Host: Tiegan Paulson Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. In recent years there have been some concerns that lobstering was headed for a string of seasons that produced lower landings, raising questions about the future. This month on Coastal Conversations, our student producer Tiegan Paulson will be talking with lobstermen and others about how to manage the lobster fishery to address changes. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Robin Alden – Former commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources David Cousens – Lobsterman and former president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association Marshall Walker – Lobsterman from Swan’s Island Joshua Kane – Fisherman from Mount Desert Island Thank you to Galen Koch for editing and production assistance. Thanks to Natalie Springuel for production assistance and Todd Little-Siebold for research assistance. About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

The post Coastal Conversations 8/22/25: Maine Lobster Fishery first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Jae Echeverria with an update on loss of services for people who are currently without housing, and upcoming “Mourn the Dead” and “Fight Like Hell for the Living” events in Bangor FMI: Needlepoint Sanctuary About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 8/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Daniella Rodriguez, Education & Outreach Manager at the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill invites the community to check out their new collaboration with the World Ocean Observatory – a virtual sea exploration experience! About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 8/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Part 2 of our recent conversation with Andy O’Brien FMI re Black Cat Book Fair, email [email protected] About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 8/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Producer/Host: Larry Dansinger About the host: Larry Dansinger (no pronouns) of Bangor came to Maine in 1974 and has been here ever since. Some of Larry’s activities since then: Done community organizing on numerous issues through INVERT and then Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), committed civil disobedience several times, grown a garden yearly since 1977, joined various food cooperatives and two men’s groups, refused to pay federal income taxes for war, lived on a community land trust for 23 years, and met a wonderful partner whom Larry has loved for over 40 years. Larry has produced Outside the Box features on WERU since 2007 and continues to look for unique ways of seeing almost any problem or situation.

The post Outside the Box 8/12/25: “Living Wage” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Grace Johnston-Fennell from Out in the Open is here with an invitation for LGBTQ+ folks to join them at an “Arrt!”(Artist Rapid Response Team) event on Saturday, 8/16, 12-4pm in Unity. For more information and to register: email [email protected] or call 207-808-0623 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 8/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Andy O’Brien, Maine AFL-CIO, on the Trump administration’s termination of the collective bargaining agreement between the Veteran’s Administration and the council that represents many of the staff at the VA — and how that’s impacting workers at Togus. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 8/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host: Pepin Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode tells the story of one biologist’s journey into Cliff Swallow conservation, from rescuing fallen nestlings to developing management techniques that help colonies rebound in the face of habitat loss and invasive species. This essay, written by Mara Silver and read by Pepin Mittelhauser, was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal published by Maine Natural History Observatory. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations.  Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine.  Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 8/10/25: Cliff Swallows first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 8/10/25: What’s Your Story? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: weru.org bhpl.net haystack-mtn.org deerislelibrary.org stonington.lib.me.us wendellgilleymuseum.org georgestevensacademy.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 8/9/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.