LEWISTON – Fans of classical music and opera aficionados on Saturday won a victory in their battle with Maine Public Radio over programming changes implemented three months ago.

MPR staff will re-examine recent programming revisions this week and propose changes to the board of trustees of Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. at its March 20 meeting.

In May, the Community Advisory Committee to MPBC will evaluate whether those new changes meet the directives it crafted Saturday afternoon.

“I’m looking forward to going to the board to come up with a solution that will increase the value of our service to our board and membership,” said Charles Beck, MPR’s vice president for radio services. “We all want the same thing. There are just different perceptions about how we measure success.”

Beck said it was too early to discuss specific programming options. He also declined to comment on whether opera and weekday afternoon classical music might return.

The CAB’s decision sent staff back to square one in an effort to reach what Beck described in November as an audience increasingly dominated by baby boomers who want something different.

In December, MPR eliminated weekday afternoon classical music and replaced it with news talk shows. It jettisoned Saturday afternoon opera broadcasts and replaced them with popular music programming and a radio quiz show, among other things.

Thousands of listeners reacted with anger and outrage. MPR’s audience services department reported Saturday that it had recorded more than of 2,100 comments on the programming changes since Feb. 16, when it began systematically keeping track of them. Listeners’ opinions also were gathered at seven public forums held over the past few weeks, from phone calls and letters sent by e-mail and regular mail.

Comments were running 2-to-1 against the changes, Beck reported Saturday. Some disgruntled listeners, led by Doug Hall of Orono, formed the Committee for Better Balanced MPR Programming. Others urged the Legislature to cut MPBC’s funding in retaliation for the changes.

In commenting late Saturday afternoon on public reaction to the changes, Rob Gardiner, MPBC president, quoted his adolescent daughter.

“As my 12-year-old would say, ‘I’m not stupid!'” he told CAB members. “We’ve been listening, and we do get it.”

Thirteen of the 22 CAB members, a handful of MPBC staff and a half-dozen members of the public attended the meeting at the network’s Lewiston studio. In January, trustees asked the CAB, which usually meets only in November and May, to give staff some guidance on how to proceed in light of negative reaction to the changes.

After reviewing and categorizing comments from the public, the CAB focused its directive to MPR staff on quality and balance.

“It is important to consider audience needs and perceptions while maintaining balance and quality,” the statement read.

“Public radio programs must offer a quality of content not found on other radio stations,” said the CAB’s statement. The group told staff to “re-examine recent programs to ensure that they meet these standards – intelligence, public service, noncommercial value, educational, unique and use resources appropriately.”

“It is important to maintain balance in our programming elements to serve the diverse interests of our audience,” the board stated. “There is an imbalance in the programming schedule and it should be re-examined, taking into consideration the following: innovation vs. tradition; locally produced vs. nationally produced shows; broad vs. narrow appeal, and types of listeners that might attract vs. the number of listeners that might be lost.”

CAB members agreed to continue defining the board’s future role in MPBC as well as its relationship to staff and trustees. MPBC is required by the 1978 legislation that created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to establish a CAB “to advise it with respect to whether the programming and other policies of the corporation are meeting the specialized educational and cultural needs of the communities served.”

According to CAB chairwoman Priscilla Platt of Yarmouth, the committee will discuss at its May meeting how to fulfill that mandate.

The board of trustees of MPBC will meet at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, at the Lewiston studio. The meeting is open to the public.