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- - Leftyblogs MA Blogroll - Almost all of my favorite lefty blogs in Massachusetts can be found here. Linking here keeps my own blogroll short but still up to date! Below are some other MA blogs which are not listed at LB.
- H2Otown (Watertown, MA)
- MargeBLOG (Williamstown)
- Michael Forbes Wilcox (Western MA)
- The Gazebo (Worcester area)
Media in Lowell
- Community Connections The online archive of many of WUML's radio shows.
- LTC :: Our community cable access channel (8 & 10). Excellent people, I've worked with them before.
- Open Source :: Chris Lydon's new show, broadcast on WUML and WGBH locally.
- The Lowell Sun :: Love it or hate it, it's the big newspaper in town.
- WCAP radio :: Talk radio in Lowell - still locally owned, and in transition.
- WUML :: The student- and community-run radio station of UMass-Lowell. Lynne hosts a radio show, Thinking Out Loud, 10am on Fridays.
Media in MA
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- City Council Agenda Past City Council agendas, posted in a mostly timely manner
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Snark and politics
The Arts in Lowell
- 119 Gallery - Art gallery with exhibitions of many local artists, interesting events, and living, breathing culture.
- Arts League of Lowell (ALL) - Artist community group, a recent but welcome addition to the arts scene in Lowell.
- Brush Art Gallery - Come and meet working artists in their natural habitats!
- Cultural Organization of Lowell (COOL) - Great local calendar of events.
- Lowell Opera Company - Community opera.
- Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra - Local community orchestra.
- Lowell Poetry Network
- Lowell Rocks - List of live music events
- Merrimack Repertory Theatre - A local theatre "presenting an exciting mix of contemporary and new plays in historic downtown Lowell."
- OUtlET - Paper and online 'zine making a splash locally with events in art, poetry, music, and everything in between!
- Revolving Museum Contemporary, local, public art space with a plethora of children's programs and art by and for the community.
- The Fine Print - Socially aware, themed, arts and issues periodic publication available throughout Lowell.
- The Image Theater - Theatre company which puts on all original works by local playwrights.
- Whistler House Museum - A great collection of contemporaries of Whistler at his historic birthplace.
December 16th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
After many years as a listener ( Joe & Casey ), a former advertiser, a sometime caller and once in a while co-host they’ve lost me I’ve gone over to Fineran on WRKO in the morning and Howie Carr in the afternoon. I ge emails from JUL that tell me what’s coming up, if I’m interested I go there.I’m pretty sure I’m done with WCAP
December 17th, 2007 at 1:48 am
I haven’t liked the morning show since the days when Kevin Dunn was on the air.
When George first took over, they lost me, but the news and local guests brought me back.
I care for the new format and crew even less than when George was on. Maybe I’m just a stiff, but I don’t understand how people on these morning shows laugh so much. They just don’t seem funny to me.
I’ve also noticed that they added in a Channel 5 simulcast in the mornings and late afternoon. Not sure what the thought is there. Won’t people just tune into WBZ if they want regional news? When I was coming up 495 with white knuckles on the steering wheel last week during that ugly snow storm I tuned into CAP to hear the local callers talk about road conditions around the city. At 5:30, just as I was approaching the Lowell area those reports went away and Channel 5 took over. When is Channel 5 going to tell me how traffic in downtown Lowell is? Ugh!
That aside, during the flood in 2006, George Anthes did everything he could to change the subject on his show. So sometimes, even with the local crew on the air coverage is less than stellar.
I must say that I have really warmed up to George now that he is on at night. He gets a lot of air time, and tends to cover issues with real depth. His program is almost on the same level as something you might hear on WBZ. His guests have also been pretty interesting. I think Mimi is right in wondering how many of his listeners are still tuning in. I’m usually busy while he’s on, but record the show in MP3 to listen to when it’s more convenient.
My last comment… WCAP really needs to do something about their call in policy. Hearing the same caller call in multiple times in the same show is really painful. There seem to be a fair number of locals who’s lives seem to revolve around that station. Those calls are usual long on small talk and short on substance.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
If I want channel 5, I’ll turn on the TV. WHDH is not local. CAP morning show is beyond boring and the afternoon isn’t much better. I keep trying but I’m back to RKO for good. The felon and Howie are better and provoke thought. They have interesting discussions and guests instead of brainless banter and sports. George Anthes is great at night. He’ll be the next Paul Sullivan. He tried to steer the AM show to bigger and better things, but his co-hosts were too light and couldn’t handle it. I miss the local politics and the guests in the morning. He should expand to 3 hours.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
I have tuned in on occasion but I have not caught on yet. I am glad they changed formats, however. The previous hosts were good people I am sure but they had no radio talent. The woman who used to be on in the afternoons would just go on and on about nothing.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Brian F., They kept her.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Always Right wrote..”….He’ll be the next Paul Sullivan…”
George must be beaming!
December 18th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Looks like people don’t get it, probably because the Lowell Sun doesn’t get it and the people at WCAP aren’t going to tell you.
They paid 2.6M for the station, reportedly with 80 percent bank financing. FCC records indicate that Mo Cohen took back a note for 20 percent. That means they’ve got monthly payments on 2.6 million. They can’t make it selling spots to Lowell businesses that are heard from people from Lowell. They need a broader audience to broaden the world of both advertisers and listeners to make this deal work. They cannot survive financially with a former city councillor jabbering away in the most important daypart talking about process stories about government. The appeal has to broaden for the station to survive as an English-language or non-god-squad entity. Even without wall to wall prattle about Lowell’s favorite subject (insignificant political slights), a station with broader appeal still serves Lowell’s interests merely by surviving.
Yes, they’ll have to tweak the morning show, but they’re off toa pretty good start. The signal has improved dramatically; it is clear like it hasn’t been since 1981 when WCAP stopped being a daytime only station. Some bad ideas will be tried; running a TV news program in PM drive is a disaster — just because it worked in some little town in NH doesn’t mean the people from Haverhill to Groton want to hear someone talking about video of the latest Boston crime story. It also has appeal only to people driving in cars, since if you’re home you’ll turn on the telly. For that matter if you’re really that enthused about the tv news you’ll have the dvr record it for when you get home.
They’ll also have to improve their news product, maybe not to like it was in back in the early 80s when ‘CAP regularly beat the Sun, but something better than reading Sun headlines and breathlessly doing bulletins about bank robberies. And like anything else, they’ll have to broaden the coverage.
It’s not a Lowell-only station any more.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:35 am
I can understand the need to expand its base to recover the investment, so let’s hope they have a good handle on the risks of making that leap.
One significant improvement in the morning show is the coverage of local sports. In the past it was very disturbing to hear only national results reported (information available by so many other means) at the expense of any local results and stories. However, other than that aspect, the morning show has been disappointing. Too much of it is aimed at they will do, but never really doing anything at the time. I would think if they organized the discussion around topics of interest to those who they are trying to reach, they may get more participation and listener interest. Merrimack Valley conference high school sports, area traffic bottlenecks, local restaurant reviews, education change proposals, or whatever may be of interest to the people locally, in half-hour segments.
It is only with obvious general listener interest that the adverstisers will come.
December 18th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
They should put George Anthes on earlier at night, like 6 to 9. I really enjoy listening to him. He is very informative, and so are his guests! I still miss John McDonough and Linda Bown : (
December 19th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Anthes reminds me of one of the old guys in the balcony on the Muppett Show.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Why not these things: regular informative analysis of the regional economy; what’s happening with local companies and stories on well run local companies making it along the Merrimack; a regular cultural report on plays, local authors, good restaurants, artists doing neat things; reports on what UML and MCC are up to in the region and how they make a difference in the valley; roundtable discussions on political campaigns that skip personalities for a discussion of the issues, like the future of the Hamilton Canal district, the superintendent of schools search, the growing number of empty stores along Merrimack Street, where city revenue is going to come from and whether UML should take over the Tsongas Arena.
January 11th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
IT WILL NEVER WORK. WCAP WILL GO BELLY UP
January 11th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Hey, easy on the caps, it’s considered a form of shouting.
Also, this is a very old old thread, so no one but me will really see this comment. Just FYI.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:29 am
I still do not like the morning show on WCAP. I tried giving a few months. I feel they were lest than honest to Mr. Cohn. The players in the morning cut you off if one calls in. That is why there are no callers in the AM. They are trying to get the drive time crowd. The drive time crowd has grown up on FM radio not AM. Once when I called the person started yelling at me and said ” Bill I told you that you can’t call ” When I told them that I was not Bill. They apologized to me. That not how you treat callers from Greater-Lowell. The morning show has to go, because I do not list any more.