From the Pit

Two and a half years ago, Station WBMS was organized by the Templeton Radio Manufacturing Company to bring good music throughout the day to what was considered an exceptionally music-conscious radio audience. Since that time, the story of Boston's Music Station has been one of a pioneer yielding to economic pressure.

Up until last summer, when WBMS changed management, its history was written in red ink. The first year and a half had been glorious--from the listener's point of view. The station played good music, and lots of it. There were hour-long programs of symphonic works, virtually free of commercials. Best known, and probably best like of these programs was the Endowment Series which lasted a full three hours, uninterrupted except for brief program notes. The Endowment Series made possible the playing of exceptionally long works, such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the Brahms Requiem. And except for an hour or so of luncheon music, all programs were composed of uniformly high quality classical and semi-classical works.

Unfortunately, WBMS steadily lost money. The Endowment Series (which was "endowed" in name only) alone cost Templeton $117,000--money that will never be recovered. Faced with this big loss, Templeton sold WBMS in July, 1948, to a Steubenville, Ohio, company that operates a group of Eastern radio stations.

Since the transaction, WBMS has gone toward the black--and, in the opinion of many of its listeners, gone downhill as well. Its programs rely heavily on the playing of short, and often inferior Rombergish selections, and are surfeited with mediocre commercials. Longer symphonic works mean less space for commercial plugs, and have therefore dropped to second place in programming. Listener reaction has been sharp: "The trouble is," says Program Director John Thornton, "that people expect a lot, and give nothing in return. When the Endowment Series was discontinued, we received over a thousand letters from our listeners. But if the deficit on the Series were divided among these people, it would have cost them around $75 a year apiece, and they might have seen it our way."

Another problem, according to Thornton, is the unwillingness of advertisers to sponsor long programs. "There's nothing I would rather do than have longer programs. Suppose we play Beethoven's Seventh and the Leonora Overture. Together they last about an hour; but that leaves room for only one spot commercial, between the two works. We can't put spots between movements; it's not fair to the listener." The result has been an increase in 15-minute programs, with short pieces and a spot between each one. This policy is doubly attractive to prospective advertisers, who would rather sponsor semi-popular music than more serious works.

In its present economic condition, WBMS can do little to change its commercial policy. It must take what it can get. WQXR, a similar station in New York, does broadcast better commercials in smaller numbers; but WQXR has a potential listening audience three times that of WBMS, and in addition is partially subsidized by the New York Times. Taking its condition into account, however, WBMS could still make some improvement. A sizable portion of "The World's Most Beautiful Music" is short enough to conform to the dictates of radio business policy. Not many Mozart or Haydn symphonies, for example, are over 20 minutes in length. High standards need not be prostituted to economics.