Maine Public Radio Calais (Bangor, Eastport: subsidized, wages, law)

[corgis]

Yippee! - It's not going to close. I listen to Public radio all day long and on the weekends I love listening to What Do You Know, Car Talk, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Garrison Keiller (I'm a Lutheran), classical music and everything else except maybe some operas. It's always on in the background when we're in Eastport.

MPBN delays service reductions - Bangor Daily News

[GarlicGuy]

not yet anyway..... but glad to see it in the paper today. Its all i listen to ... unless I"m enjoying my xm radio

[starwalker]

I'm glad your station will be staying for now. I listen to the one out of Bangor a lot. I ALSO listen to the Voice of Maine (yes, Glen Beck and Rush) just in case anyone was planning to flame me for being a crunchy green liberal.
One of the two is bound to have something on to interest me I have found.

(not that I am NOT a crunchy green liberal, mind you... however I am an open minded one.)

[mensaguy]

Originally Posted by starwalker

..... a crunchy green liberal. .....

I'm curious. Just what is a crunchy green liberal?

I'm really glad to hear that the stations will continue for now. It's part of the emergency broadcast system, and I'm very accustomed to having All Things Considered to listen to for afternoon news. I also like Maine Things Considered. How can there be a Saturday without Michael Feldman?

[maine4.us]

Crunchy Green Liberal: Used to describe persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons. Crunchy persons tend to be politically strongly left-leaning and may be additionally but not exclusively categorized as vegetarians, vegans, eco-tarians, conservationists, environmentalists, neo-hippies, tree huggers, nature enthusiasts, etc., who are liberals.

[dmyankee]

Originally Posted by mensaguy

I'm curious. Just what is a crunchy green liberal?

I'm really glad to hear that the stations will continue for now. It's part of the emergency broadcast system, and I'm very accustomed to having All Things Considered to listen to for afternoon news. I also like Maine Things Considered. How can there be a Saturday without Michael Feldman?

In the great ice storm of '98, MPBR and its emergency broadcast system was the first thing to go down!

Jerry Evans, who owned WVOM at the time, dropped all his regular programming and subsequent revenue at his expense and turned the Voice of Maine into the premier emergency network for weeks. This really is a fascinating story and its probably time to tell it again in detail, lest we all forget.

It was entrepreneurial Mainers, not the government that saved many a life and offered news and hope to citizens at the mercy of the weather that month. The station served as a means for people in need to connect with fellow Mainers for for assistance.

Hour after hour, day and night, someone would call in, needing this or that and someone else would call in to offer whatever was required. Food, medicine, wood, oil, transportation, it did not matter what. It was nothing for somebody in need of firewood to call in and within hours, a perfect stranger might show up in their dooryard with a pickup load of hardwood.

At one point, it was clear that the generators were running out of fuel for the transmitter. This was positioned high up on a mountain in Passadumkeag(sp.) The Maine Militia (not the Maine National Guard,) came to the rescue with enough manpower and sleds to tote 100 lb. propane cylinders up to the transmitter.

The MNG would later haul them up by chopper only after Gov. Ghengis King realized he was dropping the ball. So did the MPBS and it's ilk!

[mensaguy]

I'm sorry you feel so negative about Maine Public Broadcasting. I like it very much. I've listened to public radio in several states and find Maine's system to be a very good one.

[cmperry]

MPB to listen to broadcast shows is a great network..MPB as an emergency broadcast system was/may still be a dismal failure. They failed the Maine people when needed in "98"...thank goodness for WVOM.103.9, they literally were a lifesaver for many Mainers.

[dmyankee]

Originally Posted by mensaguy

I'm sorry you feel so negative about Maine Public Broadcasting. I like it very much. I've listened to public radio in several states and find Maine's system to be a very good one.

No, I am just dead set against ALL Taxpayer Subsidized Public Broadcasting.

[Casper1212]

I love the story about the commercial station using their resources to serve the community in a crisis, dmyankee. My husband and I met when he was in radio and we worked together in that field until we got tired of starvation wages and he went into law enforcement. I'm always amazed at how many media outlets don't understand that being of service to the community is crucial to their own survival. My boss was upset when a public radio station opened here. Now, a few years later, he was telling me how great it is and how surprised he is to learn that they each benefit from the presence of the other. (Well, duh!)