Day 1 of life on air without Marc Steiner at WYPR saw picketing by a group of loyal listeners outside the station's Charles Street studios and strong criticism from members of the station's own community advisory board.

"I think it would have been great if they had gotten our opinion," said board member Larry Kloze, a retired antiques dealer, who wasn't told of Friday's firing until yesterday morning, via e-mail. "Maybe they would have changed their mind."

Outside the studio, 13 people waved signs demanding Steiner's reinstatement. "I'm not happy," said Maria Allwine, 54, a legal secretary who ran for City Council president last year from the Green Party. She had been scheduled to be on Steiner's show yesterday, to discuss the contentious issue of the rates for electricity. "We were supposed to be talking about the most important issue facing Maryland."

If anyone should go, the picketers said, it is station President Anthony Brandon, who Steiner claims has long wanted him out.

To make the public radio station pay for "unceremoniously dumping" Steiner, as one person put it, the group urged the public to give no more money to listener-supported WYPR.

WYPR's future will be discussed today on the station's Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Scheduled guests include Steiner, Brandon and Jason Loviglio, director of media and communication studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

A station official said no one was available to comment on yesterday's protest and that "the official word is 'no comment.'" Barbara Bozzuto, WYPR's board chairwoman, has said Steiner's show was canceled after 15 years amid "sad" ratings for his public affairs show, which aired noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Bozzuto also has said Steiner's show focused too much on Baltimore and not enough on statewide matters, something Steiner and his supporters roundly dispute.

Since Dec. 24, fewer than a dozen of Steiner's shows, as described on WYPR's Web site, had been devoted to Baltimore-specific topics such as the city's murder rate, schools or drug problem. The other 38 or so programs looked at issues affecting Maryland or the U.S. as a whole.

Steiner called the show of support by Allwine's group and others "overwhelming." He said he has received 250 e-mails.

Ralph Moore, another member of WYPR's 13-member community advisory board, said he learned of Steiner's firing from newspaper reports on Saturday. Members were not told of the decision, he said, until they received an e-mail yesterday morning. He said Steiner's firing was a "total surprise," and not anything that had ever been discussed with the board.

"He is the reason why most people probably tune into the station," said Moore, director of the Community Center at St. Frances Academy.

A longtime Baltimore activist, Moore also dismissed concerns that the program dealt too narrowly with issues of concern only within the city.

"You have other hours of the day that you could program for other parts of the state," he said. "Baltimore is a hub. There is a lot of interest in what goes on in this city. In many ways, as Baltimore goes, so goes the region."

Yesterday, the station posted on its Web site a three-paragraph statement from Brandon. Without mentioning Steiner or his show by name, Brandon wrote that the recent "programming changes" were "not made lightly."

Brandon said the station had tried to make "content changes to the former show, but without success in stemming the erosion of listening audience compared to other programs on WYPR." He added: "I can assure you that community discussion of the highest caliber will continue on WYPR."

Loviglio believes Steiner's firing is the final salvo in a longstanding tug-of-war over the station's public face. For many in the community, Steiner, who spearheaded fund-raising efforts to purchase the station when its then-owner, the Johns Hopkins University, put it up for sale, was WYPR, Loviglio said - a perception the station's managers and governing board may not have appreciated.

"This is a struggle for control between the board and the personality who most epitomizes the show," said Loviglio. "The board really wants to run its own show. The ratings are beside the point. Marc mumbles, but that's beside the point. He is WYPR for a lot of us.

"People opened their wallets to Marc," said Loviglio, referring to the station's 2002 purchase from Hopkins. "Ever since then ... they've been moving to marginalize him. First they kicked him off the board, then they got rid of the evening repeat [of his show], then they hired Sheilah Kast. They wanted a name and a voice that wasn't his."

The idea to hit the sidewalk yesterday emerged over the weekend, as word of his dismissal spread. Kay Dellinger, a self-employed fan of the show, floated a possible protest. Allwine enthusiastically agreed. Given that the e-mail chain began only yesterday, she said 13 was a respectable turnout.

Tom Rose, 73, decided to drive in from Stoneleigh after receiving an e-mail from his daughter. He said he has given $1,000 to the station since Steiner helped wage the campaign to buy what was then WJHU. (The effort fell far short until Bozzuto and seven other investors guaranteed a $5 million loan.)

Rose, a retired engineer, said he valued the show's balance and thorough treatment of a range of topics affecting the city, state and nation. "As much as anybody could, he was trying to present a truthful view of things. Where can you find that on radio anymore?"

scott.calvert@baltsun.com

chris.kaltenbach@baltsun.com

Sun reporter John Woestendiek contributed to this article.