WERU Community Radio 89.9 FM - diverse and grassroots radio serving Midcoast, Downeast & Bangor, a voice of many voices!
Serving Midcoast,
Downeast & Central Maine
A Voice of Many Voices
Broadcasting from Solar Powered Studios
WERU’s Spring Membership Drive begins on Saturday, May 4 with the Saturday Morning Coffee House, and runs through May 11! Please consider becoming a new member, a sustaining member, or giving an additional gift! We rely on the support of our community to continue to bring you the diverse programing we provide. Thank you! You can donate any time here. Your gifts truly make a difference!
Tune in at 4pm on Thursday, May 2 for the debut episode of a new WERU public affairs show, The Maine Monitor Radio Hour, a monthly program featuring reporters and editors from The Maine Monitor, Maine’s statewide nonprofit and nonpartisan investigative news outlet, in which they join WERU host Amy Browne for a discussion about the most recent Monitor reporting on issues that matter in Maine.
The Maine Monitor Radio Hour will air on the first Thursday of each month at 4pm, on WERU Community Radio!
Many thanks to everyone who supports WERU, now and all the way back to the beginning of the station! It was on May 1, 1988, that we went out over airwaves for the first time, and maybe you were listening, or maybe you were even present at The Henhouse sign on. Or maybe you weren’t even born yet. Whatever your age, and however you came to WERU, you make community radio happen, so thank you and Happy Birthday!
The Democracy Forum radio show on WERU (FM 89.9) is a signature activity of the League of Women Voters-Downeast. The show is presented on the third Friday of each month at 4:00 PM as part of WERU’s local public affairs programming and generally addresses topics in participatory democracy. The League is checking in with WERU listeners to find out how often you listen to the show, how you access the content, and to get your thoughts on program topics.
Please follow this link to a short listener survey — it should only take about five minutes to get through the whole thing! Even if you are not a regular listener, we would like to have your thoughts about the show. Thank you!
Join us for a WERU benefit concert on Saturday, June 29 with critically acclaimed indie folk singer-songwriter Casey Neill, at Barncastle in Blue Hill!
Doors open at 6:30pm to access the bar and seating, and the show begins at 7:00pm. Space is limited, so get your tickets now by clicking here!
On the March edition of Conversations from the Pointed Firs, host Peter Neill sits down with Kristie Billings. A wearer of many hats, Kristie is a long-time volunteer DJ of Daydream Nation on WERU (Saturday’s 6-8pm). From small-town grocery clerk to working in a fish market, owning her own shoe store, being an Arts Educator at a local theater, a lobster fisher, and an antiques seller, Kristie has done it all.
Most of all, Kristie is a collector. Of stories, of emotions, of dolls, of feelings, wigs, mannequin parts, record albums, memories, beauty, laughter, vintage clothing, scallop shells, barnacles, and hermit crabs. She is an observer, as well. She has been writing poetry since childhood, and taking pictures forever with her old Nikon and other cameras she’s amassed over the years.
Her latest book, “Sea Witch: Photographs, Poems and Forget Me Nots from a Mainer Growing Up” (Seaport Books, Nov 2023) is filled with images and words of the sea, nature, folk art, dolls, loss, grief, love, acceptance, rage, music, and life.
Back in June 2023, we put out a call. We were looking for people who were willing to come together for an hour-long facilitated conversation with a stranger with different viewpoints, during which they would be invited to get to know each other as people, through listening to each other’s stories. As you can imagine, the response was mixed. But by the end of 2023, over a hundred people had signed up to participate…
Click here to listen to the Live Special Broadcast with One Small Step Facilitators Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle, and Station Manager Matt Murphy, that took place on January 31, 2024. Participants and community members joined the conversation by phone, and joined in discussing experiences with the project, personal takeaways, and how the project has affected them since.
Climate and Community: Maine Voices for Action with A Climate to Thrive is a new five minute weekly short feature that will illuminate stories of climate courage, solutions, and resilience-building action from across the state, with a focus on communities leading the way right here in coastal Maine. You can catch it live on Thursdays at 8:30am, or in the WERU archives.
Maine’s fishing communities are first in line to deal with rising sea levels and warming ocean temperatures, affecting their economies and their infrastructure. And, as Maine’s port with the highest volume of lobster landings, Stonington is working hard for a more climate resilient future.
This month on the next Talk of the Towns, co-hosts Ron Beard and Liz Graves invited Stonington Town Manager Kathleen Billings and Linda Nelson, director of community development, Susie Arnold, of the Island Institute, and Carla Guenther of Maine Center for Commercial Fisheries to share their observations and experience as they work to adapt to changes in the climate.
Can’t get WERU on the radio? Don’t like to listen on your computer while you work? Then why not listen on your phone using WERU’s mobile app?
Download it at your favorite app store, and check it out! You can also let us know what you think about it using the handy “Contact WERU” button in the menu. And as always, thank you for listening and for supporting WERU, whether you tune in on the app, Internet, or FM airwaves. It’s all good, and it’s all Community Radio!
Stella Prince is our “Featured Artist of the Week”! Tune in each weekday morning at 7:45 AM (ET) to hear our volunteer disc jockey play at least one cut from her latest recording and then give you a chance to win a FREE pair of guest list passes to see Stella with Sara Trunzo, Laurie Jones and Kate McCann at the Maine Songwriters Association Showcase on Thursday, May 16th from 7 – 9 PM in Hey Sailor! (25 East Main Street in Searsport) DJ Denis will interview Stella live by telephone on Friday, May 10th at 8:30 AM!
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