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| What the Loss of WNYC’s ‘New Sounds’ Means to Music Lovers | What the Loss of WNYC’s ‘New Sounds’ Means to Music Lovers |
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| Last week, when I heard that WNYC, New York’s flagship public radio station, was canceling its music program “New Sounds” after 37 years, my mind went back to a night more than a decade earlier, when a friend called to tell me that the show’s host, John Schaefer, was about to play a song from my band’s new album. I raced to the radio and listened in disbelief to the opening bars of “Conversation in the Mountains,” a piece I had written that incorporated spoken passages of a prose poem by Paul Celan about a missed encounter between two wanderers on an alpine road. | Last week, when I heard that WNYC, New York’s flagship public radio station, was canceling its music program “New Sounds” after 37 years, my mind went back to a night more than a decade earlier, when a friend called to tell me that the show’s host, John Schaefer, was about to play a song from my band’s new album. I raced to the radio and listened in disbelief to the opening bars of “Conversation in the Mountains,” a piece I had written that incorporated spoken passages of a prose poem by Paul Celan about a missed encounter between two wanderers on an alpine road. |
| As the show unfolded, it quickly became apparent that Mr. Schaefer had done what made “New Sounds” so invaluable: he stitched together a riveting and enlightening program — this one, called “Poetry and Music,” featured pieces that used only spoken, not sung, text — out of wildly disparate music. With its mixture of theremin, violin, clarinet, marimba, lap steel guitar, spoken text, and rock rhythm section, “Conversation in the Mountains,” had, I thought, existed in its own isolated musical world. | As the show unfolded, it quickly became apparent that Mr. Schaefer had done what made “New Sounds” so invaluable: he stitched together a riveting and enlightening program — this one, called “Poetry and Music,” featured pieces that used only spoken, not sung, text — out of wildly disparate music. With its mixture of theremin, violin, clarinet, marimba, lap steel guitar, spoken text, and rock rhythm section, “Conversation in the Mountains,” had, I thought, existed in its own isolated musical world. |
| Yet as Mr. Schaefer’s selections during the show unspooled (the Scottish singer-songwriter Robin Williamson played harp while half-speaking a Dylan Thomas poem; the avant-garde cellist Frances-Marie Uitti played luscious drones, accompanied by the writer Paul Griffiths reciting randomized words from Ophelia’s speeches in “Hamlet;” the bassist Bill Laswell and his collective, Material, fashioned an ominous groove as the canvas for narration by William S. Burroughs) it seemed to me that the host had forged a new genre out of nothing more than an astonishing memory and a boundless musical curiosity. | Yet as Mr. Schaefer’s selections during the show unspooled (the Scottish singer-songwriter Robin Williamson played harp while half-speaking a Dylan Thomas poem; the avant-garde cellist Frances-Marie Uitti played luscious drones, accompanied by the writer Paul Griffiths reciting randomized words from Ophelia’s speeches in “Hamlet;” the bassist Bill Laswell and his collective, Material, fashioned an ominous groove as the canvas for narration by William S. Burroughs) it seemed to me that the host had forged a new genre out of nothing more than an astonishing memory and a boundless musical curiosity. |
| “It’s hard for me to hear music and not think what it could go with,” Mr. Schaefer explained to me recently over the phone. “My desk is littered with little scraps of paper with the beginnings of ideas for shows.” | “It’s hard for me to hear music and not think what it could go with,” Mr. Schaefer explained to me recently over the phone. “My desk is littered with little scraps of paper with the beginnings of ideas for shows.” |
| But “New Sounds” does much more than generate inspired playlists. Mr. Schaefer, a tabla player, has been a passionate advocate for non-Western music, even persuading the great Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to perform live in the “New Sounds” studio. | But “New Sounds” does much more than generate inspired playlists. Mr. Schaefer, a tabla player, has been a passionate advocate for non-Western music, even persuading the great Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to perform live in the “New Sounds” studio. |
| Mr. Schaefer is also an incisive journalist; in 2008, he reported from North Korea while accompanying the New York Philharmonic on its historic performance in Pyongyang. Some “New Sounds” episodes have highlighted his thoughtful, probing questioning. One of the most searing moments I’ve heard in radio journalism came during an episode devoted to the art and music of Terezin, the Nazis’ “model” concentration camp for Jewish artists in what was then Czechoslovakia. It included the testimony of Zdenka Fantlova, a Terezin prisoner deported to Auschwitz who described hiding a tin ring given to her by her fiancé under her tongue — even though the ring’s discovery would have meant that she would be instantly killed. | Mr. Schaefer is also an incisive journalist; in 2008, he reported from North Korea while accompanying the New York Philharmonic on its historic performance in Pyongyang. Some “New Sounds” episodes have highlighted his thoughtful, probing questioning. One of the most searing moments I’ve heard in radio journalism came during an episode devoted to the art and music of Terezin, the Nazis’ “model” concentration camp for Jewish artists in what was then Czechoslovakia. It included the testimony of Zdenka Fantlova, a Terezin prisoner deported to Auschwitz who described hiding a tin ring given to her by her fiancé under her tongue — even though the ring’s discovery would have meant that she would be instantly killed. |
| In 1981, when Mr. Schaefer, then 22, started at WNYC, the station was still owned by the City of New York, as it had been for nearly six decades, and virtually every employee, from radio host to janitor, was a civil servant. In 1995, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who disliked the idea of a city-owned radio station, agreed to sell the station’s FM and AM broadcasting licenses to the WNYC Foundation, a nonprofit established to support the station, for $20 million. | In 1981, when Mr. Schaefer, then 22, started at WNYC, the station was still owned by the City of New York, as it had been for nearly six decades, and virtually every employee, from radio host to janitor, was a civil servant. In 1995, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who disliked the idea of a city-owned radio station, agreed to sell the station’s FM and AM broadcasting licenses to the WNYC Foundation, a nonprofit established to support the station, for $20 million. |
| Under its corporate-minded president, Laura Walker, who stepped down this year, WNYC’s annual budget skyrocketed from $8 million in 1997 to nearly $100 million in 2018. With that growth came more news and talk programs, which typically generated higher ratings, and less music. In 2002, the station replaced daytime music programming with news and talk shows, and four years ago it terminated “Spinning on Air,” another superb long-running music program. | |
| “I was the last man standing,” Mr. Schaefer told me. The cancellation, which will also cost his longtime producer, Caryn Havlik, her job, included Mr. Schaefer’s other music show, “Soundcheck” (already demoted to a podcast), and his “Gig Alerts,” a curated selection of coming concerts. The termination was delivered to WNYC staff by an email that reeked of corporate speak. | “I was the last man standing,” Mr. Schaefer told me. The cancellation, which will also cost his longtime producer, Caryn Havlik, her job, included Mr. Schaefer’s other music show, “Soundcheck” (already demoted to a podcast), and his “Gig Alerts,” a curated selection of coming concerts. The termination was delivered to WNYC staff by an email that reeked of corporate speak. |
| “We are sunsetting the ‘New Sounds’ brand,” the email read. “This is a continuation of the momentum that began when we replaced daytime music on WNYC-FM with news/talk format programs in 2002.” | “We are sunsetting the ‘New Sounds’ brand,” the email read. “This is a continuation of the momentum that began when we replaced daytime music on WNYC-FM with news/talk format programs in 2002.” |
| After “New Sounds” leaves WNYC’s schedule at the year’s end, the station’s sole remaining broadcast music show will be a four-hour Saturday evening program devoted to American standards. The other 164 hours of weekly programming will be given over to talk, a reflection of a national decline in noncommercial music programming on radio. | After “New Sounds” leaves WNYC’s schedule at the year’s end, the station’s sole remaining broadcast music show will be a four-hour Saturday evening program devoted to American standards. The other 164 hours of weekly programming will be given over to talk, a reflection of a national decline in noncommercial music programming on radio. |
| “Marginalization of the arts, with the big depressing news we’re facing, is the exact opposite of what this culture needs,” Mr. Schaefer said. Despite the proliferation of music on the internet, Mr. Schaefer believes that there is more of a need than ever for curators like him to surprise listeners. | “Marginalization of the arts, with the big depressing news we’re facing, is the exact opposite of what this culture needs,” Mr. Schaefer said. Despite the proliferation of music on the internet, Mr. Schaefer believes that there is more of a need than ever for curators like him to surprise listeners. |
| “When what we listen to is all based on algorithms, you’re fed things that will already fit your taste,” he said. “My intention with the show was always to make it like a series of doors. You could peek in and you could go into that door if you liked, or you could choose another.” | “When what we listen to is all based on algorithms, you’re fed things that will already fit your taste,” he said. “My intention with the show was always to make it like a series of doors. You could peek in and you could go into that door if you liked, or you could choose another.” |
| In anticipation of the closing of those doors, I have been revisiting some of my favorite programs from the show’s archive. I listened again to the “Poetry and Music” episode, marveling at the weird coherence of the selections, and the many musical discoveries from just that single program. | In anticipation of the closing of those doors, I have been revisiting some of my favorite programs from the show’s archive. I listened again to the “Poetry and Music” episode, marveling at the weird coherence of the selections, and the many musical discoveries from just that single program. |
| It reminded me of a speech Paul Celan, a Holocaust survivor, gave about the importance of poetry, but which could easily be applied to music or any other art form. “A poem,” Celan told the audience, “can be a message in a bottle, sent out in the — not always greatly hopeful — belief that somewhere and sometime it could wash up on land, on heartland perhaps.” | It reminded me of a speech Paul Celan, a Holocaust survivor, gave about the importance of poetry, but which could easily be applied to music or any other art form. “A poem,” Celan told the audience, “can be a message in a bottle, sent out in the — not always greatly hopeful — belief that somewhere and sometime it could wash up on land, on heartland perhaps.” |
| This week, at a “New Sounds”-sponsored performance of Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians” for an immense crowd at the Winter Garden in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Schaefer reassured a distressed audience that he would continue the show in some form. Let us hope he succeeds. We need those bottled messages more than ever. | This week, at a “New Sounds”-sponsored performance of Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians” for an immense crowd at the Winter Garden in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Schaefer reassured a distressed audience that he would continue the show in some form. Let us hope he succeeds. We need those bottled messages more than ever. |
| Dan Kaufman is the author of “The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics.” | Dan Kaufman is the author of “The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics.” |
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