Effective April 2 2007, Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET will drastically reduce its music programming. Most dramatically, the powers that be decided to completely eliminate Alternate Take with Liz Copeland, a monumental show that since 1995 has showcased diverse and important music from around the world, with a focus on Detroit acts. Additional programs nixed include Night Train with Mick Collins, Seventh Journey with Chuck Horn, Best of the DSO, the W. Kim Heron Program, and the Ralph Valdez Program. Ed Love's Destination Jazz, a staple of Detroit radio, has been reduced from 5 hours nightly to 3, and Michael Julien's Global Mix has been reduced from 5 hours to a pitiful 2.

WDET is the only station playing important and interesting music in a city with great talent but stale radio. If we allow WDET, a publicly supported entity with upwards of 50% of its finances coming from listeners, to become completely centered around news programming, we are depriving our community and ourselves of a resource Detroit cannot afford to be without.

Just as a corporate radio station has a responsibility to its advertisers, a publicly supported station has a responsibility to its listeners. We as listeners will make ourselves heard and work to find innovative and positive ways towards the reinstatement of music programming on WDET.