Station News

North American Community and College Radio Chart wanted a year-end thing for their website:

“Bands couldn’t play shows. Social revolution appeared in the midst of a plague. Community radio seemed to find its return in 2020 after blogs had diminished radio was relevant for music media because of the necessity of experiential communication.” - Wes Flexner

http://naccchart.com/community/top-10-favorite-records-of-2020/

WesFlexner's Rock N Roll Show 7pm Wednesdays
BSA Hip Hop 7pm Thursdays

Attention WCRS listeners - we have a few schedule changes to announce this fall.
Witches Brew returns Thursday nights at 11PM.
Biohazard premiers this Friday at 7PM.
Covid, Race & Democracy is now airing Thursdays at 11AM.
Zeb returns featuring blues & jazz Saturdays at 7PM for Zeb's Saturday Stomp.
And we now are airing Grassroots Ohio w/ Carolyn Harding Sundays at 2PM
And followed by Reverend Billy radio from the Church of Stop Shopping at 2:30PM.

The Dispatch ran an article on us in both the Dispatch itself and in ThisWeek. We bought some FaceBook adverts and over 30,000 folks saw the post and about 10% read the article itself. WCRS ended up with 1000 more likes on our FaceBook page!

The NACC has an excellent interview with local DJ Wes Flexner on his radio show and other things about him. He was also named Genre DJ of the month. Check out the interview here on their website.

In the wake of COVID-19, non-profits have been severely impacted. Art galleries and museums have closed. Symphonies, theatre and dance troupes have canceled Spring and Summer performances. Gala fundraisers have been canceled, left and right.

Giving Tuesday Now (from the brainchild of the online day of Giving during the Holiday Season) joined forces on May 5, 2020 for individuals to donate to non-profits, including WCRS. WCRS is an all-volunteer operated station run entirely by volunteers, who while social distancing, are running the station away from the Free Press Carriage House. Community Radio costs money. From licensing fees to maintenance on our antennas, it is not cheap to bring you community radio from the grassroots.

For more information on donating to WCRS, go to http://www.wcrsfm.org/donate. Any bit helps.

By Bryan Curtiss, Writer

Last week, it was decided that the Free Press Carriage House would be closed until further notice. What does that mean necessarily? Does it mean that your favorite locally produced show will be going on an extended hiatus? Not quite. The decision to go on hiatus is solely on the producers of a respective show.

WCRS-FM is not the only radio station located at the Free Press Carriage House. WGRN 94.1 FM also records shows in the studio as well. Some shows are not produced in the studios at all, but in people’s homes (or studios), while some other shows that have been recorded at the Free Press Carriage House, including The DJBC Happy Hour, have moved to being recorded at home, and a few other shows will be on hiatus.

The Columbus Free Press Newspaper is also produced in the Free Press Carriage House. However, the Free Press did not print an April Issue, and will not be printing one in May either.

During this Coronavirus Pandemic, there has been a lot of good in the community during all of the chaos of people being laid off, companies being forced to close, and everyone being required to Stay at Home.

Ohio has taken an aggressive approach to the Pandemic, with people helping out others in need. There are the medical personnel, first responders, grocery store team members, bus drivers, and other essential workers who are risking their lives on a daily basis to do their jobs. Thank you.

Through all that, WCRS FM is still on the air, and is not going anywhere. Our show producers are just doing their shows from home, to weather this storm.
We are all in this together.

#InThisTogetherOhio
#HunkerDownAndStayHome

Equity and Prosperity were the highlights of Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther’s State of the City Address on Thursday night at historic West High School in the Westgate neighborhood in the Hilltop, which was prominently featured in Ginther’s address.

The theme of Ginther’s Address was about equity. As soon as Ginther said, “Equity is the corner stone of my administration,” a protester disrupted the speech by demanding action. Ginther said, “I see you and I hear you, and I look forward to meeting with you, to hear your voices” to quell the protests from further disrupting Ginther’s address in a packed school auditorium.

After the protesters were escorted out of the Auditorium by Columbus Police Officers, Ginther continued his speech by saying, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”.

In his speech, Ginther talked about equality, from combatting the housing crisis and the opioid crisis, to combatting the racial barriers in our community, such as improving the city’s toxic police/community relations. “It’s time for us to discuss the long-term effects going forward, and to explore Racism as a public health crisis,” Ginther said about the racial inequality in Columbus.

Neighborhoods have been the core of the Ginther Administration from the beginning. Ginther announced big plans for Linden, that are part of the One Linden Plan. Construction is in progress for a new Fire Station 16 on Oakland Park Avenue in North Linden. Homeport will be working on a “Downtown Linden” project at the corner of Cleveland and Myrtle Avenues. $ 20 Million will be invested in an overhaul of the Hudson Street Thoroughfare as part of the One Linden Plan.

We now have a Avant post-grunge/ Dark Ambient, Instrumental (Lo-fi) music show being produced by Saul Bleaeck every Wednesday night from 11pm to 11:30pm - tune in for maximum weirdness or read more at the Blaeack Mixes show page. It is followed by a shorter Future Sabotage from 11:30PM to Midnight.

We'll try to update this more in the future...

Tom Over heads out into the community to get people's opinions on current conditions on this planet we live on. From environment, social justice, changing climate, economic justice, etc--Tom records comments on it all!