Talk of the Towns 11/10/21: Recruiting the next generation of volunteer firefighters

Producer/Host: Ron Beard

Community concerns and opportunities: Recruiting the next generation of volunteer firefighters

-What led to your involvement in your town fire department? Who invited you to get involved? Is this a family tradition for you? Why is the role volunteer fire fighter important to you and your community?

-How are changes in your community affecting your ability to staff your department with volunteers? If you look back in time, what were the most effective ways that you brought new volunteers into your department? What works today?

-In general, what are you looking for in volunteers… is there a range of duties and skills that volunteers can contribute? What is the range of time commitments and training expected?

-Please share your top reasons for why you became a firefighter in your town and why you continue to serve

Guests:

Stephan Blanchard, Lieutenant, Blue Hill Fire Department
Ryan Hayward, Chief, Stonington Fire Department
Brent Morey, Chief, Deer Isle Fire Department
David Carter, Chief, Sedgwick Fire Department
Zach Soares, volunteer firefighter, Bar Harbor Fire Department
Cynder Johnson, volunteer firefighter and EMT, Bar Harbor Fire Department

About the host:
Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals.

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Technoptimist Radio 11/10/21: How a block-chain Facebook alternative could improve data privacy

Join Teresa Carey as she breaks down the latest news on the technology that is solving the world’s biggest problems. In today’s show, Teresa covers a brain implant that tricks a blind eye into seeing again, a breakthrough in wireless power, and a new blockchain-based technology to free our social media data from Big Tech.

To learn more about the topics in this episode:
A brain implant lets a blind person see again — without using their eyes
Billionaire plans to build a blockchain Facebook alternative
Wireless power demonstration overcomes a major hurdle

About the host:
Teresa Carey is a senior staff writer at Freethink.com, where she covers genetics and the environment. She is also a US Coast Guard licensed captain and a NatGeo Explorer. In addition to Freethink her work can be found in BuzzFeed, Scientific American, PBS NewsHour, NPR Weekend Edition, Smithsonian and more. @teresa_carey

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Tough Island, Maine, Episode 13 11/9/21: Island Life on Matinicus

Producer/Host: Crash Barry

This week on he penultimate chapter of Tough Island, Maine, Crash learns how radio ruined Matinicus and how Wrestle-mania saved the island. Also, Crash moves off Matinicus to attend the University of Southern Maine.

About the host:
Writer Crash Barry lives near a cannabis grove in the foothills of western Maine. Thirty years ago, he moved to Matinicus, Maine’s most remote inhabited island, to live and work as a sternman aboard a lobster boat. In Tough Island, Maine, Crash retells his misadventures using dramatic storytelling and unique sound design.

For over 25 years, Crash has worked as print, radio and on-line journalist, reporting on the intersection of politics and culture. He’s the author of the rollicking novel Sex, Drugs and Blueberries, a gritty memoir Tough Island and the true story of Marijuana Valley. Crash is also a filmmaker and wrote and directed the screen adaptation of Sex, Drugs and Blueberries.

Crash’s podcast Devils and Dirtbags is an ongoing investigation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts and a true tale of deceit, homicide, molestations and cover ups. The actions of evil Bishops and their unholy henchmen play out like a Hollywood movie, rife with death, destruction and disgrace, all framed by a murder mystery that haunted Springfield until an ex-priest made a deathbed confession. Crash tracked down both the murderer and another former priest, a serial child rapist that served as pastor of Crash’s childhood parish, to see if they felt guilt for their sins and crimes.

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BoatTalk 11/9/21: cold weather clothing now and then

Producers/Hosts: Mike Joyce, Alan Sprague

Program Topic: cold weather clothing now and then

-1600-1700”s pickups
-cold weather clothing for pilgrims
-modern cold weather clothing

guests: Tim Garrity MDI Historical Society, Jerry Richards Gill NA

About the hosts:

Alan Sprague a.k.a. Flounder of the Soul Show, has been a programmer at WERU since the glaciers receded. For thirty years at community radio he has worked his way from being an unpaid volunteer to being an unpaid volunteer today, and he says he’s worth every cent of it. In 2003 he and Mike Joyce started the monthly call-in show Boattalk which has become a boating related show without piers (pi). Mike and Alan met many years ago while both were working at the Hinckley Company. Alan was the head service carpenter at the Hinckley skunkworks called Bass Harbor Marine or sometimes Kibbee’s Kennels. He worked there for nearly thirty years and saw yachts of stories to tell yawl. As part of Boattalk they organize the annual WERU Boattalk Cruise in late June for a fun pot-luck trip up Somes Sound, America’s former fiord. Quite cunning Mike and Alan are to work a free scenic boat trip with fine food for themselves.

Mike Joyce bio to follow

Jon Johansen bio to follow

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Outside the Box 11/9/21: “No Politics”

Producer/Host: Larry Dansinger

About the host:
Larry Dansinger (no pronouns) of Bangor came to Maine in 1974 and has been here ever since. Some of Larry’s activities since then: Done community organizing on numerous issues through INVERT and then Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), committed civil disobedience several times, grown a garden yearly since 1977, joined various food cooperatives and two men’s groups, refused to pay federal income taxes for war, lived on a community land trust for 23 years, and met a wonderful partner whom Larry has loved for over 40 years. Larry has produced Outside the Box features on WERU since 2007 and continues to look for unique ways of seeing almost any problem or situation.

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The Nature of Phenology 11/6/21: Mollusks

Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

In celebration of today’s 200th unique episode, let’s look into a group of Maine organisms that encompasses 200 species: the mollusks.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com

Hazel Stark lives in Gouldsboro, is Co-Founder and Naturalist Educator at Maine Outdoor School, L3C, and is a Registered Maine Guide. She loves taking a closer look at nature through the lens of her camera, napping in beds of moss, and taking hikes to high points to see what being tall is all about. She has an MS in Resource Management and Conservation and is a lifelong Maine outdoorswoman. Hazel can be reached by emailing [email protected]

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