Volunteers
Volunteer Profile: Brianna Hoyt
Name: Brianna Hoyt DJ Name: Bri Show Name: Sunny Side Up Broadcast Time: Thursdays 6:30-8:30 Local or Transplant? Transplant from Salisbury Connecticut What do you do at WMPG? I am a work-study student, a DJ, a volunteer, the WMPG advisory board secretary, and SCB vice chair for WMPG. How did you get involved at WMPG? I just moved to Portland this year to attend USM, and I had a few friends who do shows up…
Volunteer Profile: Bill Audette
Name: Bill Audette DJ Name: Bill Audette Show Name: The Night Train Show Broadcast Time: Saturday (1:30 to 3 pm) Local or Transplant? Local What do you do at WMPG? I am an on-air DJ. I also help other DJ’s make promos for their show’s. How did you get involved at WMPG? Previously I hosted a radio show at WBOR (Bowdoin College) for 11 years. I hosted a radio show at WRBC (Bates College) off and on…
Volunteer Profile: Cristy Falcone
Name: Cristy Falcone DJ Name: CRS Show Name: The Loop Broadcast Time: 1-4AM alternating Sundays Local or Transplant? Grew up Long Island, NY. Went to school in VA for 8 years, moved to Maine 2014. I’ve been coming to Maine all through my childhood. I like it and plan to stay. What do you do at WMPG? DJ on The Loop How did you get involved at WMPG? I first heard WMPG when I lived…
Volunteer Profile: Elaine Colella
Name: Elaine Colella DJ Name: Elaine Show Name: Global Grooves Broadcast Time: Monday 8.30 – 10pm Local or Transplant? Transplant. From MA but before I was in Portland, I was in Chama, NM where I had my first radio experience. One of the first things my husband and I did when we arrived in NM was to walk into the radio station KFLH to see how to get involved with radio. We got talking with one of…
Name: Brianna Hoyt
DJ Name: Bri
Show Name: Sunny Side Up
Broadcast Time: Thursdays 6:30-8:30
Local or Transplant? Transplant from Salisbury Connecticut
What do you do at WMPG? I am a work-study student, a DJ, a volunteer, the WMPG advisory board secretary, and SCB vice chair for WMPG.
How did you get involved at WMPG? I just moved to Portland this year to attend USM, and I had a few friends who do shows up in Orono at WMEB, I remember they kept talking about how at USM they have this great radio station, and how much more successful it was. I had always been a part of the music world, and I thought what could be a better way to stay involved than to have my own radio show! So, I signed up for DJ training and soon after got recruited to do work-study for WMPG as well. From there I fell in love with this wonderful station and everyone involved, and I love helping out, and playing my part in this growing community.
How long have you been at WMPG? About 9 months!
What do you do when you aren’t volunteering? I am a student at USM pursuing a degree in the 5-year Occupational Therapy program. I am applying to the program in the fall and I am very excited/nervous. I currently work as a Behavioral Health Professional, which is where I work in the home and in the community with children who have mental health disabilities. I hope to continue in this line of work by focusing my Occupational Therapy degree in pediatrics, specifically involving mental health. My long-term goal is to try to help promote mental health as a real issue in Maine. It seems as though Maine is lacking a lot of support in this subject and it breaks my heart when I see people not getting the proper treatment they need to be as successful in life as I was able to be. I hope to help move this forward because I think everyone deserves the opportunity to do what they want with their life.
In my personal time, when I’m not at WMPG, I run on the Track team at USM. I play the piano and ukulele as well as sing, I really love being involved in the music world, in the past I’ve been in bands which was always a ton of fun! I also volunteer at many organizations whenever I can such as Rippleffect, A Company of Girls, The Public Libraries, and the Soup Kitchen. I really like being involved in the community and I feel like Portland is just the place to do that! I also am an avid reader, I am a part of Portland’s Silent book club. I like to read theories and criticisms about art history, feminology, and philosophy. I also really like being outdoors and going on long hikes, camping, or just going to the beach!
Why is WMPG meaningful to you? WMPG is meaningful to me because being so far from home, it was a place I always felt welcome, and knew that I had people I could connect with whether it was meeting friends as a work-study, connecting with others over music, or just talking about anything for the fun of it! I quickly realized how wonderful this little community is, it’s amazing to see so many people continuously come together to express themselves, share their ideas, and endlessly support. It truly is one of the most inspiring things that I’ve been able to be a part of. To me this is really a home away from home, and every day I look forward to be coming into the station. Even when I’m just cutting paper or logging CDs I always enjoy it because I love being here, I love the energy that this place has, and there is always someone smiling when you walk in the door! I love that I can share things that I am passionate about as well as learn about others passions. I hope to continue my support and keep enjoying this station, because really, how could you leave something as wonderful as this!?
Here’s how to keep up with Bri
http://live-wmpg.pantheonsite.io/show/thu0630/
Interview by Annella Linton Date: May 2018
Photo supplied by Bri Hoyt
Name: Bill Audette
DJ Name: Bill Audette
Show Name: The Night Train Show
Broadcast Time: Saturday (1:30 to 3 pm)
Local or Transplant? Local
What do you do at WMPG? I am an on-air DJ. I also help other DJ’s make promos for their show’s.
How did you get involved at WMPG? Previously I hosted a radio show at WBOR (Bowdoin College) for 11 years. I hosted a radio show at WRBC (Bates College) off and on for 2 years. I also ran a mobile DJ service for 16 years and used to host and broadcast “Oldies Dances” live on the air for WLAM (Lewiston-Auburn). Plus I also work for WABK (Augusta).
I went through the required WMPG DJ training sessions during the Fall 2008, then subbed for WMPG DJ’s from January 2009 through April of 2009. From May 2009 through December 2010, I hosted the 3:30 to 6:30 am Sunday morning time slot at WMPG. I have hosted the Saturday afternoon time slot from 1:30 to 3 pm from December 2010 through to today.
How long have you been at WMPG? Since January 2009
What do you do when you aren’t volunteering? I am a retired high school mathematics teacher. Currently I tutor high school students in their math courses (algebra I through calculus). I also provide SAT preparation for high school students.
Why is WMPG meaningful to you? As a teenager who was glued to a transistor radio, I listened to, and was mesmerized by, all those Big-City AM radio stations coming into my ears (at night before falling asleep) from Boston (WBZ, WMEX & WRKO), New York City (WABC & WNBC), Chicago (WLS), Buffalo (WKBW) and Albany (WPTR). Once per week, along with frequent Dj subbing, WMPG allows me to carry out my childhood dream of being like one of the “Big-time, Big-City Djs,” all of whom I idolized!
Here’s how to keep up with Bill
- Email address: billstnts@yahoo.com
- The Night Train Show’s web site:billstnt.com
- The Night Train Show’s Facebook page
Interview by Annella Linton Date: May 2018
Photo supplied by Bill Audette
Name: Cristy Falcone
DJ Name: CRS
Show Name: The Loop
Broadcast Time: 1-4AM alternating Sundays
Local or Transplant? Grew up Long Island, NY. Went to school in VA for 8 years, moved to Maine 2014. I’ve been coming to Maine all through my childhood. I like it and plan to stay.
What do you do at WMPG? DJ on The Loop
How did you get involved at WMPG? I first heard WMPG when I lived north of Portland. I was working on a farm and doing deliveries. I’d drive down to restaurants delivering from the farm and the truck had no port for mp3’s, no CD drive nor tape ..just radio. I found Radio Junk Drawer on WMPG. I loved all the songs I’d be Shazam-ing them. I realized no one was playing techno on WMPG so I googled WMPG and found that you could train to become a DJ. I did the training, and went straight into a show! It was 6.30 – 8.00am at the time but then I got the 1am show which is perfect for a techno show.
How long have you been at WMPG? Since December 2017.
What do you do when you aren’t volunteering? I work in tech support at IDEXX though I’ve had a lot of other varied jobs including organic farming and service industry drudgery.
In my spare time, I’m learning how to DJ – mixing and producing music. I’m in a synthesizer club too – we meet up, bring a synthesizer and play. I also like to cycle and do a bit of gardening.
Why is WMPG meaningful to you? WMPG plays real music – not the top 40 and not commercial. I like all the WMPG community and love the vinyl library at the station.
Hear Cristy on WMPG:
The Loop: http://live-wmpg.pantheonsite.io/show/sun0100/
Photo credit: Annella Linton
Interview by Annella Date: May 2018
Name: Elaine Colella
DJ Name: Elaine
Show Name: Global Grooves
Broadcast Time: Monday 8.30 – 10pm
Local or Transplant? Transplant. From MA but before I was in Portland, I was in Chama, NM where I had my first radio experience. One of the first things my husband and I did when we arrived in NM was to walk into the radio station KFLH to see how to get involved with radio. We got talking with one of the DJ’s there and got on board with World Wide Music Show, broadcast back in 2001 on Thu nights.
What do you do at WMPG? DJ with my husband, Rick on Global Grooves
How did you get involved at WMPG? When we were moving to Maine, Rick researched radio stations and found there was a radio station here at USM. Then when we moved to Portland, Rick got in touch with the program director and we did the training.
I took over Chickens Are People Too when I moved here. When I got a job teaching, I was able to have the kids come in and do the show with me. This was around 2004. When I was teaching 8th Grade, the Tweenlight Zone show was born. I wanted the kids to do radio themselves. They engineered the show, chose the music, topics to discuss and ran the show. I have seen some of ‘my radio kids’ go from Chickens Are People Too to Tweenlight Zone to Blunt Youth Radio all here at WMPG. Now we do world music on Global Grooves.
How long have you been at WMPG? Since 2004 – 14 years
What do you do when you aren’t volunteering? I like to run. I like to work in the yard. I draw and read. I play guitar. I do yoga. I kayak (in the summer). I teach myself different languages (depending on where we are going for vacation). At Peace Corps, I went through language training. It comes in handy for my travel in Europe. One time I was able to go into a Turkish shop, in France, and speak Turkish and get what I needed very easily.
I also write music and perform, and sometimes do open mics and gigs around town. I just finished a CD. Myself and Rick try and put a CD together every year.
I teach at King Middle School – 8th grade. I’ve been there for 14 years.
Why is WMPG meaningful to you?
It brings people together. It really is a radio family. A great connection. A unique niche. You get to know the DJ, who that person is by what they are playing and what they talk about when they are playing music. It’s quirky.
Link to Elaine’s music – reverbnation.com/elainecolella
Photo credit: Annella Linton
Interview: Annella Linton