Volunteer Profiles

Through her constant networking, Kate has found people, recently arrived in Maine, with fascinating stories to tell. She finds that it is sometimes a challenge to assure potential guests that it is safe to tell one’s story on the radio. “People who are willing to talk will come on the radio… those who still feel in peril will decline.”

Volunteer Roberto Mendoza hosts Eagle, Quetzal, Condor Monday mornings from 10:30am to noon each week on WMPG. He describes it as a show of news, music, and commentary from an indigenous perspective which covers the Western hemisphere. With this show Roberto seeks to generate renewed interest in indigenous values and to promote dialog between descendents of all the different ethnic groups which, at various times, have come to this part of the world. On Friday, June 27th, 2008, Roberto had a conversation with WMPG Program Director Dave Bunker about these topics and more besides.

How did you hear about WMPG and what led to your decision to become a DJ?

My family moved to Maine over ten years ago and we became friends with the local Vietnamese community. After a while, I became involved organizing the Vietnamese New Year celebrations at the Center for Cultural Exchange. One day, the program director at WMPG called me up – I forgot who that was at the time – and asked if there was a chance I could do a show based on Vietnamese music. I grew up around a lot of music and I knew about a lot of Vietnamese musical artists so I attended the training at the station then waited two years before a slot opened up that fit my schedule.

What drew you to WMPG and to saturday night for your showtime?

I had been doing a college radio show at Southern Connecticut State University for 5 years. Then in January 1994, I moved to Maine. I was the metal director at WOWL, so I asked some of the record companies I dealt with, what stations I should try to do a show at when I moved to Maine. So that’s how I was led to WMPG. My first show was Fridays 4 – 6:30 am, which I did for just over a year. I found out that there were a lot of people that have to work overnight. Then I did Tuesdays 11:30 – 1 am for a while, then finally got moved to the Saturday 11 – 1 am slot. I have a lot of listeners that will call after a year or more of being out of town, and they are happy to still find me at WMPG. The only down side to doing a show late at night is that I’ve been pulled over for speeding about 5 times. The cops are always looking for drunk drivers around the time I’m heading home. And I happen to have a lead foot, so when I’m the only one on the road, and I’m going a bit over the speed limit, I’m an easy target. Actually, the ONLY time I’ve ever missed my show unexpectedly was when I was arrested on Brighton Ave, at 3:15 am on my way to my radio show. They got me for illegal use of plates (long story, but really, I wasn’t aware that I was driving with illegal plates) and driving with a suspended license- which I was able to get dropped in court because it wasn’t really true. I had to call WMPG from jail to tell them I wasn’t going to make it to my show… that was a long night!

“Home Dad” is a talk show on WMPG that addresses the stay-at-home parent. What prompted you to develop a show around that idea?

I am a stay-at-home parent. When we started Home Dad, I was the primary caregiver to my at-the-time almost three-year-old. I was doing jazz on Wednesday nights. Then there came an eight week opening in the mid-day public affairs slot, and I got to thinking, not very seriously, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could do a show with my son?” But then I thought, “What about an eight-week program on stay-at-home-dads?” That should be easy! Just round up some guys to spill their guts every week on public radio! I had originally started volunteering at WMPG to produce public affairs programming, working mainly with Karen D’Andrea on Sound Ecology. The program was approved, but I soon was confronted with a development that perhaps should have been no surprise: Guys won’t even ask directions on how to get to the station, let alone share their honest feelings on the radio. We soon branched out into general family issues.

1. Where are you from originally?

I was born in the Netherlands in a resort town that no one here can pronounce which is a suburb of the Hague. When I was four we moved to New York, first Brooklyn and then Far Rockaway Beach on Long Island. My father then got a job in Michigan so that’s where I grew up.

1. Where are you from originally?

Born in Providence Rhode Island, raised in two areas of Long Island, NY (Rockville Centre, Sea Cliff, and Manhattan).

2. What brought you to Portland?

We used to pass through Portland on the way to Wiscassett every summer for years since I was born, so I’d always had this fondness for Maine. While living on a trimaran in Florida, the rest of the crew was on an island in the harbor (Peaks). I joined them for a short time and fell in love with Portland, It’s a great town.

WMPG volunteers are passionate and dedicated folks. Valerie Cartonio is certainly no exception. If you’re a regular listener, you no doubt know Valerie as the host of “Echoes In the Wind” (Mondays, 10:30am-Noon), a Native American music and news program which has become one of the most widely heard and passionately produced shows on the WMPG schedule.

High school graduations are always an exciting time of transition, a time when possibilities are endless and the future shines its brightest for graduates. Here at WMPG, we get a glimpse of this transition every summer when the high school seniors who participate in Blunt take wing. (For those readers unfamiliar with Blunt, it is our nationally recognized public affairs program produced completely by high school students. Blunt has won more national awards than we have space to list and has become the model for a number of similar programs across the country. It airs every Monday, 7:30pm-8:30pm.)