Great Barrington and Sheffield — WBCR-LP community radio will kick off its 20th anniversary celebrations with a benefit concert at Race Brook Lodge on Sunday, March 23, at 7 p.m.
The concert will feature Grammy award-winning musician Bill Miller, who is a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans. Miller received Grammy Awards for Best Native American Music Album for “Cedar Dream Songs” in 2004 and for “Spirit Wind North” in 2009.
Miller also played flute on the Vanessa Williams song “Colors of the Wind.” The 1995 song is part of the soundtrack to Disney’s “Pocahontas” and received a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Launched in 2004 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3), non-commercial, all-volunteer organization, WBCR-LP broadcasts on 97.7 FM and streams through its website. Its studio has changed locations a handful of times over the years but now temporarily broadcasts from the second floor in the Mahaiwe Building as its first-floor studio on 320 Main Street is being renovated.
Station DJ Todd Lewis was there for the inception of WBCR-LP 20 years ago. Currently hosting his show “Can You Feel It,” he was a DJ for his first seven years at WBCR-LP and returned to the station two years ago.
“WBCR is a great organization to be part of,” Lewis told The Berkshire Edge. “There’s a lot of camaraderie, and it’s a community service to keep an independent media voice going. Like almost all nonprofit organizations, we’re always depending on the community to help us financially. But from a participatory standpoint, we always have people coming in to do shows. We’re a radio station that’s saying, ‘Come on in and create a show, and we will show you how.’”
“We thrive through the spirit of the volunteers who put their programming on the air and express themselves,” explained board member and “Roundabout” show host Tom Ferris. “It’s a radio station that continues because of the community. There are many people in the community who are interested in broadcasting, playing music, and expressing their viewpoints. This is a community radio station that survives because of the community.”
The station’s programming currently includes jazz, classical, and rock, along with various theater-based and experimental radio shows.
“We are living in times where a lot of people, myself included, feel that free speech is being threatened,” Lewis said. “We need truly independent media where no company is controlling what we say or what we put on the air. That’s an important resource because not only does it serve this community, but our shows are streaming to the entire world via the internet. We need to hold on to the independent voices that we have.”
Ferris said that WBCR-LP has collaborated with other Berkshire-based organizations, including Railroad Street Youth Project, and is now developing programs with other organizations. “The station is open for anybody in the community to participate in, whether or not you want to be a broadcaster, or if you have other certain talents,” Ferris said. “It’s not just about radio broadcasting—it’s a place where people come together. If you have something to say, if you have a passion that you want to explore and share, then WBCR-LP is the place to do it.”
Tickets for the all-ages benefit concert at Race Brook Lodge on Sunday, March 23, are available in advance for $20 at the WBCR-LP Events Page and for $25 at the door.
For more information about WBCR-LP, visit its website.
