Comments from the petition: Page 12

HD radios should be placed in the UF libraries, especially the School of Music
library, so that students without hundreds of dollars could still hear classical
music with good sound quality. Something should be done for jazz listeners. I
suggest eliminating "Caravan" and the second playing of "Prairie Home
Companion."

I realize that this decision to switch from a music based format is due,in part,
to budget restrictions but I think that some compromise can be attained to
insure that all parties will be satisfied.

Why does the format have to change to all talk? Creative programming could
involve both talk shows and music, including a variety of musical programs,
mixing Classic with Afro Pop Worldwide, Thistle and Shamrock, etc.

Access to classical music, blues, latin jazz and similar is (was) one of the
great things about radio in Gainesville and contributed to making our community
a great and fun place to live. Sadly, one aspect of this great lifestyle is no
longer available.

How can subscribing to expensive Talk Radio now be cheaper than playing and
commenting on classical music, especially if the station's budgets in the past
have not permitted subscribing to expensive Talk Radio?

Dear Dean Wright,
I have been a donor to WUFT-FM for the entire 20 years I have lived in
Gainesville, and I and my wife have almost always contributed both to the
station's spring and fall fund drives. I have generally listened to the station
throughout the day, enjoying both the news and classical (and other) music
programming. Beginning today, that mix is gone -- unless I buy several digital
radios to replace the analog radios in my home, office, and car.
I understand that you and your colleagues hired the services of a consultant in
coming to the decision to change the format of WUFT-FM. Unfortunately, you
chose not to consult the donors to the station -- we never received a request
for feedback on this proposed change. We did receive your recent letter, which
was sent well after the decision had been made.
I believe the station's last two fundraising campaigns both set new records
(which raises the question of why you're trying to "fix" something that's not
broken). If your decision was, as you claim, based on economic objectives, I
assume you're expecting donations to increase. Your statements have discussed
presumed increases in listeners, but on what basis do you expect donations to
increase as a result of this change from diverse to more monolithic programming?
I doubt that will be outcome.
I might also point out that if we or others want to listen to news programming
all day, every day we could listen to WJCT-FM, or you could place that
programming on one of the other digital stations, rather than turning our
diverse station, which has been a pleasure to listen to, into something much
more monolithic and far less enjoyable.
I don't know how others will respond. I still strongly support public radio,
but I'm afraid that unless you reverse this decision and return a mix of music
and news/public affairs to WUFT's daytime programming, I and my wife will have
to suspend our donations while we instead purchase four or five digital radios
so that we can have the digital choices you're offering. Once we have several
digital radios, we'll again make donations to the station. But we would
strongly prefer that you return to the previous programming, and then we can
resume our donations for your next fund drives.

The immoderate changes to our public radio station's programming came as an
unwelcome surprise to me. Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the affair was
how the matter was handled by Dean Wright--how the opinions of station members
and longtime listeners were disregarded by the stewards we trusted to manage
WUFT. "If they aren't willing to pay $75.00 [for an HD radio], they must not
want it that badly" is an inappropriate response to the many people who value
classical music programming on their public radio station.
I can't listen to the HD2 classical music stream through the station's website
(streaming audio is only available in WMA format--so it's inaccessible on my
Macintosh computers), and I still have not been able to purchase an HD radio. I
am currently boycotting WUFT and listening to other public stations around the
country that have not bailed on classical music programming through the iTunes
Radio tuner.

A fair hearing should be made available since this is a public radio station
supported by donations.

Why change WUFT? It works and I enjoy it as is. Leave it alone.

It is unconscionable that WUFT would even consider doing this.
It's a very sad commentary on our society. At the same time I feel a great
sorrow for people who don't have the ability to enjoy classical music.