HILLTOWN FAMILY VARIETY SHOW
09/19/09 PLAYLIST

Saturday from 9-10am
WXOJ LP – 103.3 FM – Valley Free Radio
Northampton, MA

Click here to view the embedded video.

FEATURED VIDEO: Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck – “Big Truck” [Rockin',Rollin' and Ridin']

• Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck – “Big Truck” [Rockin',Rollin' and Ridin']Music
• Joe West – “Dump Truck and Tractors” [If The World Was Upside Down]Music
• Ben Rudnick & Friends – “Old Joe Clark” [A Frog Named Sam]
• Station Id: The Harmonica Pocket [www.harmonicapocket.com]
• PSA: Library Card Sign-Up Month
• Lunch Money – “I Love My Library” [Dizzy]
• Laura Doherty – “Firefly” [Kids in the City]Music
• Charity and the JAMband – “Wish” [Rock Your Socks Off]
• Station Id: Steve Weeks [www.steveweeksmusic.com]
• The Deedle Deedle Dees – “Teddy Days” [Freedom in a Box!]
• Mr. David – “Crocodiles are Hungry” [Jump in the Jumpy House]
• Burl Ives – “The Sailor and the Crocodile” [Burl Ives Favorites for Children]
• Burl Ives- “The Crocodile Song” [Burl Ives Favorites for Children]
• Rebecca Frezza & Big Truck – “Hey-O” (featuring Roscoe Orman) [Rockin', Rollin' and Ridin']Music
• Wicked Hemlocks – “Number Count” [Quill of the Mad]
• School House Rock – “Three is a Magic Number” [School House Rock]
• Station Id: Yosi & The Superdads [www.yosimusic.com]
• AudraRox – “Moms & Dads” [Park Slope Parents: The Album]
• Peter Himmelman – “Main Dish” [My Trampoline]Music
• Uncle Rock – “Hippie Harvest Kitchen” [Uncle Rock U]

DINNER ON US PSA: In Amherst there will be a free weekly roundtable discussion series for campus and Amherst Family Center families with young children called Dinner on Us, Monday evenings during the academic year in the Student Union Building. As far as I know it’s open to all, but if they run into over enrollment, I’m sure that they will prioritize UMASS students, staff, and alums, as well as AFC families.  Sessions are free and include: dinner, supervised children’s activities and parking. Family Dinner: 5:15-5:45pm, Supervised Children’s Activities: 5:45-7:30pm, Roundtable Discussion: 6:00-7:30pm. Space is limited. To pre-register call: 413-545-4466 OR email cshrc@stuaf.umass.edu.

Tune in to the Hilltown Family Variety Show on Saturdays from 9-10am on Valley Free Radio (VFR), 103.3FM (Northampton, MA), or listen via streaming audio at www.ValleyFreeRadio.org.

Every Saturday VFR offers four hours of commercial-free, quality family program from 6-10am, including Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child from 7am-9am. It’s better than Saturday morning cartoons!  Turn off the T.V. and turn on local community radio!

Tags: Community Program, Family, Family Music, Independent Music, kids music, Massachusetts, northampton, Programmer's Notes, Radio, Radio Program, Radio Show, valley-free-radio

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Next time: The ‘08 Winter Solstice Enviro Show, complete with pagans! Same bat channel, same bat time!

Tags: clean energy, Collectives, Education and Social Issues Collective, Education-and-Social-Issues-Collective, environment, live music, northampton, northampton dump, northampton_ma, programmer, Programmer's Notes, Programming, programs, The Enviro Show

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The Enviro Show Quote of the Week comes from author, Susan Griffin: “The part of the mind that is dark to us in this culture, that is sleeping in us, that we name ‘unconscious’, is the knowledge that we are inseparable from all other beings in the universe”.

There’s the Darth Cheney fanfare again! Glen! Tell us it’s over NOW!! When do Darth Cheney and his little sock puppet exit stage right? We’ve been talking these past few weeks about all the ecological damage these enemies of the planet are doing on their way out the door. Last time we delved into the top 100 Bush regime rollbacks. Now add this one: their vile minions in the EPA have finalized rules that will make it easier for mountaintop mining companies to dump their waste near rivers and streams.

In the Enviro Show Echo Chamber we pile on DC insiders Environmental Defense along with our friends from Rising Tide over that carbon trading scam you keep hearing about. Also, did Big Auto really earn that loan? AND, Obama embraces Big Oil with the James Jones pick.

Then, live from the luxurious Pine Street Studios of WXOJ-LP it’s Mary Serreze and the Zero Waste Valley Band! After Mary rocks the walls we’ll have a chat about this concept of putting a dump over an aquifer. Is that living better through chemistry??

Then it’s on to the Bus Stop Billboard:

Tuesday, December 9 at 8 PM. Talk to Bill McKibben and Michael Brune about Global Warming. Prepare for an earnest and lively discussion with RAN Executive Director Michael Brune and writer-activist Bill McKibben, followed by a Q & A the steps we need to take collectively to free our country and our world of fossil fuels. You can remind Bill that Cape Wind is the privatization of the Commons! Just call: 1-866-864-8698 And type in the passcode: 1051283210

Thurday, December 11, 6pm. Home Depot “Grand Opening” sprawl teach-in. Food for Thought Books, Amherst. Scheduled speakers so far include Emily Kawano (populareconomics.org), Jeff Lacey (Shutes Planning Board and professional planner, who will project some great slides on the wall). We’ll be approaching the issue from the same diversity of perspectives that worked so nicely for the wal-mart campaign: local economy, downtowns, employers, domestic workers, sweatshops abroad, students, seniors, environmentalists, cyclists, etc. For info call: 413 549 1193

Saturday, December 13, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Small animals up close. Family science days are designed for families with children ages 5-8, with adults participating along with their children. Come get to know some small but interesting animals. Learn how to study them as you explore their special behaviors and adaptations. Some of the creatures you may meet are: walking stick insects, land snails, goldfish, hissing cockroaches, large millipedes and Speedy the box turtle. Pre-registration is required; please call (413) 256-6006.

Thursday, Dec. 18, 7-9pm. Ritual Chant Circle to embrace the time of Yule and the Winter Season. 102 Cottage Street in Easthampton. (413) 527-3331

http://www.awentree.com

Dec 19, 20th and 21st. Mountain Justice is hosting a Winter Campout at Frog Level Tennessee. If you love mountains, camping, hiking, the forest and all that is wild your invited to the Winter Solstice camp. Go to: www.mountainjusticesummer.org or email: unitedmountaindefense@yahoo.com or call: 865 257 4029

Saturday, January 10. Washington, DC or…? Keep Winter Cold Polar Bear Plunge. We chose this date because the newly-elected U.S. Congress will be returning to Capitol Hill around this time. The new President will be inaugurated 10 days later. Our plunges into cold bodies of water will say loud and clear to our state and national government leaders that the time for strong action is now!Go to: http://www.keepwintercold.org.

January 9-11, 2009 – Please join us for our annual Winter Retreat for Earth Lovers, to be held at Earthlands in Petersham, Massachusetts. Take some time to reflect in the depths of winter while connecting with the natural world and with one another. Spaces are limited, so sign up soon! Please see our website for a retreat flyer with details and registration information, http://sacredearthnetwork.org/updates/

OK, that’s it for this week. Next time it’s our Winter Solstice party. Don’t move that dial….and remember: listen to your Mother!

Tags: -Interview-&-Conversation, Climate Crisis, Collectives, Current-Affairs, Education and Social Issues Collective, Education-and-Social-Issues-Collective, environment, george_w_bush, live music, Mountaintop removal, News, northampton, Opinion, programmer, Programmer's Notes, programmers, Programming, programs, The Enviro Show

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Things are heating up in Europe around the upcoming COP15 international climate talks (see below), but the climate crisis seems to be taking a backseat to the financial crisis here in the States. In fact, the incoming Obama Administration doesn’t even use the term “climate crisis”, instead falling back on the old “climate change” or “global warming” labels. So, no crisis, no sweat, huh? We don’t think so!

Also, people really DO shop ’til they drop. Witness the horrendous incident at a Long Island WalMart where a crazed herd of bargain hunters trampled a low-wage WalMart employee in their stampede to get ….what?…more junk? Not only did these shopaholics kill the help, some of them were injured as well. Checkout Democracy Now!’s coverage HERE, but you’ll note the blame goes largely to WalMart. Hey! sure the retailer is guilty, but people don’t HAVE to act like a herd of mindless beasts! You’ve heard Rev. Billy on The Enviro Show, right? Stop the Shopocalypse!. It’s bad for people. It’s bad for the planet!

***********
Klimax Rocks the COP-15 Summit Site?

Activists from the Copenhagen based climate activist group KlimaX climbed onto
the front of the conference site Bella Centret and threw out banners. The site
is symbolic in the way that its the actual site of the COP15 summit exactly one
year from now.

“We need a humane solution to the climate crisis.” Says Sini Østergaard from
KlimaX “We cannot stand by and watch while the rich countries buy CO2 quotas
from the poor countries. We have take action now.”

The activists brought banners, music, cookies and tea while the security people
and diplomats attending a conference watched the fun.

“The clock is ticking and time has run out. It is now we have to face the
consequences of our over-consumption in the west.” says Thor from KlimaX.

The police arrived but didn’t bother anyone. The activists promises that
they’ll continue their actions in the run-up to and under the climate summit.
Already other actions are brewing for the immediate future.

www.klimax2009.org

Danish article with pictures

http://indymedia.dk/articles/577

Tags: Collectives, consumerism, Education and Social Issues Collective, Education-and-Social-Issues-Collective, environment, News, northampton, programmer, Programmer's Notes, programmers, Programming, programs, The Enviro Show

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The Enviro Show Quote of the Week comes from Al Gore (or Gore-al, as we like to say, sounding the alarm on Earth, rather than on Krypton): “You see that pale, blue dot? That’s us. Everything that has ever happened in all of human history, has happened on that pixel. All the triumphs and all the tragedies, all the wars all the famines, all the major advances… it’s our only home. And that is what is at stake, our ability to live on planet Earth, to have a future as a civilization. I believe this is a moral issue, it is your time to seize this issue, it is our time to rise again to secure our future.”

What’s that sound, Glen? When and will we be saved from the Bush regime?? Never mind us, when will all the endangered species be safe from these guys? You’re gonna’ love this one: Cleanup funding inadequate for Bush-designated marine monument. Maybe it’s fitting to leave all that plastic crap floating around George’s “monument”!

So, who IS the man behind the curtain on the John McSame campaign campaign trail? Could it be the man from Big Oil?? You can bet yur’ sweet crude it is!! In the Enviro Show Echo Chamber we have a look at Bob Herbert’s op-ed piece in the New York Times, “An empty promise”. Our Enviro Show Blog Bonus is all about pain at the pump. Check it!

“It really isn’t garbage” by Pat Humphries takes us to our interview with Linda Hiesiger and Mike Fedora concerning the clever idea of putting a dump over one of Easthampton’s water supplies. Talk about planning ahead!

On the Bus Stop Billboard:

Wednesday August 20, 5:30-7:30pm, ARE “GREEN JOBS” UNION & COMMUNITY JOBS? Pioneer Valley CLC, 640 Page Blvd, Springfield. Everyone is talking Green Jobs as Union Jobs and Local Community Jobs, and the possibility of Scabby Green Jobs looms large here in Western Mass. A Green Economy Working Group is discussing the issue. Info: Jon Weissman, 827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org, or Eduardo Suarez, 335-6224.

Thursday, Aug 21 & 28, 4:30 – 5:30 pm. Weekly Green Energy Vigil.
Wells Fountain, Junction of Linden and Main, Brattleboro, VT
We will be here every week until Vermont Yankee is closed. Come join US! Call 802-387-4060

Thursday, Sept 4, 5pm. Franklin County Parade No Nukes contingent.
Downtown, Greenfield, MA. Start off from the Greenfield Middle School parking lot. Join the Wrecked Honda Insight painted “Vermont Yankee an Accident Waiting to happen” Join the Solar Rollers on Bicycles! We can Replace Entergy’s Vermont Yankee! Help hand out Literature! For info email cchang@nukebusters.org

Saturday, September 13th from 9 to 1 it’s Hazzardous Waste Day at the Montague Highway Garage, the Rt. 2. Park and Ride in Charlemont, and the Town of Orange Transfer Station. To participate at any of the sites, residents must pre-register by September 5th. Registration forms will be available in local newspapers, at local town offices, and at most town transfer stations. Online registration forms may be completed at: www.franklincountywastedistrict.org. Call: (413) 772-2438

That about does us for another show. Next time: Living Off the Grid. Be your own utility company! (no fleet of trucks necessary). Until then remember: listen to your Mother!

Tags: -Interview-&-Conversation, climate, Collectives, Current-Affairs, Education and Social Issues Collective, Education-and-Social-Issues-Collective, Enviro Show, environment, george_w_bush, northampton, Programmer's Notes, programmers

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The Enviro Show Quote of the Week comes from the dean of enviro thought, Aldo Leopold from the essay “Thinking like a mountain”: “The cowman who cleans his range of wolves does not realize that he is taking over the wolf’s job of trimming the herd to fit the range. He has not learned to think like a mountain. Hence we have dustbowls, and rivers washing the future into the sea.” Ahmen!

Los Lobos’ “Will the Wolf Survive?” takes us to the Enviro Show Echo Chamber where we revisit the Boston Globe story about the Gray wolf that was killed in Shelburne last March. This sorry incident is what led us to do this week’s show on wolf reintroduction. We also checkout the Restore the North Woods website and the latest on Northeast wolf reintroduction from the Maine Wolf Coalition. You can meet some LIVE reps from the wolf community right here in the Commonwealth, by the way. Checkout Wolf Hollow in Ipswich. Then we read from the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s coverage of the recent event concerning the Northampton landfill expansion proposal.

It’s that Darth Cheney dirge again! When will it end!! Glen, what’s the count? How many days?? Of course you’ve heard Darth and the boy emperor want to drill their way out of the gas crisis (a scam within a scam within a scam…these guys are the worst!). Bush says he’ll lift the ban on offshore drilling signed by his father. That will go exactly nowhere since there’s also a congressional ban (though Cape Wind proponents might like the sight of more trashed coastlines!….sorry, couldn’t resist). Luckily Barbra Boxer and Nancy Pelosi are digging in their high heels. Here’s the Enviro Show Blog Bonus: Dig your heels in too!. Did you catch the emperor’s farewell “joke” at the G8? He said to his fellow leaders: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.” The rightwing flat-earth robos loved it. Gaia, help rid us of this plague!!

Meanwhile, here in the real world, we checkout the Bus stop billboard:

Wednesday July 23, 5:30-7:30pm, Green Economy Working Group meeting , Pioneer Valley CLC, 640 Page Blvd, Springfield. Contact Eduardo Suarez (335-6224), echonyc@hotmail.com).

July 22 – August 3; Northeast Climate Confluence; High Falls, NY. Check it out
at http://www.climateconfluence.org/blog/

Saturday, August 2; 12pm. STOP WAR ON IRAN ! Mass march in NYC. Go to: http://www.stopwaroniran.org/
Email: stopwaroniran@stopwaroniran.org

August 6-9; Walk for a Nuclear Free Future
From Williamstown, MA to Montpelier, VT
For further info. Heidi 518-885-1806 or Hattie 978-249-6224

Saturday, August 9, Noon.
Valley Free Radio will be celebrating its third birthday with a benefit music event at Look Park, Route 9 in Northampton. Ride your bike, take the bus (Red 42 leaves Court House at Noon and 1pm) or walk-in and avoid parking fees!

Friday, August 15. Surround the Federal Building in Springfield! No war on Iran!
For more info call AFSC 413-584-8975 / 413-320-1002 c

August 10 – 25; Solar Rollers back on the trail in Vermont!!
Please contact us if you are interested in joining this ride! or would like to
organize a potluck and discussion group in a town on the route or near!
solarollers@gmail.com or call David 413-863-9296 or Peg 802-387-4845.

End of story for this week. Next time we get down with the reptiles: let’s talk snakes! Until then, remember to……LISTEN TO YUR’ MOTHER!

Tags: -Interview-&-Conversation, climate, Collectives, daily_hampshire_gazette, Education and Social Issues Collective, Education-and-Social-Issues-Collective, Enviro Show, environment, george_w_bush, nancy_pelosi, News, northampton, Programmer's Notes, Programming, wolves

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Produced by:
David Pakman, WXOJ, Northampton, MA
Louis Motamedi, WXOJ, Northampton, MA

Total Running Time: 57:33

This Week’s Topics:

–The 43rd anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

–Congressman Charlie Rangel wants to reinstate the military draft.

–Henry Kissinger says that a military win in Iraq would be impossible.

–Michael Richards, Seinfeld’s Kramer, his racist tirade, explanation on the Late Show with David Letterman, and more commentary.

–OJ Simpson’s book deal had it’s plug pulled by News Corporation, and when discussing it, racist tendencies came out from the usual suspects in the media.

–Once again, the falsehood that most people earning minimum wage are students and/or part-time employees comes out.

–The election of Bernie Sanders to the Senate has caused some to question Vermont’s place in the 50 states.

–Chris Wallace interviews John Kerry, in great part about his “botched joke” shortly before the 2006 midterm election.

–While Senator John McCain contends that more troops are needed in Iraq, not everyone agrees.

–The “homosexual agenda” comes up once again…who was it this time?

Download Links (high quality MP3 on our site):

Low Quality MP3: http://www.midweekpolitics.com/shows/midweek_politics-2006-11-22-low.mp3
Show Website: http://www.midweekpolitics.com

Tags: david_pakman, john_f_kennedy_assassination, late_show_with_david_letterman, northampton, Podcast, Podcast, vfr

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Produced by:
David Pakman, WXOJ, Northampton, MA
Louis Motamedi, WXOJ, Northampton, MA

Total Running Time: 54:37

This Week’s Topics:

–Latest election results news in the House of Representatives, Senate, and Governors’ houses.

–Midweek Politics article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

–Nancy Pelosi and George W. Bush, among others, pledge to try to work together across party lines, which is a promise that seems to be made after every election.

–John McCain and Rudy Giuliani head towards the first steps in running for president in 2008.

–Why would the first Muslim Congressman have to prove that he “is not working with our enemies?”

–The Donald Rumsfeld resignation: How does it affect the Middle East, did Bush acknowledge lying about the resignation, who would describe the resignation as evidence that George W. Bush is decisive, and did Donald Rumsfeld flip off a crowd?

–Who is “outing” homosexual Republicans?

–Senators John McCain (R) and Carl Levin (D) give their ever-more-similar opinions on the situation in Iraq.

–Which pundit swore on live television…or did they?

–OJ Simpson is writing a new book on how he would have committed the murder of which he was acquitted.

–The idea of the “homosexual mafia” comes up once again.

–The Borat movie is quickly racking up lawsuits.

Links (high quality MP3 available on our website):
Low-quality MP3: http://www.midweekpolitics.com/shows/midweek_politics-2006-11-15-low.mp3
Show Website: http://www.midweekpolitics.com

Tags: daily_hampshire_gazette, donald_rumsfeld, george_w_bush, john_mccain, nancy_pelosi, News, News and Politics Collective, News-and-Politics-Collective, northampton, oj_simpson, Opinion, Podcast, Podcast, rudy_giuliani, vfr

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http://www.frww.org/landscapes/Keesecker_Gardens.mp3

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Produced by:
David Pakman, WXOJ, Northampton, MA
Louis Motamedi, WXOJ, Northampton, MA

Total Running Time: 58:28

This Week’s Topics:

–Deval Patrick, Democratic candidate for Massachusetts governor in 2006 joins us from his campaign headquarters.

–Andrew Varnon from the Valley Advocate sits in on the show.

–What is so pro-family about being anti-gay-marriage? Also, why do the states with the most same-sex couples have the least divorces?

–George W. Bush says, in plain English, that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the events of 9/11.

–Rush Limbaugh believes we should question the patriotism of those who questions George W. Bush.

–Citing no one, Joe Scarborough claims that “[s]ome Democrats” have suggested British terror plot “was just some ploy by the Republicans … to justify their actions in the war on terror.”

–Pat Buchanan on his new anti-Mexican, pro-white book tour…and for some reason, he’s all of a sudden defending Jews, which is a marked change from the past, but why?

–Tucker Carlson claims that Hillary Clinton “bulldozes everybody” because there are “so few men” in the Democratic party.

–We discuss the 2006 and 2008 elections, including who we already know can and can’t win, whether John Kerry and Al Gore should run again, and more.

Note: We apologize for somewhat distorted audio this week. We are working to fix the problem in time for next week’s show.

Download Links:

Midweek Politics Website
Both high and low bandwidth files available.

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Produced by:
David Pakman, WXOJ, Northampton, MA
Louis Motamedi, WXOJ, Northampton, MA

Total Running Time: 56:13

This Week’s Topics:

–Payson Schwin of the Center for American Progress discusses the politics of energy, and the future of alternative sources of energy.

–”Fair and balanced” news with Ann Coulter and Tom DeLay.

–Is President Bush the best president in history on Mideast matters?

–Cynthia McKinney’s anti-Semitic bodyguards.

–CNN’s Glen Beck compared Iranian President Ahmadinejad to Howard Dean, and mocks Muslim names…but who is he anyway?

–The trend of American Christians commenting as experts on Israel.

–Ann Coulter flip flips on polling.

–Pat Robertson denies one of his controversial statements, but we look back at what he actually said.

–The Joe Lieberman saga continues.

High Quality: http://www.midweekpolitics.com/shows/midweek_politics-2006-08-16.mp3
Low Quality: http://www.midweekpolitics.com/shows/midweek_politics-2006-08-16-low.mp3

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Before I give you an update on the work of the Web committee, including accomplishments and issues that still need addressing, I would like to make a plea for your patience. The committee is essentially comprised of three people: Candace Clement, Seth Jackson, and myself. Our small, mighty group has many skills–though not all of the skills that would solve outstanding issues tomorrow (that is, if these problems were within our control); therefore, we are learning new things everyday to improve the VFR Web technology. Again, like everyone else at VFR, we are a volunteer crew. We’re doing our best to leverage the power of the Web in the best interest of the VFR.

I am not going to address the technical aspects of the Topica list, as I am not familiar with its intricacies, but I can tell you our plans and the status of our work. The ultimate goal is to dump the Topica list in favor of a moderated list hosted on our own server. This has not happened yet because of our server and the service from the hosting company is very poor; we are in the process of gathering information to make a decision about a new hosting company. The good news is that our server contract is only three months long (August 1 begins the next three month period).

Without getting into all the technical nuts and bolts of the situation, our server problems have shutdown all VFR email functions (thus no moderated email list and instead contact email addresses using Gmail). This is a disappointment to us all because it has hampered our Web development plans. You might notice that the site is sometimes extremely slow; that too is the result of our underperforming server, and has made us gun-shy about adding new features on this server.

Here is a partial list of our plans–always being revised with input from the VFR membership–for when the server situation is resolved:

• start a dynamic calendar that will list meetings, events, and the programming schedule
• have a moderated email list to replace Topica
• allow members to have valleyfreeradio.org email addresses (depending availability)
• have pages for each collective where programmers can write about their shows
• a better streaming set-up
• a show archiving system
• set-up a project management system so VFR committees and collectives can track tasks of various projects

And I am sure there are others! The list is probably endless.

What have we accomplished so far? Well, for starters, you’re looking at it! Okay, the “look” isn’t that fancy (yet), but that will change in the not too distant future. Getting the content management system (CMS) running, with content from the old site in place, was a significant accomplishment (many thanks to those who have expressed their appreciation). We have an email system in place so emails are not bounced. Thanks to the work of Seth and others, we have VFR streaming over the Web. Meeting times, agendas, and minutes are now posted on the site. The VFR site can now take donations, and the site provided regular updates during the fund drive.

In closing, that is a brief status report of the Web Committee work. The Committee could always use help; in particular, I need help from someone who is very experienced in graphic design using Illustrator and PhotoShop. As I am working on both the programming and architecture of the site, it would speed the work if I could direct a graphic designer.

Thanks for your attention.

Tags: alternative-radio, commercial-free-radio, Committees, Committees, Latest Station News, Latest Station News, northampton, valley-free-radio, Web, Web, web-design, wxoj

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The first question I would like to address is, why isn’t there a logo on the site? There are a number of reasons, not the least of which is when I offered my services there was a pretty big conflict about a butterfly logo iteration. However, I see my role as someone that tries to implement the vision of VFR while also using my expertise to guide the project using Web design “best practices”. I was able to get a consensus that the butterfly logo, as designed, was not a good choice, and that a logo had already been chosen and approved. I have therefore been working under the assumption that the circle logo (the original) is the jumping off point.

My design is not finished. Not close to being finished; it’s just an embryo, not even a baby. What you see now is the work I am doing to establish the architecture of the site–not how it “looks”. I am working on the “skin” of the site now. So, why put the site up in such a state? Well, were you happy with the site before? Probably not. Nobody else was either, so that is why we’re here.

I will give you a verbal preview of what I am working on, because I have established some clear design parameters. The logo as you know it will only appear on the footer of every page; I have taken elements from that logo (the type face, the lightning bolts), and used them on the header and other places on the page.

Why am I doing this? The easiest way to explain the design issue is to ask you to recall how many closed circle logos you find on the top of Web pages–not many, and hardly any on what I would consider the best Web page designs. It’s very tricky because this closed circle (like the VFR logo) doesn’t lend itself to playing nice within a Web page design–which is all about spreading out and down. Having a little ball at the top of the page when most of the other elements are linear doesn’t look balanced.

Could I still use the logo and force the issue–putting it right at the top. Most certainly. No problem. But then I wouldn’t be doing my job correctly–I’m not a stenographer. Again, I am taking the vision of others and trying to filter that through the best practices of Web design.

So, the most comforting words I can offer is that you’ll have to trust me. That’s all I have. As I have mentioned to some people, my design goal is to take your breath away when the new design loads into your browser for the first time. I am not after a “nice” design.

Thanks for your interest in the work the Web committee is doing; stay tuned to this site, as we are trying to give regular status reports.

Tags: 103.3-radio, alternative-radio, commercial-free-radio, Committees, free-radio, Latest Station News, logo, northampton, valley-free-radio, Web, web-design, wxoj

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As an alternative to commercial radio, VFR is committed to social and economic justice.

VFR is a welcoming space that encourages social relationships by fostering dialog and building knowledge and understanding between and within different ethnic, racial, class, linguistic and other groups that have been silenced.

Beyond broadcasting, we will engage in a wide variety of cultural, educational, and social activities and collaborations as an integral part of our neighborhood.

Tags: 103.3-radio, alternative-radio, commercial-free-radio, free-radio, non-profit, northampton, valley-free-radio, vfr, wxoj

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• Site Design And The VFR Logo (0)
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Tags: 103.3-radio, alternative-radio, commercial-free-radio, free-radio, media-education-foundation, non-profit, northampton, valley-free-radio, vfr, vfr, wxoj

Related posts

• Guiding Vision (0)
• Site Design And The VFR Logo (0)
• Domino Outreach Model (0)