME at station WEMU-FM in Ypsilanti. More details on the Folks Like Us website at www.folkslikeus.org. Also, you can listen to WEMU and Folks Like Us live on the Web! Go to http://www.wemu.org/listen.html.