WHRB Offers Integrated Mix

To the editors:

Re: Geoffrey C. Upton's column, "Seeing Kiss 108 in Black and White" (Dec.2), there is more to "black music" than what is played on 94.5. And you can catch it on any number of Boston stations, notably Harvard's own WHRB 95.3 FM. Although not a "major" station in terms of listenership, WHRB's signal booms over the whole Boston area, and carries a highly "integrated" schedule that includes jazz in the mornings, classical in the afternoons and evenings, rock at night and R&B/rap on weekend nights. This "integration" is not achieved by some crude calculus of race, but by the interests of various Harvard students and the listening audience.

Of course, the "major" stations aren't as varied in their programming, but that's why they're "major"-they capture important sectors of the radio market by offering a relatively restricted range of extremely popular songs. That's the key in the radio biz-specialize to capitalize. Those of us who are more serious about enjoying a wider range of "black"-and "white"-music must, and do, look elsewhere. Harvard students should try tuning in to WHRB 95.3, or to other great Boston stations (especially collegiate ones) like WERS 88.9. JOEL B. POLLAK '99   Dec. 2, 1998