News
Some people you don't want angry with you: PTA moms. NRA enthusiasts. Animal rights activists.
And those passionate about their music.
In this case, we're talking fans of classical music. They may seem a genteel lot, but you do not want to deny them their Mozart or Mahler.
JoAnn Urofsky does not say things like this. As the woman who runs radio station WUSF-FM 89.7, she has spent the last month saying infinitely gentler things, such as: "We made a promise," one they intend to keep, if only everyone would just be patient.
Urofsky says this in a radio voice both honeyed and cultured, a voice honed over the years at radio stations from country to contemporary Christian, which might surprise you, because she sounds exactly right for WUSF's longtime marriage of classical, NPR and nightly jazz.
But the world changes, as do listeners, who these days demand their news in an instant, or sooner, if possible.
The transition Sept. 15 was supposed to be seamless. WUSF would switch to news and public affairs, with jazz at night, utter bliss for news junkies and those devoted to Fresh Air or the BBC. A new all-classical station — admittedly, one that broadcasts farther south than some WUSF listeners — would go on the air.
But what actually happened was like watching a sweet performance by a string quartet when somebody suddenly lobs a tomato.
"There's nothing worse," Urofsky says, "than letting people down in this kind of way."
The signal for the new classical station, WSMR-FM, turned out to interfere with a user of the same radio tower, one with emergency response services. What everyone hoped would be a delay of mere days has now stretched into a month.
And how's this for fun: While dealing with this glitch, listener-supported WUSF is in the thick of a pledge drive. So there are Urofsky's honeyed tones at dawn, bantering on air with the morning announcer and rolling off that all-important 1-800 number.
Last year's goal was $400,000. This year they aim for 4,000 pledges instead of a specific money amount. It's too soon to say whether all-news enthusiasts will balance out longtime listeners who might cut ties over the classical gaffe.
"As classical fans, all we can do is withhold our contributions to a station that has callously abandoned us," a letter writer rather elegantly put it.
Since the switch that wasn't, some 2,000 calls and e-mails have poured in, many very unhappy in tone. Suggestions that listeners get their classical fix at WUSF 89.72 on HD radio or online at wsmr.org do not always placate. Some purists refuse to listen online. HD? Horrors.
"They're passionate," Urofsky says, sounding tired. "What can I say? They love the music."
Now everyone wants to know when. "We're pretty convinced we're closer to getting the problem solved," she says. "I can't give you a date, but I'm feeling better."
I ask if this is all people talk to her about at parties these days and she laughs, not having been to many parties lately. At night, she goes home and answers listener e-mails, hundreds of them, angry and passionate.
But still and always, they are classical fans.
"Only one used profanity," Urofsky says. "Only one."
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