Bainbridge Community Broadcasting project manager Barry Peters and voice-over artist Kayla Black test new equipment in the studio in March.
Bainbridge Community Broadcasting (BCB) will celebrate its 100th podcast, 7,500 internet downloads to listeners and its six-month birthday party with a public open house at its Winslow podcast radio studio from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Marge Williams Center.
The center is located at 221 Winslow Way West, 100 feet uphill and west of Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, west of Madison Avenue.
The open house includes studio visits, free refreshments and souvenirs.
Bainbridge Community Broadcasting also is making available a free BCB app for iPhone, iPad and for Android smartphones and tablets. The app allows people to automatically receive and listen to BCB’s all-Bainbridge Island radio shows. The new BCB podcast app was released this month and can be obtained for free from the Apple and Android app stores by searching for BCB Bainbridge.
“We’re an all-island intergenerational project serving the Bainbridge community,” said Barry Peters, Bainbridge Community Broadcasting’s volunteer manager, in a news release. “This (100th podcast) milestone is a credit to the dozens of adult and high school volunteers who have collaborated to bring internet radio to our community. The podcast radio episodes tell the stories of Bainbridge events, people, nonprofits, businesses, arts and artists, local issues, outdoor activities and local food.”
BCB is a project of the 8-year-old nonprofit Sustainable Bainbridge.
“It’s remarkable how much has been accomplished for the community by BCB volunteers in six months,” Sustainable Bainbridge board member Maradel Gale said.
Currently, BCB offers a choice of six internet radio shows:
— What’s Up Bainbridge: Local events,
— Who’s On Bainbridge: Local people,
— Community Cafe Bainbridge: Local issues,
— Bainbridge Outdoors: Outdoor activities,
— Tastes of Bainbridge: Local food, gardening, dining,
— Bainbridge on Campus: Teen perspective from the BHS Radio Club.
Examples drawn from BCB’s first 100 episodes include:
— The sounds of seashore wildlife on the Fort Ward Park beach with the fall arctic seabird migration explained by birder-naturalist George Gerdts.
— The unlikely and delightful story of Jake’s Pickup – where chef and owner Jacob Angel serves up healthy, organic, locally sourced foods, prepared from scratch – in the new Chevron gas station food store on High School Road (BCB’s 100th podcast).
— Edge Improv founders Frank Buxton and John Ellis tell how the 20-year-old improve troupe started.
— Conversations about local issues with Bainbridge city officials, such as City Manager Doug Schulze, Planning Director Kathy Cook, Finance Director Ellen Schroer and Police Chief Matthew Hamner.
— 85 What’s Up interviews, each of which described an upcoming local Bainbridge event, as told by the event organizer or performer.
The start-up of the BCB project has been funded through funds received by Sustainable Bainbridge’s One Call for All, a $7,000 Bainbridge Island Rotary Club grant for studio equipment, a $4,750 Bainbridge Community Foundation grant for start-up growth and several thousand dollars of individual cash and in-kind donations, Peters said.
In addition to Bainbridge Community Broadcasting seeking more volunteers for more podcast radio shows, Peters said the nonprofit has plans to do an oral history and story-share project with the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum and Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center; encourage the city to offer AM broadcast radio for local emergency information; add video to some of BCB’s audio internet episodes; and do continuous internet streaming of music and more diverse programming in 2015.
For more information, visit the BCB website at http://BestofBCB.org.
