Comments from the petition: Page 32

I enjoyed not only the classic music on Classic 89 but also some of the various
other types of music as well as Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk and Antique
Attic. However, since it became "Talk/News 89" I no longer have any of my
radios tuned to 89.1. I went on line to radio-locator.com to find out what
stations I could listen to while driving and located a County Music station
(102.3) out of Dunnelon and this is what I now listen to but there are many
choices but, of course, none having classical music. Once I am out of Alachua
County I can get NPR out of Tampa if heading south/west or NPR out of
Jacksonville heading north/east and once out of the State there are many NPR
stations to choose from that are NOT just news/talk stations. I think that all
those who pledged to Classic Music in the last drive should be contacted by UF
and asked if they want their contribution refunded because UF erred in not
advising listeners during the drive that Classic Music would no longer be
available after the drive was over. This is just another reason not to trust
the administrative officials at the University when they make statements about
conditions at UF.

We want OUR radio station back!
I sadly miss waking up to classic radio, hearing opera,
Harmonia (early music)....the great mix of radio that made it unique to our
area.
BRING IT BACK....THE PEOPLE, WHO MATTER, HAVE SPOKEN AND WILL CONTINUE
TO BE HEARD.

Your taking Classic89 away was a terrible idea. Yes, we have one HD radio, but
we can't spend all day listening in the kitchen. Please bring classic music
back!

This week I bought, and had installed in my car, an HD radio. As much of my
driving is in Gainesville, the signal is good and I am happy with the radio.
However, it did cost me quite a lot and I would rather have not had to buy it.
For the first couple of day, the talk NPR was fine, but I soon tired of it.

Since the change in progarmming I have not been able to hear WFTW-FM Music. I
just bought a new car and can't get. I don't want to listen to it on my
computer. I don't want to replace the radios in two cars. I have never seen a
radio that can receive WUFT music. I have been listening since the station came
on the air and have supported it financially ever since -- until they change
their format. I will not contribute again until they return to music & news
even though I never listen to the news.
I hope you change back. As of now, music radio in Gainesville is a
wasteland.
Blessing,
Jon Piper

I miss all the great music.

I am worried that the public service aspects of WUFT will not be continued.
Over the years WUFT has recorded public talks and musical presentations and
broadcast them to a larger local audience. The Florida Free Speech Forum
monthly talks are such an example, reaching a much larger audience than can
attend the luncheon meetings. With the loss of Bill Beckett, will such
essential parts of this local service disappear?

One of the founding principles of all Land Grant Universities is Extension, to
go along with Teaching and Research. A land grant university has the mandate to
extend knowledge and culture to the population served. With the abrupt and
arbitrary deletion of providing classical music as a portion of its programming
WUFT is now reneging on its extension function. In a geographic area that
sometime has the tag "red-neck" affiliated with it it seems that rather than
work to educate those unfamiliar with a broad range of classical music, UF chose
to abandon a balanced format with one that is now often redundant with other
public radio stations and without value added. The decision to abandon classical
music in all ways leaves North Central Florida with a huge void of culture.

Eliminating analog transmission of the wonderful mixture of classical, jazz,
opera, etc. that has served this area for so many years is a disservice to all
of the citizens of the nature coast area who have cherished that music for
decades, as well as to the young people who will live in this area without the
benefit of having such music readily available. I find none of the stated
rationales for this change reasonable, and I strongly urge a serious re-thinking
of this ill-conceived re-programing. I will be making no further contributions
to UF's radio stations until this change is reversed, and instead will be
sending a contribution to FSU in support of WFSQ-FM.

I miss classical music; i live alone and, 'tho I like news, etc., now and then,
I can't listen in my car to classical music nor on my walkman, and I haven't
heard great news about the hd radio's reception. I get news and talk all day
long (TV is full of it). What can I do? I want to be able to listen to some
classical music once in awhile... I tune to the fm station in evening and get
all kinds of OTHER music like country, rock, etc.-- but no classical. It just
doesn't seem quite fair to others. What can I do??