By John Basile
You’re driving along Route 6, headed east, and the car radio begins making wonderful sounds. Rising above the noise, static and bombast of commercial radio is . . . some cool jazz. Or maybe a cheery Celtic tune, a writer talking about her latest novel, a lively Dixieland band going through its paces. Something’s happening, and you know what it is: You’ve come within range of Provincetown’s community radio station, WOMR-FM.
“The incredible diversity of our programming reflects the diversity of Provincetown,” says the station’s executive director, Dave Myers.
“Diversity” is a word heard often when people talk about WOMR.
“It’s real people radio,” says Tina Lynde, a long-time program host on WOMR and now the president of the station’s board of directors. “We continue to represent the community in terms of what people want to hear.”
In an era when commercial radio has stopped taking chances with its programming, WOMR goes the other way. Where else can you hear programs with names like “The Old Songs’ Home,” “Psychedelic Oyster,” “Monuments of Mars,” “Lou-Lou’s Café” or “Clicks, Cuts and Pieces”? The fact that the programs even have names is a tip-off that WOMR is not like the run-of-the-dial radio stations that pump out the same-old, same-old, 24 hours a day.
“The DJs are not restricted in what they play,” says Myers. “They play what they love and know best.” And most of them work for the joy of it; WOMR maintains programming around the clock with only three paid employees – backed up by 75 volunteers.
Lynde agrees with Myers. “We have the freedom of the airwaves,” she says, “which is such a gift.” Her specialty is rock ‘n’ roll oldies on her program “Memory Lane,” but she is equally enthusiastic about the jazz, blues and other WOMR programming.
“Our DJs put a lot of passion into their programs,” she says. “That passion equals knowledge.”
Some of the DJs take circuitous routes to the WOMR airwaves. Dana Franchitto, a courier who spends a lot of time on the road and often keeps his radio tuned to WOMR, recalls that in the mid-1980s while visiting friends in Wellfleet, he heard WOMR for the first time and was appalled at what he heard. “There was a program playing a lot of classical music on the synthesizer and I, being a purist at the time, found it objectionable. I said, ‘I’ll show you what real classical music is.’”
WOMR took him up on his offer and Franchitto found himself as host of a program called “Classical Concert Hall.”
“The funny thing is, the woman playing all that synthesizer music is now one of my best friends,” Franchitto says.
Although he no longer hosts a program on a regular basis, he remains a devoted listener to WOMR for programs such as “Democracy Now” and “Counterspin,” news programs with a political bent. A part-time musician and would-be surfer, Franchitto’s views are often heard on the airwaves. He’s a regular caller to Eric Williams’ Wednesday-morning program where his on-air moniker is El Gato.
The community connection
WOMR draws its program hosts from the community, and there is a waiting list for those who want to get a show of their own.
Tina Lynde - psychotherapist, unpaid WOMR disc jockey and chair of the station's board - at the station's 2003 fund-raiser.
“If someone comes in with an idea for a program, eventually they will get on the air,” says Myers. “They won’t have to wait five years.” Coming in with a well-organized concept and following through with it are keys to getting on the air.
“There’s always room for more,” Lynde says. “People can train and make proposals for programs to the board. A lot of people start out as substitutes. They get some experience, and if they decide to put in a proposal and a shift opens up, they get on the air.”
For Lynde, being on the air at WOMR is the fulfillment of a dream she has had since childhood. “Someone gave me a pink transistor radio for my eighth birthday,” Lynde says. “From that point on, that’s all I really wanted to do, be on the radio.”
Lynde’s devotion to WOMR is clear. A psychotherapist specializing in work with families of special-needs children, she splits her time between homes in Newton and Provincetown. She has never worked in commercial radio, but gladly makes the trek to the Cape tip and has logged countless hours as one of WOMR’s unpaid disc jockeys in addition to her work on the board.
WOMR recently celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, and while the station has achieved an honored place in the Cape’s media hierarchy, it is probably not in danger of becoming stodgy as long as it stays its present course. “I hope,” says Franchitto, “WOMR stays a funky little radio station.”
Franchitto says there remains a transparent wall between WOMR management and its audience. “It’s the kind of radio that views us as citizens and listeners. Commercial radio views us as consumers of goods and services.”
While WOMR receives its support from the public, it is not a public radio station in the mold of WGBH or WBUR, the two Boston-based National Public Radio giants.
How is that difference maintained?
“One word: local,” says Lynde. “On NPR you are not going to hear commentary by local fishermen or local residents, or the B-side of a song recorded in the ‘50s.”
The future
WOMR gets some of its financial support from grants, but the bulk comes from local business underwriters and individual contributors. There are no commercials, but business contributors get on-air thanks.
"The Iguanas" keep WOMR fans hopping at the station's "Music, Food and Wine Fest."
The station now occupies a building on Commercial Street dating to 1845 and known as The Schoolhouse. It’s the third home the station has had in its twenty-five years and by far the most comfortable. With a large space upstairs for studios and offices, and rental income from two galleries downstairs, WOMR is well-positioned for the future, although it still needs to raise considerable money to pay off the mortgage on the building it bought in 2004.
Plans are in the works for the station to increase its coverage area. Installation of a repeater tower on the Orleans/Brewster town line will greatly improve the station’s signal in Chatham, Harwich, Dennis, Yarmouth, Orleans and Brewster, areas where reception often has been spotty.
There also are plans to install a backup power supply and small transmitter so that in the event of a power failure at the station’s antenna site in Provincetown, it can remain on the air and be heard, at least on the Outer Cape.
Myers says WOMR is doing more outreach nowadays, attempting to get more young people involved, improving its Web presence and sponsoring more public musical events. Lynde says she hopes the station will win a grant to fund a broadcast journalism course at local high schools.
“I envision younger programmers and more youth programs,” she says. “We can get young people on the air and hand this station over to the next generation.”