WMPG, Greater Portland's Community Radio presented its fifth annual Fashion Show on Saturday, April 25 at Space Gallery, 538 Congress Street in Portland. Doors opened at 8 pm and the show began at 9 pm.

Each year, Fashion Show Director Paul Drinan gathers Maine designers of clothing, jewelry and accessories to present their creative fashions on the Space runway. "None of that 'off-the-rack-schmack'", muses Drinan, "This is the real deal!"

This year's event brought out a large crowd to witness exciting all-original clothing, jewelry and accessories designed by local artists. This year's added touch of pre-show entertainment by Quasar with an interactive, improvisational musical extravaganza, makes this year's show a "Powered Up" experience. WMPG is kicking off a two year "Power Up!" fundraising effort to boost their broadcast power with a new transmitter and stronger signal.

A huge "thank-you" goes out to everyone who made the show possible including all the fashion designers, models and especially producer Paul Drinan. The WMPG Fashion Show is annually produced and directed by former runway pro and WMPG Volunteer, Paul Drinan.

All proceeds went to WMPG and our "Power Up!" campaign!

FMI Contact Paul at wmpgfashion@gmail.com.

"There are a remarkable number of photographs of the Malaga Island community. Newspapers published several dozen photos over the years sometimes in a kind of newspaper photo-spread unusual for the time period. Photos were also taken for postcards. This postcard image was titled "The Deuce of Spades." In the picture is probably Annie Parker holding Pearl Tripp. Some contend this picture was posed purposefully in an animal pen. Photo Courtesy Maine Historic Preservation."

In 1912, the state of Maine evicted about forty-five people from Malaga Island off the coast of Phippsburg. The island residents were poor, black, white, and mixed race. The eviction is typically viewed as a shameful moment in the state's history. WMPG-FM, in collaboration with the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, announces the premier of Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold, a radio and photo documentary recounting this infamous event and its impact on several generations of descendents.

Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold includes an hour-long radio program plus a gallery show featuring photographs, audio, and a panel discussion. The radio documentary aired on WMPG, February 26th. A gallery opening will took place at Salt.

"This is one of those stories where people say 'That happened in Maine?!' or 'The state did what?!' Then they say 'Tell me more,'" said Rob Rosenthal, radio producer for Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold....

Read More.

How does a 32-year-old alt-rock/goth band get the fans excited about a new album months in advance of the album’s release date? Well, to prepare for the 13th album by 80s alt-rock/goth heroes The Cure, 4:13 Dream, the 4-man band led by Robert Smith, released singles on the 13th of each month leading up to the album’s initial release date of September 13th. Each of these singles had non-album B-sides, which have always been a Cure staple. However, the album got pushed back to October 13th and was ultimately released on October 28th. After a remix EP was released on September 13th to tide fans over, the album arrived and is the first album since 1989’s Disintegration that, for the most part, sounds like The Cure we used to know.

4:13 Dream opens up like several Cure albums past – with a long track. In this case, it’s the song “Underneath The Stars.” The song echoes back to Disintegration, by far the band’s biggest album to date. First single “The Only One” also echoes back of Cure days past, to songs like 1985’s “In Between Days,” 1987’s “Just Like Heaven” and 1992’s “High.” It’s refreshing considering how awful 2004’s self-titled album was. There was maybe one good song on the whole thing. It’s nice to see Robert Smith and Co. going back to basics.

The album does, I feel, take a couple of missteps in the songs “The Real Snow White” and former single “Freakshow.” These songs sound like the more recent Cure offerings and they don’t feel like they belong in any album. They just seem out of sorts compared to all of the other great cuts. Other highlights on 4:13 Dream include the sweet but short “Sirensong”; one of the singles and my favorite song on the album, “The Perfect Boy”; the simple but lovely “This, Here And Now, With You”; and, “Sleep When I’m Dead,” which sounded to me at first like an older Cure song – and now I know why. Upon further reading, “Sleep When I’m Dead” is actually a song that was originally written for the 1985 album The Head On The Door.

Do I think like The Cure are headed back in the right direction? Yeah, I do. 4:13 Dream is the first studio album that reunites original member Porl Thompson with the band since 1992’s Wish. And, strangely enough, in Spain, where the Cure have never had much success, the first three singles off the album have all gone to #1, with “The Perfect Boy” reaching #2. This album makes me look forward to their next effort, so I can applaud that one as well, because I believe the Dream is real – that The Cure can (and will) still make some truly good music.

Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen playing Tamborine Man on WMPG

WMPG's Thursday morning "alt country" program the Kitchen Party had two of the originators visit us on 8/7/08! Frequent musical collaborators Chris Hillman who has played with the likes of The Byrds, Flying Burito Brothers, Manassas, Souther Hillman Furay, Desert Rose Band and Herb Pedersen who has played with David Grisman's Smokey Grass Boys, The Dilliards, Manassas, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Jackson Brown, John Denver, Desert Rose Band and more stopped by for a long interview and to play a few songs including Tamborine Man and If I could Win Your Love. They were in town promoting a show at One Longfellow Square. Everyone was thrilled to have such musical legends honor us with a visit and songs!

Click Here To Listen to the show!

Amos Libby

WMPG's Friday morning global music show, Shaken and Stirred, hosted by DJ Adira welcomed two members of Okbari to the studio on August 1. Amos Libby on the oud, and Eric LaPerna on percussion filled the station with the sounds of the Middle East. Find out more about them at www.okbari.org

Eric LaPerna

Okbari Amos Libby and Eric LaPerna perform Armenian and Anatolian folk music, classical Middle Eastern music and traditional folk and contemporary songs from the Greek, Arabic and Balkan traditons. Okbari also presents multi-instrumental original music inspired by the musical systems of the Middle East and India. They perform on the oud, clarinet, duduk, bouzouki, doumbek, riqq, tabla, ney, mridangam, and several other instruments from around the world. Okbari was formed in 1995 and has independently released four albums: 'Among the Believers', 'By the Banks of the Red River', the self-titled 'Okbari', and, most recently, 2007's 'Armenian and Anatolian Folk Music.' Okbari also appears as a traditional Armenian and Turkish dance quartet featuring former Bardezbanian ensemble violinist Michael Gallant and noted guitarist Michah Blue Smaldone. Okbari has a long partnership with Maine's most beloved belly dancer, Jamileh. Okbari are from Portland, Maine and has performed throughout the Northeast. To further their studies, Okbari traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, where they shared the stage with the Kemani Serkan Roma Ensemble at Ikinci Bahar in the famed Cicek Pasaji as well as with the Oudi Hasan Roumeli Kef Ensemble at Roumeli Meyhane.

Click Here To Listen to the show!

Intructions at Pilates

By Dale Robin Lockman, Development Director

Portland Pilates
49 Dartmouth Street
(207) 772-8950

On the second floor at 49 Dartmouth Street, on the corner of Forest, there is a bright, welcoming room busy with quiet activity. When you arrive, a friendly sign urges you to remove your street shoes, and as you enter, you can see what private and group instruction in the practice of Pilates looks like.

Pilates is a system for strength and fitness that was developed by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s and 30s, and focuses on breath control and muscle control as basic skills for core strength and wellness.

Nancy Etnier is the owner of Portland Pilates, and is the brains and energy behind its programming. During a recent visit to the WMPG studios, Nancy sat down with us, and reflected on the history and philosophy of her Portland Pilates studio.

Read more about Portland Pilates

You can find out more about Portland Pilates at their website, pilatesportland.com or by calling 772-8950.
Read More Underwriters Profiles:
Full Circle Synergy Profile
Portland Ovations
Gritty McDuff's Brew Pub & Restaurant
Enterprise Records
Coffee By Design
The Rosemont Market and Bakery
Ferdinand
Jay York

Volunteer Roberto Mendoza hosts Eagle, Quetzal, Condor Monday mornings from 10:30am to noon each week on WMPG. He describes it as a show of news, music, and commentary from an indigenous perspective which covers the Western hemisphere. With this show Roberto seeks to generate renewed interest in indigenous values and to promote dialog between descendents of all the different ethnic groups which, at various times, have come to this part of the world. On Friday, June 27th, 2008, Roberto had a conversation with WMPG Program Director Dave Bunker about these topics and more besides.

Click here to listen to the interview.

You can hear Roberto Mendoza's show: Eagle, Quetzal, Condor Monday from 10:30 AM 'til 12 PM.

Read More Volunteer Profiles:
Ruby Simkoff
"Blizzard" Bob Wade
Steve Hirshon
Stef Stylee
Nate Cory
Valerie Cartonio
Chris Darling
Madeleine Winterfalcon
Chip Edgar
Anne Sielaff
Thaian Vu
Roberto Mendoza

Next time you bring back bottles and cans you can help support your favorite local community radio station...And you don't even have to get dirty! CLYNK, a new local redemption program, will let you turn in a bag of bottles and/or cans at any participating Hannaford and will credit it to WMPG. There are special bags, which you can pick up here at WMPG, that have a barcode. Want us to mail you a few of them - no problem! Shoot us an e-mail to WMPG Station Manager. When you fill them up and drop them off the barcode will credit your (5 and 15 cent) returns to us! It's that easy.

Participating Hannaford stores include: Biddeford, Brunswick, Buxton, Falmouth, Lakes Region (Windham), Portland (Forest Ave), Saco, Sanford, Scarborough (CLYNK's flagship location), South Portland (Mill Creek), Topsham, Westbrook, Yarmouth, and York.

A big thanks to Jan, host of Local Motives, who had some quick thinking when she learned about the program and added us in!

On Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 the USM Lab Jazz Ensemble, directed by Larry Williams, and the USM Jazz Ensemble, led by Dr. Doug Owens, raised the roof of the Hannaford Lecture Hall in the Abromson Community Education Center on the USM Portland campus with a swingin' set apiece. WMPG was there, broadcasting live. We also recorded both halves of the concert, which can be downloaded here:

Click here to go to WMPG Archives

On Friday April 18th Malik Rahim and Robert King Wilkerson visited WMPG for an interview with Hashim Allah. The interview was a riviting look at the American Justice System and how a person can spend more than 30 years in jail for the possession of a $5 bag of marijuana...

In 1970 Malik Rahim was a co-founder of the Lousisiana Black Panther Party. Today Malik continues struggling for social and ecological justice in his community. One week after Katrina, Malik co-founded Common Ground Relief. Over the pst 2 1/2 years, Malik has worked endlessly to bring the story of post-Katrina New Orleans to the world.

Robert King Wilkerson is a former member of the Black Panther Party. He spent 29 years in solitary confinement in the Louisiana State Prison aka Angola Prison for a crime he was later exonerated for in 2001. He is one of the widely written about Angola 3. Since he was released King has worked to free the other two former Black Panthers who are still incarcerated.

Both men are in town for a discussion at the Meg Perry Center located at 644 Congress Street in Portland. FMI 930-5232 Click here to listen to the 30 minute interview
Click here to watch a 24 minute video shot by WMPG DJ Chris Darling

The Maine Association of Broadcasters holds an annual conference to highlight some of the years best work in radio and television. For 2007, WMPG staffer Stephanie Philbrick was honored with a First Place Award for Feature reporting for her production of "The Homefront Veterans Oral History Project, Episode 1". This five part series was a collaboration between WMPG and the Portland Harbor Museum and funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

WWII turned the greater Portland area into a boomtown. Thousands of people flooded into the area to take jobs generated as we geared up for war. Old professions became new again when two large government shipyards were built in South Portland. Thousands of men and women from all over New England came to build the Liberty ships that supplied allied troops overseas. Many ships were built between 1942 and 1945. Portland Harbor Museum and WMPG are recording interviews with the Homefront Veterans who built the Liberty ships.

Woman Ship Builder

These are the stories of how local people - our mothers,fathers, grandparents and neighbors -- contributed to national and world history. This important community collaboration brings WMPG and Portland Harbor Museum together to collect and preserve our local history. This series first aired over the winter on WMPG. If you missed our spring rebroadcast you can also download the entire series by clicking below.

Homefront Veterans Oral History Project Audio here.

The WMPG "Speak Out!"
What exactly is racism?

What exactly is discrimination? In today's multi-ethnic society, sometimes it is hard to know how communication and actions are going to be received and perceived. On Sunday, December 9th, WMPG presented a live, moderated panel discussion in which people from various ethnicities and cultures talked about their experiences in the contemporary culture of the U.S. They discussed what they particularly value about their ethnicity, what they find challenging or difficult about their ethnicity in the setting of the U.S. today, and what words or actions they have experienced which they never want to have repeated.

The purpose of this speakout was to foster open discussion, mutual understanding, and respect. It will be conducted in front of a live audience at the Gerald E. Talbot Lecture Hall on the USM Portland Campus and was broadcast live on WMPG, as a special feature during the Mama Africa show. The live event was free and open to the public, and the broadcast on WMPG's two frequencies, 90.9 and 104.1 FM, and on line at www.wmpg.org. The show is posted for download on the audio archive page at wmpg.org and available now.

Click here to listen to full recording of event

USM's Convocation opens this year with a keynote speech by Roger W. Bowen, a former university president and former general secretary of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). He will speak on "Academic Freedom and Academic Democracy" on Thursday September 20. The morning of the speech he talked with WMPG volunteer Steve Hirshon on his show Hukkin' a Chainek. That interview can be heard here. Download here

Steve spoke to Daily Kos blogger Bill from Portland

Steve Hirshon speaks with Daily Kos front pager Bill in Portland, Maine. Bill writes Cheers and Jeers Tuesday through Friday. Daily Kos is one of the top ten most read blogs on Earth.

To listen click here.

The interview aired on Steve's show Hukkin a Chainek, Thursday August 24th.

Phil Hersey Memorial Stone

For more than ten years WMPG DJ's had Phil Hersey to thank for keeping all the equipment up and running. Phil's favorite time at WMPG was either late at night repairing equipment or when a band was playing and he was the engineer. Phil was the WMPG Technical Director and engineer for our Local Motives program, the program dedicated to live local music. If you were in a local band around here for the last decade, chance are Phil made you sound good. He was an institution within the local music scene. Phil passed away in 2004 and last year WMPG DJ Lars Lindgren completed this monument to him. If you want to hear some of Phil's work just call one of our DJs and ask for some local music. We have more than 500 recordings in our library which he mastered. We miss ya Phil but are happy that your passion and love for live music has lived on here at WMPG!

Valentino Achak Deng

"I cannot recall the last time I was this moved by a novel. What is the What is that rare book that truly deserves the overused and scarcely warranted moniker of "sprawling epic". Told with humor, humanity, and bottomless compassion for his subject, one Valentino Achak Deng, Eggers shows us the hardships, disillusions, and hopes of the long suffering people of southern Sudan. This is the story of one boy's astonishing capacity to endure atrocity after atrocity and yet refuse to abandon decency, kindness, and hope for home and acceptance. It is impossible to read this book and not be humbled, enlightened, transformed. I believe I will never forget Valentino Achak Deng." --KHALED HOSSEINI, author of The Kite Runner

This was a fundraising event for The Telling Room, a Portland-based writing program for young people.

On Wednesday, September 27th, WMPG's Dave Wade interviewed journalist Dahr Jamail. Jamail is one of only a few independent US journalist who has spent time in Iraq during the war. His MidEast Dispatches have become critical material for publications such as The Nation, The Sunday Herald, Islam Online and the Guardian.

Jamail is in Portland to speak at USM at the Abromson Community Education Center. Before the evening event he visited us.

To listen click here.

Click here to watch a "Youtube" video tour of WMPG Radio

Have you ever wondered what WMPG's music library looked like or perhaps the on-air studio? If yes, then here it is, we recently took out our digital camera and took a walking tour. Take a look at our 67,000 cds and 30,000 lps! Check out our new audio console compliments of the Maine Association of Broadcasters. Meet a few of the people that keep WMPG running! Thanks to Stephanie Sample for the creative editing of the video.

LISTEN TO IT NOW! Download the 96 kbps .MP3 (35MB)

For more information or to contact Frederick go to http://www.finalrune.com/dead

Barry Cowsill

During the summer of 2004,the Thursday Evenin' Sun featured an imaginary roadtrip throughout the southern states with the Zipdawg at the wheel. On one such ride,July 1st, Zip picked up Barry Cowsill hitchhiking. Barry graciously chatted and played a couple songs live to earn his fare. Straddling the line between reality and fiction,this interview becomes more relevant and poignant now that Barry Cowsill has passed on at the age of 51. Listen and enjoy,sharing a few minutes with Zipdawg and Barry Cowsill (1954-2005).

Click here to download Barry Cowsill 15 minute Interview and Barry playing a couple songs.

Oak City Band

Written by: John Mooney, WMPG Volunteer DJ For Tuesday's Groove Yard Shift 6:30-8:30 am

Long ago, Kansas City, Missouri lit up the American musical scene as never before. The city's 18th and Vine district became second to none with its jazz influence. Jam sessions would swing the masses into what would become the signature of Kansas City as well as our nation.

Click here for the entire story!

In June, WMPG completed the installation of our new analog/digital 90.9 IBOC FM transmitter. Brian Dyer, WMPG’s long-time Chief Engineer, began installing the equipment this past spring and we have been tweaking the signal and making adjustments to the digital broadcast.

For you, the listener, the transition should have been seamless as we continued broadcasting in analog. The new transmitter broadcasts in both analog and digital . If you want to hear WMPG in digital you'll need to purchase a digital radio. There are a number of models available from Kenwood and a number of new autos that offer digital radios, too. You may also install a digital converter. This will allow an analog radio to receive digital signals. As for other WMPG plans related to our digital upgrade, we are planning on purchasing a number of digital radios and placing them around town as “listening booths” and when they become available we'll be offering digital radios as Begathon premiums....

Click here to read more.

On Thursday, July 21st, WMPG's Steve Hirshon interview Sean Wilsey, editor at large at MC Sweeney's Quarterly. He talked with Steve Hirshon about his memoir "Oh, The Glory of it All(Penguin)" on the Thursday morning drive-time show Huckkin' A Chainek prior to his Portland reading at Space Gallery.

Sean Wilsey's writing has appeared in The London Review of Books, The Los Angeles Times, and McSweeney's Quarterly, where he is the editor at large. Before going to McSweeney's he worked as an editorial assistant at The New Yorker, a fact checker at Ladies' Home Journal, a letters correspondent at Newsweek, and an apprentice gondolier in Venice, Italy. He was born in San Francisco in 1970 and now lives with his wife, Daphne Beal, and his son, Owen.
Click Here to download interview