WMPG

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WMPG 90.9/104.1
City of license	Portland, Maine
First air date	1973
Frequency	90.9 MHz
Format	Community Radio
ERP	1 kW
Class	A
Callsign meaning	Maine Portland Gorham
Former callsigns	None
Owner	University of Maine System
Webcast	[1]
Website	[2]

WMPG is a community radio station broadcasting from Portland, Maine. It is located across the street from the University of Southern Maine Portland Campus. It is affiliated with the college, but is not per se a college station. It broadcasts one kilowatt on 90.9 and 104.1 Mhzand can be heard as far north as Poland, Maine. It broadcasts streaming online 24/7 and the programming guide and contact info is available at their website.

Contents 1 History 2 Programming 2.1 Local Music Programming 2.2 Local Public Affairs 2.2.1 Blunt Youth Radio Project 2.2.2 Home Dad 2.2.3 The Local Option 2.2.4 Queer Talk 2.2.5 Sound Ecology 3 External links

[edit] History

The station went on the air in September, 1973 The First 30 Years Of WMPG - an abbreviated history by Ron Raymond, Jr.

When looking back at the first 30 years of WMPG, you actually have to rewind to the summer of 1970, when love-ins and pot were hot and the angst surrounding the Vietnam War and the breakup of the Beatles was heavy.

In August of that year, a large number of vehicles transporting what would become the Class of 1974 embarked onto the Gorham campus of the newly-named University of Maine at Portland-Gorham (UMPG). Many of the kids arriving touted green beenies as their parents searched for the Anderson Hall dorm. And, in the midst of all those incoming Freshmen was a student who had no idea that, within a year, he would be instrumental in changing the greater Portland radio landscape forever. His name is Howard Allen.

A couple of months into his first semester at UMPG, Howard Allen had obtained a used Garrard automatic turntable from a professor on campus. He, in turn, shared the turntable with his roommate Ed Lincoln, and from there, they started picking up records by the likes of Smokey Robinson and Steppenwolf. By the Spring of 1971, the two roommates had collectively purchased about 15 albums.

Later that Spring, Howard met up with a student by the name of Peter Dalton, who, as it turned out, was the only other guy he knew who owned a car. Howard and Peter (on a spur-of-the-moment decision) left UMPG one evening and trekked down Route 25 in Peter's VW Beetle to the Pinetree Shopping Center in Portland.

Making another spontaneous decision to stop into Radio Shack, Howard was just wandering around when he stumbled onto a bin of dollar grab bags, and in there was this little FM wireless microphone kit. Howard looked at the $1.00 mic kit and said to himself, "Okay, what the hell...feels like fun." This mic kit had been marked down from $2.99, and of course, Howard - who hadn't intended on shopping for anything - couldn't resist the bargain price and relieved Radio Shack of two FM wireless mic kits.

When he got back to his dorm room at Anderson Hall, Howard hooked a battery up to the kit, played with it a bit, and said, "I'll see how far this guy will go." So, he grabbed his radio and started wandering around the halls and soon learned that "this guy" would work just about everywhere on campus. Impressed by this, he considered using this bargain electronic device to broadcast music so folks would have something to listen to at night.

Howard proceeded to connect his turntable to his new $1.00 discovery, put on a Cream album, turned on his Airline FM portable radio, and WGOR was born. That first night, and the nights that followed, from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm, Howard piled a stack of records onto his Garrard turntable and let them play through.

Howard liked the flexibility of the FM mic because the module could be adjusted to any frequency you desired, and with the FM band being practically empty during the Spring of 1971, there were many choices to be had on the FM dial. Howard ended up choosing what would later become WBLM's frequency of 107.5 FM. And with WTOS just down the dial at 105.1 FM, he figured if anyone was searching for something on the radio, they just might happen across his frequency.

Before the end of Howard Allen's first year at UMPG, Hal Bergeson, an instructor (and a member of the University's Audio Visual department) announced a meeting for those folks who were interested in starting up a campus radio station. Howard was among the 20-30 students in attendance, and within a short amount of time, it was decided that if UMPG was to have a radio station, it would be in the form of a low-power FM station (LPFM). By having a LPFM station, not only could you reach students on campus, but people off-campus as well, which is what enticed Hal Bergeson and the rest - having the capability of reaching the local community.

In the months that followed, Hal put together field trips to other colleges in Maine that had student-run radio stations and letters were written to all of major radio stations in New England asking for any donations of equipment that could be sent their way. But it was not to be. Howard Allen and the other students did receive letters - albeit polite letters - from folks who just weren't able to help them with their plea for equipment. And then, the bad news derby continued during a conversation Howard had with Hal at the end of the school year.

Hal Bergeson had decided to leave the University, which would leave Howard and the other campus radio hopefuls without a faculty sponsor. Hal then said to Howard, "Well, it's up to you now." And, with those words, Howard took the idea of starting a campus radio station at UMPG and ran with it, which was not something he would normally have done, but he did just the same.

Howard Allen's Sophomore year began with the same group of people, many of which were his friends, and they did what they could to make this radio station idea become a reality. Howard went to the dorm houseparents and got permission to use Anderson Hall's fifth floor lounge for a studio, as it was not being used anyway. Howard then went to the University's Facilities Management department (he happened to know someone there) and said, "You know, we're doing a radio station, and we'd like to put a pole on top of Anderson [Hall]. Any problem with that?" The University employee didn't seem to mind at all, as long as the students did the work themselves and that Facilities Management oversaw the installation of the pole. It should be noted that this was all taking place, for the most part, without the knowledge of the University.

With permission granted to install a pole on top of Anderson Hall, Howard now needed to find the pole. So, he and his friend Peter Dalton hopped into Peter's VW Beetle and drove to the Gorham Dump to find anything that could serve as a tower to mount their Radio Shack FM car antenna onto. What they found was a 12 foot pole, which in another life had been the top of a utility pole someone had cut up!

They also found what would serve as their first broadcast console - the control panel and enclosure from a Frigidaire dryer! So, it seemed to be a successful trip to the town dump - until it was discovered the pole wouldn't fit in the VW Beetle! Well, as luck would have it, a Gorham municipal truck drove by and Peter asked them if they'd be kind enough to drop the pole off behind Anderson Hall. They obliged, with Howard riding in the back of the town truck to ensure the pole stayed in the truck.

Once the antenna was attached to the pole and the pole was attached to Anderson Hall, Howard and Peter ran the antenna feed down the roof through the window going into the 5th floor lounge. Howard then installed some jacks on the dryer control panel for the microphone, turntables, and tape recorder, and connected them to the appropriate switches so that the DJs could select the sound source they wanted to use. "Damp Dry" was the designated switch for the microphone.

From there, it didn't take long for all the pieces of the WGOR puzzle to be put into place and for the broadcasting to begin. A broadcast schedule was set up for evenings between 6:00 pm until midnight, and all of the DJs were on the air - well, except for Howard Allen, who wasn't really interested in doing the on-air thing. And, for awhile, things were moving along very well until an interview Howard had with a member of the Westbrook American Journal. The American Journal wanted to do a piece with Howard about "the student radio station at Gorham". Howard wasn't sure how the publication found out about WGOR (considering that the University at Portland-Gorham had yet to pick up on its existence), but did the interview just the same. Within a couple of days, the article was published. A day after the article came out, Howard was picking up his mail when he noticed something he wasn't quite expecting: a note from the Vice President of Student Life that read, "You need to come see me." - and it didn't mention as to why. At this point, Howard was thinking, "Okay, I'm not particularly notorious one way or the other, so, what's going on?"

Howard then proceeded to find out the explanation behind this note, and when he met up with the Dean of Student Life, Dr. Gordon Bigelow, the first thing Dr. Bigelow said was, "So, what's this I read about a radio station in Anderson Hall; a University radio station?" At this point, one could appreciate the fact that no one in the administration could have told the Dean about WGOR because it technically didn't exist. Dr. Bigelow was extremely surprised at how much help Howard and the other students received from the Facilities department, the dorm houseparents, and the AV center - all without the knowledge of the University's administration! Howard went on to explain that the radio station was his endeavor, and that they were broadcasting on a regular basis daily out of the 5th floor of Anderson Hall.

Dr. Bigelow then said, "Well, you know, that's the kind of undertaking that reflects on the University, and we ought to have some say in it." That comment became the starting point for WGOR to be recognized as a student organization with the University's Student Senate. And, by getting the official recognition as a student organization, Howard and the other folks at WGOR could start getting more resources and funding to help their cause. Without the meeting between Dr. Gordon Bigelow and Howard Allen, the official version of WGOR (and later WMPG) may never have happened.

This meeting with Dr. Bigelow also put Howard in touch with Ed Winchester, who at that time was the Maine Public Radio chief engineer, and the person who could help in the technical aspects of getting the radio station going. After speaking with Ed Winchester, Howard called a meeting with the other student DJs and basically said, "Look guys, I think we ought to stop broadcasting because even though I think this is legal, I just want to make sure that nothing happens that would damage our possibility to actually getting a license for the University."

And so, the process of making WGOR an official radio station began, from contacting the FCC to getting new equipment to finding a more appropriate home for the on-air studio. The cafeteria folks agreed (reluctantly) to give up a storage area downstairs off the student lounge for WGOR's studio. (One former 'MPGer referred to the building that housed the cafeteria and the on-air studio as the "flying saucer building".)

In the application process to the FCC, it was decided that WGOR would not be the best name for the radio station (taking into consideration the two campuses of UMPG), and it was suggested that the call letters WMPG would represent a more collective attitude. And so, on January 8, 1973, the FCC assigned the call letters WMPG to the station.

After much preparation by Howard Allen throughout the Summer of 1973, the radio station officially signed on as WMPG for the first time (with 10 watts of power) on Friday, August 31, 1973 at 91.7 on the FM dial. Howard eventually connected the studio output to the cafeteria PA and WMPG was guaranteed (by default) an audience. Around the time WMPG had officially signed on, another FM radio station had also signed on - WBLM, based at that time out of the Lewiston/Auburn area, which provided that "alternative" the students craved and WBLM ended up doing very well from the start. Howard and the rest of the folks at WMPG made the decision that their radio station was going to be a "true alternative" radio station, although at the time they weren't entirely sure as to what that would ultimately be.

In the years since Howard Allen graduated from the University of Southern Maine (as it was re-named in 1978) and left the idea that became a reality behind, WMPG has continued to thrive under the premise of being a "true alternative" radio station. In late 1984, under the direction of Ernie Freeberg and still broadcasting out of Gorham, WMPG increased its power from 10 watts to 50 watts and was now transmitting at 90.9 FM. With this increase in power, WMPG also saw an increase in non-student listenership.

According to an article in the Portland Evening Express dated February 28th, 1985, WMPG sought "to serve the community as a whole, not just those connected with USM." The following year, with the station's transmitter growing old and the desire to upgrade to stereo, WMPG first began begging for money from the community, having previously relied solely on student activity fees from the University.

In 1988, under Station Manager Peter Twitchell, WMPG made a substantial upgrade to its signal from 50 watts to 1,111 watts (where it stands today). The following year, WMPG left the "flying saucer building" on the Gorham campus behind and moved to the first floor of a building shared with USM's Free Press on the Portland campus.

In the early 90s, WMPG volunteers Ed Noyes, Barb Truex and Michael Townsend rewrote the all-important WMPG Constitution, which was approved by the entire staff of WMPG and the USM Student Senate, as well as implementing WMPG's Board of Directors.

1993 saw the arrival of new Station Manager Rob Rosenthal (who had come to WMPG after some time with the University of Nevada's community station in Las Vegas), and within five years, WMPG became satellite-interconnected so that some nationally-syndicated programs could be carried on WMPG. It was also discovered during the next few years the WMPG's 1111-watt transmitter in Gorham was a fine signal for folks who lived outside of Portland, but due to the geography and/or buildings in Portland itself, WMPG's signal wasn't getting through to folks in the city. So, as a collective, it was decided that the station needed to improve the signal in Portland proper by putting a translator on Munjoy Hill, which in reality is a small 50-watt transmitter that "spits" the signal back out so that folks in Portland could actually hear the station. This would be known as the Signal Improvement Project (SIP).

WMPG would end up getting the funds it needed to complete the SIP, and the result was another spot on the dial - at 104.1 FM, which was up and running - not to mention being quite successful - by 1999. Longtime WMPG volunteer, Music Director and Program Director Jim Rand took over the reins as Station Manager in the Fall of 1998, and since then, WMPG has made a successful transition to the World Wide Web and the official site for the radio station at wmpg.org. WMPG programs such as "Program Already In Progress", "Big Talk" and the "BLUNT" Youth Radio Project have been recognized as national award-winning programs. Several different languages are currently represented in programs that air on WMPG, and diversity in programming at WMPG continues to grow. WMPG continues to garner community support through underwriting, through listener contributions during the two "Begathon" pledge drives held each year, as well as through WMPG's annual - and downright cool - record sales. WMPG - in its 30th year on the air - was voted the best radio station in Portland thanks to the votes of Casco Bay Weekly readers in their annual poll. And WMPG - which at one point was nothing more than a dorm room, an idea and a trip to Radio Shack, has become one of the most well-respected community radio stations in the entire country. To compliment that, WMPG originator Howard Allen recently told Development Director Tom Flynn, "This isn't about me, it's about what [everyone at WMPG has] done with an idea. That's what's important. It's one thing to have an idea...it's another thing to be successful at executing that idea. And, I think that's where the people that followed me really made the difference at WMPG."

[edit] Programming

The programming is by the community, for the community, and is very diverse; ranging from rock to jazz to foreign to local or global issues, and more.

[edit] Local Music Programming

Local Motives - Friday nights 7:30 -8:30, live local bands playing live in the studio.

[edit] Local Public Affairs

[edit] Blunt Youth Radio Project

WMPG is home to the Blunt Youth Radio Project, a nationally award-winning program.

[edit] Home Dad

Stay at home father and "Portland's Most Emasculated Man", Chip Edgar, and sons host a weekly half hour talkshow about family related issues.

[edit] The Local Option

Every week, Kerry Seed curates an exciting mix of the best English language radio from around the world, focusing the stories on what is happening locally.

[edit] Queer Talk

Madeleine Winterfalcon hosts a talk show all about issues of interest to the Portland's LGBTQ community.

[edit] Sound Ecology

A wildly rational talk show armed with facts and guests in the know. Host Karen D'Andreawades through today's political quagmire. Sound Ecology,giving a voice to the voiceless nine years strong!

[edit] External links

• WMPG's site
• WMPG on PRX
• WMPG on MySpace
• WMPG on Flickr
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WMPG
• Blunt Youth Radio Project's site
• Local Motives site
• Sound Ecology's site