where did the WDET voices go?

[1KielsonDrive]

EMG, I agree. It was a very good station. Classical is not my bag all of the time, but it sure is nice to have that option. The replacement is pretty good. I can't think of the call letters because I hit the button and it comes up. WRQJ maybe? The problem is - it's another NPR station.

[EastsideAl]

WEMU, if you can get it in the Detroit area, is a good alternative to BS talk radio, a large part of the day. Linda Yohn and Michael Jewett are good hosts and they serve a nice variety of music. They are also very active in their community.

WEMU, although I sometimes tease them for being too mainstream in their music choices, is really a pretty good example of the type of intelligent music-programmed station that we really need, and that WDET once was.

Alas, it is also unreceivable in much of the city, especially the east side.

[Vitalis]

DET was like that old, favorite pair of jeans you loved wearing, but now it is thread bare, and even you can't or won't get into them. The Take Away - couldn't agree more, it is drive-thru news for the unfocused, multi-taskers who are on the go-go. John Hockenberry is so careful to let us know how he feels about the question he is posing before he poses it, and the questions should never be about John Hockenberry. Imagine journalists of another era, asking a question such as, "That fat, drunken Senator from Wisconsin will likely trip over his tongue once again, but here-goes: 'Senator how many Communists are in the State Department?'"

Then we have Detroit Today which to my mind is an absolutely first-rate, cutting edge, "torn from todays headlines" issues show. For people who will be intrinsically involved with local fall elections, this is the one indispensible program on DET.

And finally, I know that Ed Love is a "Detroit treasure," so I will be careful here - I hold absolutely no umbrage of Ed, but he has a nightly tendency to focus on the dearly departed - I know, I know, it's short hand for letting us know that the particular artist is from out of the past, but it's the way in which he tells the tale that makes it sound as though jazz is embalmed and entombed. If you haven't smiled to yourself over Ed's capacity for keeping score - dead v. live artist - over several hours of listening to Ed as the background of some particular evening...well I didn't mean to offend.

[Detroitnerd]

MUSIC FADES UP

MUSIC FADES OUT BRIEFLY

ANNOUNCER: My problem with Ed Love ...

MUSIC FADES UP

MUSIC FADES OUT BRIEFLY

ANNOUNCER: ... has little to do with the music he chooses ...

MUSIC FADES UP

MUSIC FADES OUT BRIEFLY

ANNOUNCER: ... or the way he plays it ...

MUSIC FADES UP

MUSIC FADES OUT BRIEFLY

ANNOUNCER: ... but rather to do with his on-air tricks.

MUSIC FADES UP AGAIN, etc., etc., ad absurdum

[1KielsonDrive]

[quote=EastsideAl;81528]WEMU, too mainstream in their music choices, is really a pretty good example of the type of intelligent music-programmed station that we really need, and that WDET once was.

I agree with your assessment of WEMU and their music choices.

[1KielsonDrive]

Thanks Vitalis, valid criticisms of Ed Love. You were very careful, but might not survivie the wrath.

[467riverfix]

Put me down with the WDET haters. This used to be my fave station bar none. Now it has become like any other bland talk talk ad nauseum syndicated homogenized NPR stn. I won't come anywhere close to giving them a buck. For half-decent radio stations try WEMU Ypsilanti or even Detroit Public Schools. WEMU at least has a lot of the sound and funk of the ol' DET but a distinctive voice itself. Shameful what happened to WDET.

[kryptonite]

467riverfix, what really gripes me is that WDET basically gave the proverbial finger to their longtime donors, fired their talented dj's, sh*t canned their music programming and transitioned to a boring boring of news and gab. News and gab is literally ubiquitous on the internet and who needs it on the radio. I can't do streaming at home or in my car so screw their online music. I quit listening to WDET and now ignore their fundraisers and when they mail me anything it goes straight into the trash.

I talked to another long term donor in Ann Arbor and he had called DET and demanded that they take him off their mailing list because he had also quit listening.

[ordinary]

John Hockenberry on the take away is very annoying. Other than that, I actually like the new format. I'm not a big modern jazz fan and I couldn't seem to distinguish between the programs of Judy Adams and Martin BanDyke. Too much of the same stuff. Anyway, I always give them a few dollars and my employer matches.

[downtownguy]

EMG, I agree. It was a very good station. Classical is not my bag all of the time, but it sure is nice to have that option. The replacement is pretty good. I can't think of the call letters because I hit the button and it comes up. WRQJ maybe? The problem is - it's another NPR station.

You're speaking of WRCJ - 90.9FM? They're not affiliated with NPR at all. Yes, they are a public radio station, but no they are not a National Public Radio affiliate, and yes, if you listen, you should consider supporting financially.

[Ridger]

I was a big fan of both Judy Adams and Martin Bandyke and am still a fan of Ed Love and Ann Delisi's Essential Music. Did anyone hear what that $600.00 donation would get you in way of their promotional offer? I don't have $600.00 to donate, can barely come up with $60 this year, but the story telling event scheduled was one I wanted to hear more about and ran short of time on Saturday to listen.

[Ridger]

I agree with Homer and others that find Hockenberry rude and disrespectful of others he is hosting with and of the general public. He is so arrogant and not as funny as the famous Don Rickles - I'm not crazy about the lack of detail and concept of just getting the last word ... "take away" much either. Investigative reporting took a back seat to something cheap and immature in my opinion.

[Jimg]

John Penny has a solid jazz program on WRCJ, Saturday night from 7 - 9. It's called "Detroit Jazz Fest," just started two weeks ago.

[Ravine]

Oh yeah, Jimg, I couldn't agree more. Even the sound of his voice pleases me. I don't have to get up early on Sundays, so Saturday night is my "do what I want, as late as I want" time. Finding John's show, especially in that time slot, is better fortune than I could have imagined to ask for.

[Ridger]

If you loved the old WDET then you should check out 88.1 FM WYCE on line listening - you can hear it in Detroit, though they broadcast out of Grand Rapids, MI - very Adams/Bandyke selections of weekday music and not much talk. I listen at my office now that Detroit has so much quick and dirty babble on weekdays. Not that I don't appreciate Detroit Today... I just am less than happy with The Take Away and a few other cheap substitutes for news.

[Gannon]

I always get angry with myself for missing another DetroitTODAY show after being chased away by that abrasive Hockenberry. But once I switch, it is difficult to get me back that day...radio is not an 'active' channel-changing thing for me, but more a 'passive' background listening habit.

Plus, I am just PISSED that they bill Celeste Headlee on that show as 'Detroit's Own' when WDET let her go. She was far and away the greatest personal-interest and community-relations reporting talent, and simply a pleasant voice to have as electronic company. But they let her go, and now have the guts to advertise her on some national show as 'our' own? Weak.


Having her on board when Craig Fahle returned from his North Carolina 'vacation', with Quinn and Jerome in the news room...would've been such poetry. But that goofball from A2 had to come screw everything up...

[Gannon]

Great to learn that John Penney has returned to the dial, it was HIS leaving that finally nailed my enthusiasm to death for WDET.

I really want to return to it...but it is not the community I served for so many years. I'd recognize perhaps TWO faces, when volunteering before I knew nearly everyone. So sad what has happened to WDET.


John Penney Rules.

[1KielsonDrive]

Yeah Gannon, I agree. The last straw was DET's dismantling of the sunday line-up. Chris Felcyn, Reverend Robert, John Penny, Allen Mazurek/DSO, Kim Heron, Ralph Valdez and Kim Copeland. They also shooed Matt and Larry McDaniel for a while. Shame on them. I spoke to John Penny and Kim Heron this past winter, they both said they missed their radio shows and when I asked each if he'd like to return to the air, the answer was 'Yeah'. John Penny said, 'Yeah, anytime'.

[1KielsonDrive]

Now DET has the GM guy making repeated, serious and professional sounding announcements extolling their commitment to the metropolitan area. AFRS - just another [[f*#@+^g) radio station!

[lafayette]

I have heard rumours that that new guy whose running the statian goes around kicking employees in the teeth and trying to fire the people there. I hope thats not true.

[Danny]

Where did the WDET voices go?

Those folks have lost their jobs, trying to look for internships that will guarantee a full time job. Some of them have to apply for welfare and food stamps while they look for jobs.