Bios of Board Candidates
For election at 3.21.07 general membership meeting to fill vacant board seats.
LUNDY BANCROFT
I was a founding member of VFR and have cared a great deal about the station
all along. I am currently serving as a temporary Board member because of the
high number of vacancies. My current involvement with the station also
includes working on volunteer coordination; helping my daughter do her teen
show and serving as liaison for the Youth Collective; waiting for a time
slot for my own show; and listening to the station a lot.
I believe that VFR has accomplished a tremendous amount in a short time. I
know we have some difficult lessons to learn from things that have gone
wrong, but I think overall we should feel proud. We’re broadcasting original
shows all day and much of the night seven days a week, we have a tremendous
range of different kinds of programming, and we are financially afloat. We
owe appreciation to so many people who have poured in their work as
programmers, studio managers, fundraisers, Board members, committee chairs,
and the many other pieces of work that people have taken on.
My contribution to the Board would be to bring strong leadership skills
combined with flexibility, an ability to resolve conflicts, and a strong
desire to see us move toward unity and solidarity. I think we made a mistake
early in the going by not taking adequately decisive steps to establish
ourselves as an anti-racist, anti-sexist organization that would really
watch its own process and internal dynamics. We can be a much stronger group
in the future if we stop shying away from these issues and confront them
head-on. Yes, it’s scary, and at times tense between people, but we will get
through it, and everyone benefits from the process.
About me: I’m a 47-year-old divorced white guy with two wonderful children.
I make my living as a public speaker and writer on issues of abuse, trauma,
and recovery, mostly related to domestic violence. I will describe my
politics by saying that the Democratic Party does not speak for me, but
neither does Democracy Now, because I believe in hope, courage, resistance
to oppression, and reconciliation. (Listening to Amy Goodman, much as I
appreciate her, I become afraid that her listeners will never realize how
many people are bravely and often brilliantly fighting for justice every day
all over the world, and never giving up.) My personal style is such that I
can disagree strongly with people without making them my enemy, which I
think VFR could use more of. I’m a good listener and I believe that everyone
deserves to be heard, not just the people who are the most pushy or have the
loudest voices. I think we need to deal with each other more respectfully,
and people who don’t get their way need to handle that more maturely,
without insulting other people or the group, becoming snide and sarcastic,
bullying us through the legal system, and so forth. I think the new
standards that have been put out for how we deal with each other represent a
great step forward, and I’m very appreciative of the hard work that went
into creating those.
I have a lot of faith in all of us and am eager to become more deeply
involved in the future health and direction of community radio, which is
true democracy in action. Congratulations to everybody for making VFR happen
and moving it as far as it has already gone. The year ahead promises to be a
very exciting time.
Mark Peters of ‘What’s Cookin’ with Mark Peters’
BIOGRAPHY
Mark is a born native to Northampton, Massachusetts. Graduating from
Northampton High School in 1981 and going on to achieve several college
degrees in nursing and education, he is also a graduate of the esteemed
Coordon Bleu in Pasadena, CA . He has resided in Southern California for
the past 18 years. His love and passion for food and cooking has been a
lifestyle he continues to this day.
After starting in show business as an adult, in 1990 Mark acquired the
puppet Madame from the estate of the late Wayland Flowers. He has achieved
national acclaim on television, radio and the stage. Mark is the recipient
of 2 local Emmy awards for work in television with Madame. He continues to
travel nationally and internationally with Madame performing her tribute to
her late partner. Flowers passed away from A.I.D.S. in the fall of 1988.
Peters has full and legal rights via trademarks to use the puppet. Mark has
personally performed and rose over $750,000.00 for AIDS fund raiser with
Madame making appearances. He is also a favorite to concerts that they
performed in with: Shirley Bessie, Martha Wash, Audrey Landers (pictured),
Carol Channing Christine W., Peter Marshall, and the late Nell Carter. He
has also been a contributing writer for several major network sitcoms such
as Fraiser, Seinfeld, the Golden Girls and his own created series “Inn
Beverly Hills” which is currently optioned through a major television
network and is waiting for production line up scheduling.
Mark studied cooking at the Pasadena California Culinary Institute which is
now named Cordon Bleu school of Culinary Arts and Sciences, a sister
institute to the infamous Cordon Bleu of Paris, France..
Between 2002 and 2004 Mark partnered up with famed television chef Jackie
Olden as her executive producer for her show ‘Cooking with Jackie’ on UPN 13
in Palm Springs, CA. Mark having a love for entertainment and a quick
witted comedian became a regular guest on the show. Olden is most popular
for her cooking stint in the 1980’s on ABC’s The Home Show starring Gary
Collins. When UPN 13 saw that ratings for viewers in the show were elevated
during Peters’ appearances they decided to permanently co-host Olden and
Peters for the show. The 2 mega-talents produced over 450 shows in a 2 ½
year period of time and were on television twice a day, seven days a week on
UPN 13. Peters and Olden also had been a daily radio talk show in Palm
Springs, CA on KCMJ 1270 AM called ‘Come Into The Kitchen with Mark &
Jackie’. Peters’ plan is to revisit that venue interest with local talk
radio stations to coincide with the new television cooking show here in the
Pioneer Valley.
Mark is now back home in Massachusetts with family and has been anxious to
get back onto television. His latest project, ‘What’s Cookin’ with Mark
Peters’ is now in the pre-production and production stages. He has
partnered up with RLM Productions’ multi-talented director Rich Morganstern
of Springfield. The partners will be shooting a series of shows to be aired
on NBC this fall. Production for studio cooking will take place at Lamson &
Goodnow Cutlery & Kitchen Tools at 34 Bridge Street in Northampton (across
from the U.S. Post office in the Talbot’s shopping plaza on Sunday July 16,
2006.
The shooting of the first four (4) of 21 shows begins at 11:00 a.m. and
plans to be there the entire day. Peters will be featuring some of the
greatest chefs from restaurants around the Pioneer Valley, so come have a
glass of wine and watch.
Mary Wheelan
Bio
Mary Wheelan co-hosts Independent Muse, a show that has been on Valley Free
Radio for over a year. Mary has quite a bit of experience working with
boards. As Executive Director of the Williamsburg Council On Aging for over
four years, she works with a board that includes 9 voting members, 4
associate members, and 3 emeritus members. As Executive Director, Mary is a
town employee and reports directly to the Select Board. Mary is also
currently Vice-chair of the Hilltown Consortium of Councils On Aging and
served for two years as Chair. From 1998-1999 Mary, while employed at a
mental health agency in Holyoke, was a member of the PVTA Appeals Board, a
board which reviewed appeals of people with disabilities who had been denied
van transportation. A singer/songwriter, Mary is President of the Hilltown
Alliance of Musicians and Songwriters, Inc. When Mary lived in Rhode Island
she founded the Rhode Island Songwriters association and served on the board
for a few years. Mary has fiscal management ang grant writing experience.
She also networks with lots of agencies, elders, business owners,
politicians, musicians, etc.
Michelle LeBlanc
Michelle LeBlanc has been with Valley Free Radio since November of 2006 when
she joined the Indie Collective and began broadcasting her program “Dead Air
Nightmares” every Monday night from 11pm to 1am. Dead Air Nightmares is the
extension of a website of the same name that she created and currently runs
with a couple other writers featuring music news and reviews. Before joining
Valley Free Radio Michelle held many other positions in many other
music-related organizations. She was a part of WDJM in Framingham, MA from
2002 to 2006, starting off as a programmer and serving 3 years on the
executive board, one of which was spent as Assistant General Manager. In
that role she brought new levels of listenership to WDJM by providing a
solid administrative base and organizing extensive events and promotions,
such as the first annual WDJM spring festival and the first annual WDJM
Boston Marathon event. She also held an internship in the music department
at 101.7 WFNX Lynn/Boston and worked on their promotions street team. These
experiences have given her a knowledge of radio marketing, events, and
promotions as they exist in both the community and commercial radio spheres
that she greatly wishes to share with VFR. She has also worked in Music
public relations. She currently works in marketing research and resides in
Northampton.
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