WMPG Participates in Homlessness Marathon
February 10, 2004
WMPG, the community radio station based at the University
of Southern Maine, will participate in the 7th annual Homelessness
Marathon, a 24-hour event taking place Thursday and Friday,
February 12 and 13. WMPG can be heard at 90.9 and 104.1 FM,
or on the Web at www.wmpg.org/
From 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on Thursday, February 12, local service
providers and homelessness advocate organizations will have
tables set up in Portland's Monument Square. During that time,
WMPG producer Chip Edgar will be calling in from the Square
to do live 10-15 minute interviews on the air with various
participants in the gathering. In addition, Edgar will do
a special half-hour show on local aspects of Homelessness
from 1 to 1:30 p.m. February 12.
Beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 12, and running until
9 a.m. the following morning, a live 14-hour national broadcast
from the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, will be aired locally
on WMPG. As in past years, the broadcast booth will be set
up outside, to dramatize the plight of people with nowhere
to go in the cold. "We talk to experts, present reports, take
calls from around the country and discuss possible solutions,"
explains Karen D'Andrea, the Marathon's producer. "But the
most important thing we do is put homeless people on the air,
so they can talk to America directly."
The broadcast, made available free to stations via the NPR
and Pacifica satellites and a state-of-the-art Web cast, has
grown every year since its inception in 1998. That first broadcast
was heard only over the very limited signal of WEOS, in Geneva,
New York. The sixth broadcast, in 2003, was heard over more
than 70 stations coast-to-coast, with another 18 stations
airing a parallel Canadian Homelessness Marathon.
For more information contact: Jim Rand, station manager
stationmanager@wmpg.org
(207) 780-4424
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