Posts Categorized: News

Thanks to everyone who helped make the 2020 WMPG Fat Tuesday Cajun Cookin’ Contest happen! Great crowd, great food, great music! The house was packed and more than 400 people voted for the best of the best! The results are in! Winners of the 25th Annual WMPG Fat Tuesday Cajun Cookin’Challenge: 1st Place: SMCC Culinary Arts Program Students! Jambalaya Fritters 2nd Place: Lenny’s Pub, Kori Reece, head chef: Hush Puppy Poutine 3rd Place: Ruski’s, Greg…

Great article in the USM Free Press by Max Lorber The Origin of WMPG The WMPG radio station was founded with a private collection of records, a set of turntables and a small pirate-radio transmitter in a dorm room on Gorham campus. Howard Allen, the pioneer who created what would become one of Maine’s major public radio platforms, was an 18-year-old freshman when he first stuck an antenna out of his window at Anderson Hall…

Sadly, weather has caused the cancellation of Friday’s True Blues show with Corey Harris and Cedric Watson at Stone Mountain Arts Center. Carol Noonan and her crew express regrets, and are planning to select anther show to benefit WMPG in the near future. Happy Snow Day, all!

On WMPG’s Monday night program Let’s Talk, Abdi Iftin, a Somali refugee, USM student Abdi and the author of the riveting memoir “Call Me American” was a guest and spoke with Dave Wade about his escape to the US from worn torn Mogadishu and his lengthy journey to become an American citizen. Gain insight into what Abdi went through. Click here to listen. Abdi’s book: Call Me American

Kate Manahan, host of WMPG’s New Mainers Speak won second place in the Public Affairs category at the 2019 Maine Association of Broadcasters awards ceremony which took place in Augusta. This is a statewide event with all the television and radio stations submitting their best work. WMPG is proud that Kate’s show was honored. New Mainers Speak highlights individuals from around the world. Kate interviews them about their personal experiences in their home countries, as well as here in Maine. Click here to listen to a special…

WMPG now has a large selection of podcasts for you to enjoy. We feature audio not heard regularly on WMPG’s airwaves. Check it out and maybe become a MPG’ Podcast Follower! Interested in live music recorded at WMPG’s studio? Lorenzo presents Podcast Open Mic(POM). This pod has over 50 episodes and features local musicians and more. Wonder what is playing at the cinema? Check out Film Time With Cody Curtis. How about what life is…

Want to learn more about your favorite WMPG DJs? Here is a video look into what makes our DJs so special. First up let’s meet Ad vs EF with DJs Matt Perry and Sean Gear. They talk about their show and then you are taken into the On-Air room and watch them produce the show. Volunteer DJ Jai has created video profiles of the WMPG DJs. Click here to view video profile!

Monday Jan 21st WMPG presented a special 2 hour tribute to the life of Reverend King. WMPG DJ’s Jam, Rio, DJ M., and Don played music and had discussions about how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. influenced them and the world. You can hear the entire show Listen Now

Want to know about some great new music? Our USM students are doing weekly reviews of what’s currently charting at the top, this is music you should be in the know about. Join Kirby, Rachel and Madeline as they break down why these albums are so good! Listen to Lana Del Rabies Listen to Love in the Time of Email

One of WMPG’s longest serving volunteers Paul O’Neil has called it a day and retired his Harp & Bard Irish music show. Paul has been with us for more than 30 years! We all at WMPG wish him well on new adventures! Listen to his last show Thanks Paul!

Talk show host Richard Doherty met with students from King Middle School to talk about PODCASTS and making great radio stories. The students will be producing short audio features that highlight environmental issues. The students and Richard held a workshop USM’s Talbot Auditorium where they learned about recording, writing and producing a podcast. Look for these stories on Ecotones heard Thursdays at 1pm, and in the future the students will have their own Podcast. Thanks…

Election day is nearing! The Maine Women’s Policy Center sponsored a 2018 Gubernatorial Forum on Women’s Economic Security at USM on Sunday October 21, 2018. Three candidates took part: Democrat Janet Mills; Independent Terri Hayes; and Independent Alan Caron. Ann Schink of the League of Women Voters of Maine moderated the Forum. Co-sponsored by WMPG we offer the forum to hear from the candidates on issues that effect women’s lives. Listen to the program

On Oct 8th, WMPG’s own Christopher the Hermit presented a special program featuring Native American music, words, stories and interviews. Listen to the program

Ashley, Mark and Courtney knocked everyone’s socks off during a live performance of The Portland files on Friday September 14th at 7pm in USM’s Talbot Auditorium in Luther Bonney Hall.

We are now gathering a team of adults and middle schoolers to produce a live weekly one-hour show on Saturdays 9-10am called “Middle School Mic Drop. The middle school aged kids will be on air, and the adults will supervise. Our first mandatory training meeting is: Saturday Sept. 29th at 8:30-10pm am at WMPG 92 Bedford St. You must call or email to apply for the show. WMPG has a strong commitment to youth programming….

WMPG’s “Blunt Youth Radio Project” has made the big move to Tuesday night! Blunt will still be on from 7:30 to 8:30 pm EST and will still be a live call-in, public affairs talk show entirely produced by teens. YOUNG PEOPLE MAKE AMAZING RADIO!! This change also means that “Tuesday…now MONDAY Night Talk Radio” and “Into The Wilderness” have moved to Monday evenings, also starting at 7:30.

Querying the Past is a 6-week special series that will air on Thursday evenings 7-7:30pm. We will air 6 unique programs every Thursday evening over 6 weeks and the first episode began on Thursday June 14th in honor of Pride Portland Week. This series comes from the LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project that is collecting and preserving the voices and stories of members of the Southern Maine LGBTQ community. The Principle Investigator for this project is Dr. Wendy Chapkis , Professor of Sociology…

  June 14th special Pride Portland Programming on WMPG: 3-5pm  – WMPG Dance Party/Open House (Come on down to 92 Bedford Street in Portland!) 7pm  – the premier episode of “Querying the Past Radio“   Open house + a special all queer music show with guest DJ Qwerewolf on Thursday June 14th from 3pm-5pm. We’re inviting folks to stop by the station, and for LGBTQ+ folks to make quick guest appearances live on-air to talk about pride and what…

WMPG’s Blunt Youth Radio Project will hold an open house on Monday June 18th from 7:30-8:30pm. The Blunt Youth Radio Project is a nationally award-winning radio talk show produced by teens in Portland, Maine. On the air for 20 years, work by Blunt members has aired on Various NPR programs including All Things Considered, Morning Edition, This American Life, among others. Blunt Youth Radio Project produces a weekly call-in talk show that airs Monday nights from 7:30-8:30 on WMPG,…

WMPG Community Radio has long participated in the annual national broadcast of the Homelessness Marathon. This year, the programming airs on Tuesday June 12th from noon to midnight and originates in Washington DC, scheduled in conjunction with The Poor People’s March. Each year, the Homelessness Marathon brings to the fore the voices of the oft-unheard… the homeless folks who are part of our community. The Homelessness Marathon features live reports, the voices of advocates and experts, and…