Farewell, The Rock. An Open Letter

[Sunbeam]

Kosmo sent out his farewell to The Rock this week, it coincided with the composition of my own missive which has been brewing in my brain for days. Here is what I had to say:

Dear Mr. Elliott, and Mr. Kassay:

I am writing to convey a huge and heart-felt "Thank-You!" to the management of The Rock 94.9, for bringing us the Marsden Theatre every weekend for the past several years. It has been a breath of fresh air compared to most rock fm programming, and has brought us more enjoyment than I can describe. For this, I am eternally grateful.

In fact, if it were not for the Marsden Theatre, I would never have discovered The Rock in the first place. One evening several years ago, I connected a vintage FM tuner to a new antenna, and decided to scan the whole band, seeking relief from the sameness of the myriad "Classic Rock" and "Best Rock" stations spawned by the likes of Jack and Clearchannel. I happened upon a piece of cherished music I hadn't heard in a long time, and my brain said "Stop! zero in on this station! Could it be Marsden?". It was.

Five or six years later, I can say I've never missed more than a couple of shows. I have given a fair effort at listening to The Rock during other program hours, and on several occasions thought, these guys are so close to getting it right... In fact, I've participated in several listener surveys, but found the options increasingly limited. It seems the programming direction is moving toward a mind-numbingly shallow, one-dimensional playlist of post-millennium sludge-rock, punctuated with a few "classic rock" choices..

If your market demographic surveys indicate that this is the programming direction you should take, I wish you all the best of luck in the future.

Thank-you again for providing a venue which gave me David Marsden back on-air in Southern Ontario, and gave me a point of contact which shall never again be lost.

Sincerely,

Peter McMullin
Shelburne, ON