Making waves

Is Worcester community broadcaster WCUW sending out the wrong signals?

by Kristen Lombardi

General manager for non-profit community radio station. Candidate must have management or supervisory experience in the non-profit sector. Must be able to recruit and motivate volunteers and raise needed funds. Experience in broadcast and/or music industry a plus. Please send salary requirements, resumes to Secretary . . . 

For most readers of the November 2 T&G, it was just another classified advertisement. But for anyone associated with Worcester's community radio station WCUW (91.3 FM), the ad signified imminent change; and for a contingent of volunteers, this was reason to rejoice.

In recent years, a stifling haze has settled over the city's only noncommercial, locally controlled outlet. Deep disinterest, even paranoia pervade today. Programmers, members, and former board members blame management for running 'CUW in an exclusive, tyrannical, small-minded manner, all of which prevent the 25-year-old station from being fiscally healthy and vital to a region represented by few media outlets.

So, once the ad appeared, critics quickly lined up a replacement for General Manager Joseph Cutroni.

Then came the twist of events. Cutroni distributed a newsletter stating, "there have been a lot of rumors [that] . . . I am leaving the station." In truth, he said, the board had voted to extend his contract for another year.

His rehiring, however, coincided with a virtual parade of quitters. Programmer Rob Silverberg took an indefinite break from his popular Friday-morning show. Then, as so often happens at 'CUW, three board members resigned -- at least one, secretary Darcy Adshead, did so because she was dissatisfied with the board's progress.

"Frustration felt at each meeting, when the board rejects or tables suggestions of change, and complacency of [its] members to take action, make it impossible for me [to] stay on," she wrote in a December 11 letter.

In the confusion, board members even neglected to call a November annual membership meeting -- a violation of station bylaws.

Still, Cutroni and veteran board members insist WCUW is better today than when they took over in 1993. And they're right. By repairing facilities and reducing longterm debt, Cutroni and the board have steered the station away from the instability of earlier days. 'CUW is still on air, which they call a testament to their skills, even if the station can barely afford to pay its bills.

Critics argue, however, management's list of accomplishments is short, especially after five years. Equipment remains woefully inadequate; the transmitter's even failed, temporarily forcing the station off the air. Now that Adshead's resigned, they're grumbling that their dream -- namely, an influential station that pays its bills on time -- has become an impossibility. After all, they considered Adshead an innovator, capable of turning around the 630-watt station that reaches a potential listenership of 500,000 around Worcester County, as far east as Framingham, south into Connecticut, and as far north as New Hampshire. Her departure's left programmers feeling hopeless.

"People like Darcy come in fresh, full of ideas to raise money, and then end up quitting," says Bill LeBeau, a programmer of the freeform, acoustic show New Traditions. "I'm content to do my show and leave. That's the way you have to be to be happy there."

Kristen Lombardi can be reached at klombardi[a]phx.com.

On to part 2