Boston, MA August 21, 1995. Speaking to a sell-out crowd at Boston's Harborlights on Saturday night, singer Tony Bennett declared a "music emergency" and pleaded with over 4,500 lovers of classical American music to call Henry Becton, President of radio station WGBH, and demand that he reverse the decision to cancel Ron Della Chiesa's MusicAmerica program. The program is scheduled to leave the air at the end of the month.
Between encores, Bennett told the audience "This is a special thing. I don't do this ever." Those close to the singer confirmed that, in 40 years, Bennett has never before spoken out on an issue from the stage. "Don't take off that great Duke Ellington, and Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald, and Nat King Cole. Don't take that off the air. Just call that station! Please call that station!" Following his remarks, Bennett symbolically closed the program with Alan and Marilyn Bergman's How Do You Keep the Music Playing? How Do You Make It Last?
Backstage, after the concert, Bennett added his signature to those of 750 other MusicAmerica fans collected at the gate before his performance. Bennett joins Keith Lockhart and nearly half the members of the Boston Symphony in weighing in on this side of the issue.
MusicAmerica, hosted by music guru, Ron Della Chiesa, reaches more than 100,000 listeners weekly and is the only Boston-area radio program featuring classical American music. Word of the program's cancellation is leaking out slowly, but already over 1,000 listeners have called or written the station in protest. The Committee to Save MusicAmerica has logged over 600 calls to its own hotline, and has collected nearly 2,000 petition signatures in just ten days.
"Bennett's remarks add new impetus to our campaign," said John Brady, who heads an all-volunteer task force working aggressively to reverse WGBH's recent decision. "In the next few days, we'll be moving ahead by asking major corporate contributors to withhold their support of the station until the station agrees to restore classical American music to its afternoon schedule." He noted that his group's petition calls for only a slight adjustment to MusicAmerica's current schedule by airing it from noon 'til four, Monday through Friday.
The Committee to Save MusicAmerica maintains a 24-hour hotline, 617-662-0853. Correspondence and contributions can be mailed to Save MusicAmerica!, 63 Hillside Avenue, Melrose, MA 02176.