WPKN - Key Persons
Bob Chamenk has been with WPKN for 35 years. His show is on every 4th &5th Friday, 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. Genre: Wide Open ...
Chris Ruggiero is an Emmy-nominated composer and music producer. Recent film scores include Finding Yingying (SXSW Film Festival 2020, Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Voice), One Child Nation (Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner 2019), Minding the Gap (2018 Oscar nominated for Best Documentary Feature, now on HULU), I Am Another You (SXSW Film Festival 2017), Tribal Justice (Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2017, PBS premiere late 2017).
His original compositions currently appear in over 190 television series including The Voice, Pawn Stars, and American Pickers. Commercial credits include music for brands such as Taco Bell, Coke, HSN, Imodium, Dewars, Coppola Winery, and Liberty Mutual.
As a music producer, Ruggiero works with bands and artists across genres. He lectures on film, sound, and semiotics at the University of Bridgeport, and runs the popular audio-history website Preservation Sound.
Cliff Furnald airs on Thursday Mornings, 7 to 10 AM - As democracy fades, Cliff plays music. New music. Old music. Local music. Music that is local somewhere else. Wherever you are, there you are. It might be jazz. It might not be. Might be folk, could be avant-garde. Rock music? Why not? It's most unlikely that it will be opera, but you just can't be sure. He will idly chatter from time to time, as well. But don't worry, it never lasts too long. You can find out more about what you hear on the program at RootsWorld. Cliff Furnald brings music little heard on the radio ...
DJ Daysix was a host of Keep Drifting during the early Tuesday morning hours for about a year, and then joined Eddie G's show Lounge ...
Donald E. Gibson, Ph.D. is dean of the O'Malley School of Business and Professor of Management and Marketing at Manhattan College. Don's previous leadership roles were as vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University. His research examines emotions in the workplace (and anger in particular), mentoring and role modeling, and conflict management. He has articles published in a range of leading journals, including Organization Science, Journal of Management, and Academy of Management Perspectives, and a book for practicing managers, Managing Anger in the Workplace. Gibson received his MBA and Ph.D. from UCLA, and was previously a professor in organizational behavior at Yale. He also has served as program chair and executive director of the International Association for Conflict Management. Prior to entering academia, Gibson worked in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, distributing motion picture and television product for Lorimar Productions.
Job Titles:
- Physician and Medical Director of Coastal Natural Medicine
Dr. Kathryn Firisin is a naturopathic physician and medical director of Coastal Natural Medicine in Southport, CT. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare ...
Ed Flynn has been on the air at WPKN since 1992, programming his show with myriad formats over the years. Currently, he broadcasts an eclectic ...
Eric Cocks is an artist, & part-time astronaut (mainly on weekends), hosts Connections on WPKN. 2nd Facebook page. Check ...
My greatest passion in life has always been music. Most kids had toys on their Christmas lists, but I would ask Santa for vinyl records and cassettes. You see as a child I was raised on radio because we always had one on in the house or playing in the car. As a youngster my parents exposed me to all different types of music ranging from The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Motown, Salsa, Latin, Disco, Country, R&B, etc. My Grandmother Maria and Aunt Daisy who helped watched over me while my parents worked also fueled my passion by frequently gifting me records and cassettes. They also both feverishly loved to sing and dance around the house to music. All-in-all, I have experienced a lot of simple yet priceless moments to reflect on that I find great comfort in. All I have to do is listen to certain tunes and they transport me back to a particular place in time.
My parents weren't big concert goers, so I vowed when I grew old enough that I would catch every concert possible on my own. Fortunately, I was raised in Bridgeport, CT where I had easy access to Metro North trains to the hottest venues in New Haven and New York City that attracted all types of artists and bands. Let's just say there was never a shortage of epic shows from all genres stopping in our Tri-State area and I took advantage of them all. The sad thing is a lot of my favorite venues are no longer in existence due to gentrification, but the awesome memories remain. Now I make different concert memories with my 7-year old daughter who my wife and I started her concert career early with shows like Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crowe and Taylor Swift to name a few.
You would think that I would've ended up working in the music industry in some capacity, but I chose another so-called safe and secure route. Career-wise I was in the world of finance and mortgage banking for several years until I decided to consciously remove myself. Let's just say I had a higher calling to serve as a catalyst to help clients reach their fullest potential and transform lives as a certified personal/professional development coach. I also serve in a higher capacity as a Shamanic Practitioner trained in the Amazonian and Andean traditions. It's ironic that I use music as a tool with indigenous sound healing approaches. Music motivates, lifts the human spirit, energizes and elevates moods. When used properly it's proven to be the most potent medicine around that doesn't require a prescription and nourishes the soul.
Job Titles:
- Founder of Mouse
- Founder of MouseMuse Productions
Ina Chadwick is the founder of MouseMuse Productions and the host of What A Story! on WPKN. She's a visionary creative director with strong verbal communication skills. Visit her website.
Jeff Day has been exploring sonic anomalies and the spaces in between since the early 1990's with esoterica et cetera. He is a musician and has played with Scottish pipe bands, avant rock, psyche/prog and free improv ensembles. Using the radio station as an instrument he strives to guide the listener on a sonic journey to places they may not expect to go.
Job Titles:
- Board of Directors - Press & Publicity Director
Believe it or not, I've been on WPKN since 1973. Hmmm, so that's…47 years in 2020? It's amazing that I'm still permitted to do a show after nearly five decades, that I can still make it up those back stairs, and that I very much want to continue programming radio to the best of my ability. Over the years, I've served as program director, news director, music director and librarian (I think). I also delivered a trove of Bob Dylan rarities to be sold at the Music Mash, and I'm helping WPKN locate a new home.
I love music, but I don't want to be just a jukebox. Hence, my show mixes up long, carefully arranged sets in multiple genres with segments that draw upon my journalistic background, including interviews with authors, experts in many fields, and musicians. I also present live music whenever possible.
You'd think that after all this time I'd have come up with a name for my show, but it seems to exist happily without one. I like to mix up genres, sometimes in the same set. My touchstones are jazz, folk, Americana, old-time country (not bluegrass), some subsets of rock, and electronic music in many forms. But I also love world music, especially if it's from Mali.
I like radio to be challenging, so sometimes I'll have five or six talk/interview segments built into the three-hour slot. I almost never have anyone turn me down on a chance to be live on the radio!
I wish I had a list of everyone I've interviewed. At random, some names I recall are Ralph Stanley, Joan Rivers, Herbie Hancock, John Hammond, Chick Corea, Stewart O'Nan, B.B. King, Sterling Hayden, E.L. Doctorow, Bruce Molsky, Mike Seeger, Dan Hicks, Robert Stone, Patrick Sky, Miroslav Vitous, Eli Smith, and many more. I'd like to interview Tony Bennett. Tony, are you listening? Can you put it on the calendar?
Jim Motavalli - The Jim Motavalli Show is on the second, fourth and fifth Tuesdays of the month, 8-11 p.m. It mixes up long, carefully arranged sets in multiple genres with segments that draw upon my journalistic background, including interviews with authors, experts in many fields, and musicians. I also present live music whenever possible. You'd think that after all this time I'd have come up with a name for my show, but it seems to exist happily without one. I like to mix up genres, sometimes in the same set. My touchstones are jazz, folk, Americana, old-time country (not bluegrass), some subsets of rock, and electronic music in ...
Job Titles:
- Board of Directors, New Director
When my wife and I moved to Bridgeport over a decade ago, we immediately fell in love with the city, its great parks, arts & culture scene, and of course its people.
Bridgeport has such a wonderfully diverse population, and WPKN is a great example of that. Just look at the mix of programming PKN offers!
Providing local news reports for the WPKN News Cast is a logical step for me as I have worked in radio broadcasting for over twenty-five years. I began in the news department at the legendary WVOX - "Vox Populi," the Voice of the People, located right outside the Bronx, in New Rochelle, NY. That is also the station I met my wife at, but I digress.
I have worked at WRTN, WVIP, WLIE, & WGCH. In the mid-2000's I moved from local news to nationally syndicated radio. As Operations Manager at Business Talk Radio, Liberty Broadcasting, and then Lifestyle Talk Radio, I learned how to work with the larger-than-life egos of syndicated Talk Show Hosts. I also enjoyed working with my Staff. Training Board Operators, Editors, and Engineers.
Radio Host Joseph Celli, is a composer/improviser specializing in new, experimental and avant-garde music for the oboe, English horn and double reed instruments from several Asian cultures.
Celli has conducted much work in the field of experimental music, both as a performer and presenter, and has worked with Jin Hi Kim, John Cage, Ornette Coleman, Phill Niblock, Alvin Curran, Kronos Quartet, among many others. He has performed in over 40 countries and presented, with Jerry Hunt, the first live satellite performance in the United States. As a concert presenter he has been involved in the production of over 3,000 events including world premieres by Steve Reich, John Cage, and many others and his record company oodiscs, inc. produced over 70 releases of new/ experimental music. You can hear him on WPKN as he presents My Other Music (MOM) and Soundprint: Asia and Musicians Speak. Learn more or visit his website.
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Artist
- Owner, a & R Executive, Radio
The obsession with music began as a young child, watching his older cousins, who supplied jukeboxes in a small town outside of Syracuse, New York. Particularly passionate about the British Invasion, he convinced a local radio station to give him a weekly supply of records, and as a kid forged press passes to meet bands like The Rolling Stones and The Kinks in their early heyday, as well as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Them, The Who and Ike & Tina Turner amongst many.
Later, while attending Rochester Institute of Technology, he programmed WITR and chaired the school's concert committee. A summer internship in London led to a year off in the UK, working at the legendary Marquee Club. Upon returning to resume courses, a part time job at Transcontinental One Stop parlayed into radio promotion jobs, first with Island Records' college team and eventually to a full time staff slot with MCA.
In 1984 Patrick joined the A&R department of Elektra Records as a junior executive, under the guidance of Howard Thompson, where his first project was X. After four years he moved to Island Records as VP/A&R.
In 1992 Patrick founded The Medicine Label, distributed by Warner Brothers Records. The label's first release, the soundtrack to the film Dazed & Confused, quickly went gold and eventually platinum. The label also signed punk legends The Cramps, and was an early supporter of electronic dance with releases by Leftfield, The Prodigy and Moby.
From 1995-2006 Patrick moved to Sr. VP/A&R at SONY's Columbia Records, where he worked both the label's domestic acts and international artists based out of the UK, and simultaneously maintained The Medicine Label independently.
Kevin Patrick: artist manager, label owner, A&R executive, radio promotion veteran, broadcaster and as well, an obsessed record collector. The obsession with music began as ...
Malcolm C. Dankner hosts the popular Jazz and Standards program, live and streaming on the fifth Tuesday of each month from 1:00 PM to 4:00 ...
The Music Never Stopped with host Martha Nachman is on the air at WPKN on the 3rd and 5th Wednesday of each month from 4 p.m. -7 p.m. Martha plays an eclectic blend of American roots music, folk, jazz, rock and popular music. She loves all genres of music and likes to mix it up. Martha Nachman hosts The Music Never Stopped Learn More Listen on Soundcloud
Love and Communication with Michelle Morgan. I was born and raised in Maine and will mention it at least once per show. I currently live in West Haven. I came to Connecticut almost a decade ago to pursue my PhD in American Studies at Yale, wound up putting down roots here and marrying the head baker at Scratch Baking in Milford, and decided to stay.
Pete Stewart hosts Stream of Consciousness and Soul & Funk. WPKN programmer since 1988, currently doing a semi-weekly eclectic music program, Mondays 4-7 PM. Spent ...
Peter Bush is a veteran radio DJ who's spun music on WINE, WRKI, WAVZ, KC101 and WABC 77 in New York. He was the last disc jockey hired for the legendary AM Top 40 powerhouse. Peter hosted the last regularly scheduled music show the night before WABC switched to talk the next day. Bush went on to a three-year stint at 95.5 WPLJ. His most steady job was hosting the first generation "Breakfast Show" for six years at WEBE 108 in Bridgeport, followed by a 14-year stretch in afternoon drive.
After a brief three-year break selling cars, Bush got behind the mic one last time for a classic rock bout with WFOX Norwalk, 95.9 The Fox. At the Norwalk rocker, Peter was able to enjoy the rare last show. His sign off was simply side two of Abbey Road-the medley-ending with the classic and poignant Beatles farewell charge to a generation, "The love you take is equal to the love you make."
Peter Bush is currently the host/MC for a number of automotive events, principally front man for 14 years for the renowned Caffeine and Carburetors gatherings in New Canaan, where he resides with his wife Nez and Agnes the Airedale. Bush also enjoys part time work at The Third Garage, a vintage Porsche restoration shop, as well as BMW specialists Autotechnic, both in New Milford
Ralph Nader hosts Ralph Nader News Hour. Ralph is an American political activist of Lebanese origin, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government.
Nader came to prominence in 1965 with the publication of his book Unsafe at Any Speed, a critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers in general, and particularly the first-generation Chevrolet Corvair. In 1999, a New York University panel of journalists ranked Unsafe at Any Speed 38th among the top 100 pieces of journalism of the 20th century.
Nader is a five-time candidate for President of the United States, having run as a write-in candidate in the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary, as the Green Party nominee in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008.
Off-Beat! with Rich Kaminsky airs Saturdays, 2 a.m. - 6 a.m. Off-Beat is a late-night celebration of the best in underground and international rock, pop, punk and more. The weekly Off-Beat New Music Review examines and exposes the latest releases, followed by the Off-Beat Spotlight Artist of the Overnight, where the discographic history of transcendent artists are mined for gold. Rich has been on the airwaves at WPKN for nearly 30 years.
Rock Therapy with host Rob Silber is a free-form mix of Classic Rock, Punk, Indie Rock, Blues, Reggae, Prog Rock, Americana, and anything else that captures my ear. I love turning people on to new sounds mixed in with some old favs. Rob Silber hosts Rock Therapy on WPKN.
Scott has worked in radio since his college days when he served as a DJ and then manager of a small college radio station in Western Massachusetts. When he came to WPKN 89.5 FM Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1973, Scott hosted a weekly blues music program that through the years featured an increasing number of public affairs interview segments. That show became Counterpoint in 1987. It continues to air every Monday evening from 8 - 10 PM, ET.
Scott is co-founder and current executive producer of Between The Lines, a syndicated, weekly, ½-hour radio newsmagazine, public affairs program, broadcast on fifty radio stations in the U.S. BTL celebrated its 20-year anniversary in 2011.
Scott served as WPKN's public affairs program director from 1991-2002, working with area professionals and activists in a number of fields to produce radio programming focused on local and national issues such as health care, labor, electoral politics, culture and literature.
Scott has been the recipient of a number of awards for radio journalism from both the Connecticut Associated Press and the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists.
In addition to his work in radio, Scott has supervised three halfway houses that provide transition housing, counseling and a structured environment for inmates reintegrating into the community from the Connecticut prison system.
He is the founder, past president, and current board member of the Norwalk-Nagarote (Nicaragua) Sister City Project, based in Norwalk, Connecticut 1986-present. He worked with other volunteers to organize community support initiating a relationship between this impoverished Nicaraguan city and institutions and individuals in Greater Norwalk.
Earlier in his career, Scott worked as a community organizer with the Connecticut Citizen Action Group where he worked with neighborhood and tenant groups on local, statewide and national issues. Learn more about Between The Lines.
Scott has worked in radio since his college days when he served as a DJ and then manager of a small college radio station in ...
Melinda Tuhus 2020-05-10T19:58:42-04:00
Melinda Tuhus
Melinda Tuhus 2020-05-10T19:58:42-04:00
Melinda Tuhus is an independent journalist with 25 years' experience in print and radio, including In These Times, The New York Times, Free Speech Radio ...
Sheneta Nicole is a performing artist, entrepreneur, and radio host on a mission to enlighten and empower their listener to be present and take a ...
Job Titles:
- Board of Directors, Volunteer Chair
I am totally fascinated by the human relationship with sound. I am a lifelong musician and grew up with a variety of musical influences, including a full-on Beatles indoctrination from birth (thanks dad), a smattering of alternative/indie 90s & 2000s artists (thanks mom), and a healthy dose of punk/related angst (thanks big bro). These days I listen to anything good. I am a Board Certified Music Therapist, bringing musical experiences to clients across Connecticut.