Delete WardMaking a Public Comment
Council welcomes public comment before regular council meetings. Fill out the online form below for your chance to make a public comment at the next regular Monday Council meeting. Please read the revised rules and procedures.
Registrations can also be submitted:
* In person at Cleveland City Hall, Room 220, 601 Lakeside Ave. NE. Paper forms are available to register.
* If you don't want to fill out the online form below, you can download this form and fill it out, and email it to publiccomment@clevelandcitycouncil.gov or drop it off at Council offices. (Parking at City Hall on the upper lot is free on Mondays after 5 pm when Council is meeting.) If you need assistance, language, or disability, go here to make a request (at least 3 days in advance.)
Make a Comment in Person
Registrations to speak up to 3 minutes at a regular council meeting can be submitted between noon Wednesday and 2 pm on the Monday before a regular 7 pm council meeting. (Early, incomplete and false registrations are not accepted.) Only the first 10 are accepted.
Make a Comment Online
If you don't want to speak at a Council meeting, please submit your written comments below.
Public Comments
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What is right is to GIVE IT BACK!
For all of its history until this past October 3, WCSB has been a unique and vital resource for the critically under-represented voices in Cleveland and beyond. It's not about disliking jazz (WCSB played jazz!) and it's not about limiting the voice of Ideastream (accessible through other media channels in our market, including existing terrestrial radio!). It's about the needless destruction and erasure of all those OTHER voices, from the all of the foreign language audiences, to the on-air personalities, to that one nerdy weird middle school girl who gets exposed to that life-changing music at the end of the dial while she works late into the night on her homework. GIVE IT BACK!
The action by Laura Bloomberg to hand over operations of the station to Ideastream has disenfranchised those voices -- and HOW it was done, in such a surreptitious way, speaks clearly of the actors' knowledge that what they were doing was WRONG. My voice is just one, but I am part of a unanimous response by our community who DOES NOT WANT to lose "our" WCSB. With the exception of Dr. Bloomberg and Kevin Martin, EVERY person I have spoken with on this issue thinks that it is a BAD IDEA, and a terrible loss. GIVE IT BACK.
This can all be resolved with a very simple solution: Return operation of the radio station WCSB at 89.3 to the students and volunteers who have run it for nearly 50 years. JUST GIVE IT BACK.
In doing so, Dr. Bloomberg and Kevin Martin can redeem themselves as supporters of diversity and public discourse, which are the stated goals - and should be the ACTUAL missions - of their respective organizations, as well as the right side of history at this moment in time.
As Profram Director for 2025, and a member since late 2023, i have seen how more and more students have found their place in WCSB's community. We had 24 students and faculty by the end, and 20 applications either training or scheduled to be interview. That's 100% growth almost.
This doesn't even mention the grave harm this merger has done for community members who have stayed with the station out of love, or communities who felt acknowledged and served by the programming the former station had brought.
Bring it back. It is a deal with no one but big-wigs in mind. It fails to serve the community and the students at the public university of CSU.
- Jackie The Dogwolf
More importantly than my personal gain is consideration for the independent live music venues, small business owners, non-profits, and especially the Student DJs... The alleyways and avenues WCSB has carved into the local music Community and also the non-profits benefitting, should be a major motivation to retore student programming. These types of messages will never be received by a younger audience again, unless the original format is restored. Thank you.
My name is Tom Orange, and I was the WCSB Jazz Director for 9 years before CSU and IdeaScheme Corporate Media pulled the broadcast plug in their secret hostile takeover that silenced the voices of our student-run community.
In truth, close scrutiny reveals that 54% of JazzNEO’s broadcast content is produced outside Northeast Ohio.
Check the schedule:
https://www.ideastream.org/schedule/jazzneo#weekly-schedule
JazzNEO’s only locally-produced shows are the ones hosted by Dee Perry, Dan Polletta and John Simna, plus Live from the Bop Stop.
That’s only 78 hours, or 46% of the 168 hour programming week.
The remaining 90 hours are all nationally-syndicated shows produced outside Ohio.
How does this benefit CSU, its students, our former WCSB listening community, or Greater Cleveland generally?
Doesn’t it make their branding as “JazzNEO” a total lie when the majority of its shows come from outside NEO?
I have emailed Kevin Martin this information, but I humbly request the City Council hold Mr. Martin’s feet to the fire and call him before your distinguished body to let him answer these and other questions in person before you.
Sincerely,
Tom Orange, PhD
XCSB Jazz Director 10/3/2025 - present
WCSB loyal listener since the early 1980s
CSU student, Summer 1986 and Fall 1988
CSU English Department Adjunct Faculty, 2010-2012
WCSB Member/Programmer 2010-2017, 2020-2025
WCSB Faculty Advisor 2011-2013
WCSB Jazz Director 2013-2017, 2020-2025
WCSB Automation Team Member 2023-2025