Posts Categorized: News
WMPG wins Best Website at MAB’S
The Maine Association of Broadcasting Awards, otherwise knowm as ‘the MAB’s’, awarded WMPG ‘Best Website’ in their digital category.
We are thrilled to win this award for the hard work we put into maintaining and updating wmpg.org

WMPG Presents Open Mic Night This Friday @ 7pm – McGoldrick Center USM Portland
WMPG Presents an Open Mic Night This Friday @ 7pm in USM’s McGoldrick Center in Portland. All are welcome, come check out the new building on Bedford Street. Bring your guitar, bass, iPhone, really any instrument. It all happens this Friday, September 8th. Pre-register if you are bringing a band so we can be prepared! Should be lots of fun. Hope to see you there. For more information send an email to Stationmanager@wmpg.org.

DJ and USM alumnus Rick Scala brought Tina Turner to Gorham in ’74
What a cool article by our Public Affairs team here at USM about Rick Scala, USM alumni and co-host of the Night Train, who brought Tina Turner to the Gorham Campus of USM back in 1974
“We were here right at the golden time of college concerts,” said Scala. Among all of those renowned acts, Tina Turner still stood out in Scala’s memory for her boundless energy, amplified by her backup dancers, a blaring horn section, and Ike’s virtuoso musicianship on guitar. A show that big gave fans far more than their money’s worth with advance tickets priced at $4 for students and $5 for the general public.Read more >>>

Michael Danahy memorial service this Friday June 16th 7-8pm @ Novare Res
Update to this post is there will be a memorial service for Michael Danahy this Friday, June 16th, at Novare Res, from 7-8pm.
We received some sad news yesterday that longtime WMPG volunteer, Michael Danahy, has passed away while visiting California.

Spectacular Blues Spectacular at OLS
The WMPG Bluegrass Spectacular returned for a night of, you guessed it, bluegrass. Pejebscot Station kicked it off with their set, followed by Breakin’ Strings with the World Famous Grassholes headlining this event that was filled with great music, a silent auction, big energy, and a sense of community.

JAM – Jazz at the Movies April 29th
In celebration of International Jazz Day, WMPG’s Jazz At the Movies (JAM) will be showing the film “Blue Note Records- Beyond the Notes” on Saturday April 29th at the Portland Conservatory of Music. This movie is about the Blue Note Record label, but it is more about the Blue Note founders and the chemistry between them and the great musicians that recorded on this label. This is truly a case where the musicians made the record label what it became because the owners gave them the freedom to create. It is proof that great things happen when creative people connect through music and freedom of expression.

Interview with Dr. Jeffrey Beaudry- W.E.B Du Bois Symposium Wednesday April12th
Data Visualizations and Diversity in Maine-Evidence, Art, and Advocacy. An all-day symposium that takes an in-depth active learning approach to 40 data visualizations which first premiered at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900. USM’s Dr. Beaudry talks with us about the event that happens Wednesday April 12th.

Eurydice Rising
The University of Southern Maine’s Department of Theatre cordially invites you to Eurydice Rising, created in collaboration with the Osher School of Music.
Eurydice Rising reimagines one of Ancient Greece’s most iconic myths of Orpheus and Eurydice in theatre, opera, and dance. This beautiful, moving show is a feast for the eye and ears as it follows Orpheus’s journey into the underworld to be reunited with his young bride, Eurydice, after her death. It’s a story of love, loss, and creative expression that exceeds the bounds of life and death, presence and absence.

Begathon Shenanigans
There has been fun and drama at WMPG HQ during our Spring fundraising!
DJ Perky (Perky’s Auditory Canal) came up with a song for Begathon to the tune of Help! by the Beatles. Have a watch!

WMPG Media Sponsor for Portland Ovations “somewhere/elsewhere”
We are excited to be a media sponsor for somewhere/elsewhere
- Commissioned Maine Artist by Portland Ovations
- Thursday, March 23, 2023, 7 PM
- Westbrook Performing Arts Center
somewhere/elsewhere is a one-night-only concert reading of a new pop-rock musical that immerses us in the migration, losses, and triumphs of a contemporary Turkish immigrant to the U.S. Weaving together Turkish poetry and legend with the original sounds of major label rock band Thanks to Gravity, somewhere/elsewhere is a story of discovering love, joy and belonging in the midst of turbulence, discrimination, and racism; of separation, loss and triumph over the cultural hurdles of ignorance and hate.
This performance includes mature language and will be ASL interpreted.

WMPG working to qualify for a CPB Community Service Grant again
You may have noticed that we no longer have CPB underwriting announcements read after some of our programs. This is due to WMPG no longer receiving this funding. For more than 20 years WMPG has received this funding but last year we lost the funding due to no longer meeting their qualifications. Radio stations like ours need to meet certain criteria to be funded including the number of listeners as measured by a ratings agency, the number of paid staff, the amount of non-federal funds raised and financial reports. We had an issue with our financial reports which led to this. We are working hard to re-qualify and starting in July will move under a department at USM. We are hoping this will lead to another 20 years of funding from this important source of support!
