VPR Assurances
Were Forgotten

Congratulations to Mark Vogelzang, president and CEO of Vermont Public Radio. He can proudly, yet modestly, announce to his friends and colleagues all over the United States that, thanks to him, little Vermont now has two public radio stations—one for news, one for classical music.

Of course, over a third of Vermont listeners, including even Montpelier residents, cannot get the new classical music station, despite repeated radio announcements that we can now listen to both. (I was told when I telephoned VPR that this would take several more years.) And despite Mr. Vogelzang’s previous assurance that no program changes would be made until the new system was up and running for the entire state.

So we must with deep regret give up our classical music programs—Walter Parker, "Performance Today," Peter Fox Smith’s "Saturday Afternoon at the Opera." And especially the Metropolitan Opera, which I will miss the most. Since I was a girl in elementary school in Massachusetts I have listened to almost every Met radio performance, except for the years I lived abroad.

There is a bright side, however. We classical music lovers need listen no longer to the scripted, repetitive, boring pleas for money before, during, and after the endless pledge drives. But apparently VPR doesn’t need any more funds, since it has enough money to hire extra staff to handle all the additional mail and telephone calls Mr. Vogelzang expects from angry listeners.

Janice M. Thresher

Randolph

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