Mr. Blake, in addition to his duties as Assistant Music Director, is host of “Seacoast Scene”(Mondays, 3 to 5 pm) and co-host with his daughter Sarai Blake of “Fan Talk” (Sundays, 8 to 10 pm).

Bliss continued, “As increasingly we enhance our understanding of the demographics and psychographics that help define the seacoast listening community, we will be able to more effectively develop creative and original radio programming to engage our audiences broadly and deeply. Importantly, as a non-profit community radio station, it’s in our mission to develop programming that represents an alternative to commercial radio. That’s our challenge, and one that we welcome. With this team in place, we are well poised to meet that challenge and to stand among the great cultural institutions of the seacoast community.”

Portsmouth Community Radio is a listener-supported, volunteer-operated radio station whose mission is to offer programming that reflects the interests and tastes of the seacoast listening community. Those interested in volunteering at the radio station in either on-air or supportive roles are urged to email volunteer@wscafm.org or visit the station’s website: portsmouthcommunityradio.org.

Information about why composting is so important:

-Composting is the process of mixing organic yard and kitchen waste to produce nutrient-rich humus to enrich soil -According to the US EPA, compostable materials (paper products, yard trimmings, food scraps) made up over half of the 250 million tons of waste Americans sent to landfills in 2008.

-According to DenverGov.org, organic waste in plastic-lined landfills produces greenhouse gases such as methane as it slowly decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen). These greenhouse gases contribute to global warming.  By composting these waste products, you reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that America’s landfills produce.

Composting at home and at WSCA is a great habit to develop.  It is a win-win situation for you and the environment.

When Norman Corwin’s name is mentioned to people today, most do not recognize it; but take a few minutes to search “Norman Corwin” on the Internet and you will discover the cultural impact of this man.

He was responsible for some of the greatest radio shows ever produced during the 1930s and 40s, shows like We Hold These Truths, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Bill of Rights. Then there was On a Note of Triumph, in celebration of V-E Day, May 8, 1945. Another, Fourteen August, was broadcast on V-J Day, August 14, 1945. In addition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, some of the greatest Broadway, film, and radio stars appeared on these programs.

On a lighter note, Corwin wrote such wonderfully entertaining programs as The Plot to Overthrow Christmas, Descent of the Gods, The Lonesome Train, The Undecided Molecule, Home for the 4th, and God and Uranium . . . over 100 programs in total.

I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing Norman Corwin during Audio Theatre (Tuesdays, 6 p.m.) on October 12, 2005. Tune in on Tuesday, January 3, from 6 to 8 p.m., when I will replay my phone interview with Mr. Corwin and feature several of his radio treasures for your edification and enjoyment. In addition, I urge you to view the Academy Award-winning movie A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin (2005) featuring Norman Corwin, Robert Altman, Walter Cronkite, Norman Lear, and Studs Terkel.

“But never fear . . . I have found a new host to take over my slot on the show: David Ogden. Dave is a songwriter and the open mic host at two places: The Stone Church and The Chop Shop. I know you will love his encyclopedic knowledge of music, his humor, and the fun he will bring to his version of Writers in the Round.

“My friend Guy Capecelatro III, who has been hosting once a month for several years, will continue to do so. Guy’s version of the show is unique and spellbinding, and I hope he will continue for many shows to come . . . I want to say thank you to all for your help and support over the years. WSCA is a truly nurturing environment and it’s the people who create that feeling.”

Thanks for you many years of service to Portsmouth Community Radio, Deidre!

Terry comes to the Communications Director’s position with significant communications credentials. Before moving with his wife Peg in 2001 to Portsmouth, where he is now retired, he had a long career in advertising. He was an award-winning copywriter and then helped to launch, and later served as President and Creative Director of, Pearson and MacDonald Inc. in Boston, considered one of the most influential advertising agencies in New England in its day. A mentor to many, Terry has trained several generations of advertising writers and art directors, with several of his former protégés now in top industry positions throughout the country. He also was Adjunct Professor at Boston University’s College of Communications, where for ten years he taught a graduate-level course in communications strategies and creative expression to students from all over the world. At the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Boston Advertising Club’s Hatch Awards for Creativity in New England Advertising, Terry MacDonald was name a “Most Valuable Player.”

It’s good to have him on our team.

Barney Beck

These new on-air sports reporters soon realized that there was nothing too exciting about simply reading what came in on the teletype, so some stations decided to liven up the broadcast of the game by adding in-studio sound effects. These effects included recordings of crowds cheering for hits, crowds cheering wildly for home runs, and even the voices of vendors shouting out, “Get your hot dogs here!”

One very important sound effect was that of the ball hitting the bat. The timing of the bat-crack sound was determined by the play-by-play reporter, who often made his own bat-crack sounds by striking a wood block with a drumstick.

One reporter wanted a more realistic bat-crack sound, so he asked Barney Beck, a sound-effects artist, to help him out. Barney was not only responsible for raising and lowering the volume of the crowd reactions on a nearby turntable, but now he also had to hold and strike a baseball bat with a large wooden mallet. In order to do both actions as smoothly as possible, Barney discovered that by gripping the bat tightly between his thighs, one hand was free to use on the volume control. When the reporter quickly nodded his head, that was the cue for the bat hits. Barney would then strike the bat and change the volume level of the crowd on the turntable at the same time.

During one particular game, everything was going fine when, with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning, Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees hit a grand-slam home run. Barney, who happened to be a big Yankee fan, was so excited he gave the large wooden mallet a hefty swing. To Barney’s dismay, his aim was a tad off. Instead of giving the bat a solid hit, he gave what was above the bat a solid hit. A pain shot up from Barney’s groin and all of a sudden the listening audience heard a very sharp increase in the sound of the crowd cheering. They had no idea that the feverish level of the cheers was not all for Joe DiMaggio. Most of it was to cover the howl of pain from Barney Beck who was rolling on the floor in agony.

The next day, the reporter was forced to go back to the less dangerous drumstick and wood block. It took Barney a few days to regain his confidence in his aim.

Reference: Radio Sound Effects by Robert L. Mott; McFarland & Company, Inc. (1993)

by Diane Ficarra

When you meet John Lovering, you notice a mild-mannered man who has a kind, friendly, affable demeanor, and yet by looking at him it would never occur to you the obstacles he’s had to overcome in his life that have allowed him to be in the place he is at today.  As I listened to his remarkable story I was humbled, completely awestruck, and by all accounts felt that he was truly a walking, living miracle.

Long before John was a volunteer radio announcer at Portsmouth Community Radio he was a biology teacher for 36 years at Triton Regional High School in Byfield, MA.  His dream was to have a career in broadcasting, so he applied and was accepted at Emerson College in Boston.  His father, however, did not want him to pursue a career in broadcasting for fear he wouldn’t be able to make a living. So John attended UNH, where he studied medical technology until he switched his major senior year to biology, placing him on the path to become a biology teacher.

Life seemed to be going along for John until October 1982, when he was age 35.  He had what appeared to be a nagging backache in between his shoulder blades; but what began as a simple backache resulted in a life-altering event, as he suddenly lost the use of his legs.  “One day I was walking and lost sensation in my legs, my legs buckled and I fell, I couldn’t walk. I ended up at Lahey Clinic for two weeks,” says John. He finally received the news that he had testicular cancer, which had formed in his spinal column.  He was told he had a 30% chance of surviving and a one-in-ten chance of ever walking again, and by March of 1983 he was a paraplegic. “I remember being in the hospital on a Saturday morning, listening to the doctor running up and down the hall and calling for what he needed, and then waking up six hours later and being told that they had removed a tumor the size of a peach that had been wrapped around my spinal cord and that they also removed one vertebrae.  At this time the doctor told my wife that he believed I had carcinoma and that it would spread to my brain, so he wasn’t concerned with rehabilitation.  I had to wait seven days for the biopsy,” says John.

When John’s biopsy proved that he had testicular cancer, he began treatment at the New England Rehabilitation Center in Woburn for ten weeks with a new drug from the University of Michigan, and then he went home.  “My wife and father took turns driving me to my five-day-per-week rehab at the Portsmouth Rehabilitation Center.  My father covered pieces of wood with carpeting that we used to put under my knees so that while lying in bed I could exercise.  One-pound weights were attached to my ankles, and I would try to lift my legs out straight with the wood pieces under my knees as sort of a fulcrum,” he says.

John went back to school in a wheelchair in September 1983 with the aid of his wife and father.  That November, John’s oncologist performed a scan to make sure nothing had spread, but there was a problem.  He learned that the cancer had metastasized and there were about 13 small tumors in various locations in his skeleton.  He was then given the choice to either begin chemotherapy immediately or wait six months.  John began aggressive chemotherapy treatments in December for three months, rotating two weeks at home and one week at Lahey Clinic.  “While I was in the hospital I would use a walker to stand up on the edge of my bed in between chemo treatments…trying to not lose what rehab I had received prior to the chemo treatment,”  says John.

By March of 1984, John went back to teaching still in a wheelchair but standing and walking short distances with a walker.  “In June of 1984 I was able to walk with two canes and walked up on the stage to announce the student science awards, and the audience of about 750 seventh and eighth graders gave me a long standing ovation…it was very emotional for me,” says John.  That summer he spent time exercising, riding an exercise bike, lifting weights with his legs, and walking, and by September 1984 he went back to school without walking aids.

“Before I got sick, I was thinking of leaving teaching and going into insurance, but my medical insurance was so good, I’m glad I stayed in teaching,” he says.  “When I was ill I received such an outpouring of well wishes from many people.  My students visited me. I received cards, letters, balloons, and things that my students remembered from class.  It made me realize I’m in a great profession, and sometimes you never know how much you can touch someone’s life.  I felt reinvigorated and I stayed in teaching for the rest of my career until I retired in 2004,” says John.  “When I was diagnosed with cancer my children were very young, and I remember I prayed that I would get to see them graduate from high school.  Not only did I see them graduate from high school, but I’ve seen them get married, and I now have grandchildren.  I realize how beautiful life is,” he says.

John approaches life now in a very appreciative and giving way.  Before he was retired, he and his wife, Melanie, devoted 11 years to the Red Cross, where they were both trained in disaster service to come to the aid of those in time of need.  They could be called at any time of the night during a hurricane along the seacoast to help supply food and shelter, and they did it graciously.

In 2004 John came full circle and returned to his love of radio and broadcasting at Portsmouth Community Radio.  He has his own radio show from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday nights, Audio Theatre, where he broadcasts all kinds of contemporary, comedy, mystery, and old-time radio shows, such as  Abbott and Costello and The Jack Benny Show.  John also collects and restores old radios.  “From 1987 to 1992, when I was still working, I would take old repaired radios to nursing homes, set them up in a recreation room, dim the lights, and the folks would sit around and listen to The Jack Benny Show, and then we’d sit and talk about their memories of radio,” he says.

To this day, John still lives with some of the ill effects from the radiation treatments he had from his illness.  In 2001 he suffered a heart attack that had nothing to do with cholesterol but everything to do with scar tissue that had built up over 18 years from all the radiation. He underwent quadruple bypass surgery just a few days shy of 9/11.  He also has numbness in his back and toes and in his right leg, which can make it sometimes difficult to walk, but as John says, “I don’t take my good fortune for granted, I know I have been truly blessed.”  And when I listen to John speak I can hear his serenity, I can feel how much he appreciates the beauty that life has to offer, how lucky he feels to be alive… he is surely living a life of gratitude.