Artwork by B. A. Nilsson |
Shortly after I started there, one of the GM’s lackeys sent this memo to the radio stations’s program manager:
May 6, 1980
Re: WMHT Opera Policy
Over the months, you and I have had many separate discussions on individual aspects of handling operatic materials on the station. The following is an attempt to collect these points into a single, manageable package:
I. Opera, full or partial, shall only appear on Tuesday evenings with the exception of TV/FM simulcasts.
A. Use of operatic material such as arias, overtures, etc., may be used sparingly elsewhere.
B. The use of operatic materials in listener request periods shall not exceed one act per program.
II. Should opera be the content of a TV/FM simulcast other than on Tuesday evening, then something other than opera should be played on the Tuesday of that week, with notice to this effect given during the previous Tuesday's programing.
III. If opera is the content of any (NPR or syndication) regularly scheduled series, there are these options:
A. Cancel and substitute for that particular program in the series.
B. Use the material in that Tuesday night's slot.
The part that leapt out at me was in section I, paragraph A, suggesting that “overtures ... may be used sparingly elsewhere.” Overtures? You mean the part that’s played before the singing starts?
This memo – and the controversy that it provoked between FM staff and the cloth-headed administrators – prompted me to create the poster you see, which I hung in the FM studios. It remained for only a couple of days before I was told to remove it.
I was a discipline problem at the station, I will admit. I talked back to supervisors and irate phone callers. I played a Sinatra recording on Cole Porter’s birthday. But what finally prompted me to quit was a memo I saw, from yet another massively stupid administrator, who was charged with the task of reviewing all programming so that those dreaded musical horrors wouldn’t appear.
You’ll see Mendelssohn’s music for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” among the offenders. It was there because a soprano soloist was listed among the artists. I had chosen that piece, which in fact was only a 35-minute suite of selections from a substantially longer work – and the soprano was featured only in the final, four-minute section.
But how to fight such ignorance? I packed up and left – and four other unhappy employees left when or soon after I did. There’s another story to be told about all that, and I’ll soon get to it. Here’s the programming complaint sheet:
March 11, 1982
Some questions on the programming through the 18th:
Fri., April 2, 2 p.m. – Stabat Mater (Choral piece)
Sat, April 3rd, 4 p.m. – Library of Congress (Lieder)
followed by Jazzmasters
followed by Pops
Five hours of non-regular (for want of a better term) programming!
Sunday, April 4, 6-7 a.m. – My Heart is Inditing/Christ Church Chorus
(religious=Sunday morning?)
7-8a.m. – 12 minute harpsichord piece
1 p.m. – Trois Chansons/Robert Shaw Chorus
2 p.m. – Helsinki Univ. Chorus
4 p.m. – Ambrosian Singers
Too much choral in one day?
Monday, April 5, 1 p.m. – Madrigals
Tuesday, Apr. 6th, 11 a.m. – Midsummer/Incidental Music
Wed., April 7th., 11a.m. – Toccata Prima harpsichord.
followed by 3-harpsichord concerto – 25:30 of harpsichord?
2 p.m. Ambrosian Chorus
Thurs., Apr. 8th., 2 p.m. – Schumann/Frauenliebe und Leben
Sunday, Apr. 11th., 2 p.m. – Vancouver Chamber O. Chorus
3 p.m. Beethoven "Choral"
5 p.m. DaCamera Organ
followed by
7 p.m. Organ Loft
8 p.m. NY Phil/Caballe followed by
Choral Tradition
Monday, April 12th., 11 a.m. Choral Fantasia
2 p.m. Dallas Sym. O. and Chorus
Tuesday, April 13th., 1 p.m. – Trois Chansons Bretonne/Stockholm Chamber O. Chorus
Wed., April 14th., 2 p.m. – Del Tredici/Final Alice
Fri., April 16th., 2 p.m. – Brahms/Temple U. Chorus-S. Verrett
Sunday, Apr. 18th., 6 a.m. – 4 motets: Cantores in Ecciesia (religious=Sunday?)
1 P.M. – 4 lieder
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