RadioActive 8/14/08

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco
The WERU community is celebrating 20 years of great community radio—and counting down to our next membership drive— by taking a look back.  Today we’re going back to 2003.  In November of that year we reported from the protests at the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, ministerial meetings in Miami.   Inside luxury resort hotels, the FTAA meetings were not going well as more and more countries were becoming aware of the negative impacts of corporate globalization.   The resorts were surrounded by fencing and riot police, keeping any dissent well out of view of those inside.   The protests were spirited, but in no way violent.   We broke away after covering a Teamsters protest march and found a pay phone to call in to WERU with an update.  What follows is that call-in segment, engineered by Heather Candon, then recorded audio from the protests that aired later, including an impromptu press conference with a Miami police official in which you will also hear the voice of Andrea DeFrancesco and other reporters as well.   So let’s take a trip back in time to 2003…

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RadioActive 7/31/08

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Topic:  Today we consider the life and work of photojournalist Jim Harney, as he prepares for a walk in solidarity with the undocumented. Get updates from walk and see Jim’s work at www.posibilidad.org

And we get an update on aerial spraying from the Maine Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides  before the August 1st meeting of the Board of Pesticides Control.  FMI: www.maine.gov/agriculture/pesticides

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RadioActive 7/24/08

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne & Meredith DeFrancesco

Topic/Guests:  Award-winning local artist and activist Robert Shetterly talks with Teri Blanton.  Blanton is a survivor of a Superfund toxic waste site near her home in Harlan County, Kentucky.  Her courageous stand against the abuses of coal companies has won her notoriety within her state.  An active member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Teri’s personal mission is to reach out to her community about the issue of Mountaintop Removal Mining.    Teri Blanton will give the keynote speech at the 2008 WERU Full Circle Fair in Blue Hill, Maine on Saturday, July 26th, 2008.  Robert Shetterly will also be painting her portrait for his series “Americans Who Tell the Truth”.

FMI: www.ilovemountains.org, www.americanswhotellthetruth.org

**Please note that a typo in the Fair Guide states that Blanton’s keynote will be 2:30-3:30p.m. and that information was given on today’s show.  The correct time is 1:30-2:30pm.

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RadioActive 7/10/08

Producers/Hosts: Meredith DeFrancesco, Amy Browne

Contributors: Matt Murphy and Joel Mann

Topic: Veterans and the 4th of July

Segment 1: Matt Murphy talks with the “Veterans for Peace” and their supporters marching in a local 4th of July parade

Segment 2: Award-winning author Deborah Joy Corey (“The Skating Pond”, “Losing Eddie”) reads an essay about a young Iraq war veteran who visited her family during Castine, Maine’s 4th of July celebrations.  Recorded by Joel Mann

FMI: Veterans for Peace, Maine Chapter: www.vfpmaine.org;  Iraq Veterans Against the War: www.ivaw.org

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RadioActive 6/26/08

Today we bring you an episode of the public access program “This Issue”.  Interviewer Bruce Gagnon talks with two activists involved with the movement for a People’s Veto of Real ID in Maine : Lu Bauer and Chris Miller of “Maine People for Real Freedom”.   55,000 signatures on petitions are needed by July 17th to get a people’s veto on the ballots in November.  This interview took place May 23, 2008 and is used with the producer’s consent.  A special thanks to Jane Sanford who provided WERU with the tape

FMI; www.realrepeal.net and www.mclu.org

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RadioActive 6/12/08

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Topic: The last time we reported on Plum Creek’s proposal for a massive development in the Moosehead Lake region, the Land Use Regulatory Commission (LURC)—which oversees the unorganized territories of Maine— had just concluded a series of public hearings.    The next step was for LURC to take the comments and new information into account as they considered whether they would give their approval to Plum Creek’s plans.  Since that time they have come back with some recommendations for changes, and opened another comment period.    And today the Natural Resources Council of Maine, and Maine Audubon released suggestions for changes to help protect the Lily Bay area.

Logan Perkins and Ryan Clarke of the Native Forest Network join me in the studio, and Alan Bray, a resident of Sangerville, joins us by phone, with an update on Plum Creek’s development scheme for the Moosehead Lake Region.

Where is the Big Wilson old growth and how does it figure into Plum Creek’s plans?
Describe the area and what would be lost if it was logged or developed.  How can people join a hiking tour of the area?
What is the Native Forest Network’s  position— do LURC’s proposed changes address any of the concerns your group has about Plum Creek’s proposal?
What is the response to NRCM and Audubon’s Lily Bay proposal, released earlier today?

FMI: Logan Perkins, 207-615-5158; [email protected]; [email protected]; www.nrcm.org

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