Harbor Country Living

Three Oaks Elementary School Principal Garry Lange (left) confers with students Jason German and Shelby Francis prior to the taping of a new segment for "It's Elementary," a weekly radio show airing Sunday mornings on Radio Harbor Country. - photo by Ray Gudas

New radio show an elementary effort

By Ray Gudas, News associate editor

THREE OAKS - Not many schools - in particular, elementary schools - can boast having their own radio show, broadcast to homes and cars and businesses throughout their community. And a little beyond.

Three Oaks Elementary, however, is one of the fortunate few that can, thanks to a unique collaboration between the school and locally based Radio Harbor Country (WRHC), which listeners within range of the station's signal can find at 106.7 on the FM band.

It was Principal Garry Lange who came up with the idea of having his students plan, produce and edit their own weekly program after reading a newspaper article about the launch of the new, all-volunteer, community-based radio station last year.

“They let it be known that they were looking for people to host their own radio shows,” Lange said, “and I thought maybe we could be a part of that.” The result is “It's Elementary,” a 30-minute weekly broadcast that made its debut last Sunday at 9 a.m., which will remain its regular time slot on the station.

Put together by a team consisting of eighth-grader Jessica Zeiger, seventh-graders Jamie Coar, Tammie Doepker and Shelby Francis, and fifth-grader Jason German (who Lange introduced as “the Tom Brokaw of the group”), with the assistance of second-grade teacher Joy Savenas and technology coordinator Jeannie Carter, the show is a balanced blend of information and entertainment focusing on its preschoolers, kindergarteners and grades one through five.

Regular features include school news and announcements, assorted student readings and writings, reports on the coming school week's weather and lunch menu, and even an occasional song. The show is produced piecemeal during the week, with the individual segments combined onto a ready-to-play CD on Friday afernoon.

The show works on many levels: It lets parents, students and anyone else who's interested know what's happening at the school; it provides an outlet for students to share some of their talents; and it gives students who are interested in radio a chance to learn somethng about, and participate in, the process.

“We're amateurs. What we get is what we get,” Lange said, “but it's a good experience for the kids, it's fun to listen to, and they get better every week.”

It may not be the Art Linkletter Show, for those who are old enough to remember the long-lived television (and radio?) show that proved that “kids say the darned-est things,” but, as Lange deftly put it, “With young kids, just about everything they say is entertaining.”

The current Radio Harbor Country schedule of locally produced shows follows:

€ Wednesdays - 6 to 7 p.m., “Robin's Roost” with Robin McBride (Experience the best in jazz from a man who lived it); 7 to 9 p.m., “Kinda Cloudy” with D.J. Steely (Kinda reggae, kinda funk, kinda soul, kinda cloudy.)

€ Thursdays - 7 to 9 p.m., “The Indie Club with Scooter & Hunter” (It's local music, it's regional music, it's indie music, it's LIVE!)

€ Fridays - 10 p.m. to midnight, “Unclear Channel Communications” with Dave Davis (Music you are unlikely to hear on corporate radio, from alternative rock to jazz to electronica to old country.)

€ Saturdays - 9 to 10 a.m., “Dial-A-Deal” with Penny Knowlton & Diane Ashcraft (Got something to sell? Looking for something to buy? Tune in and find out what your neighbors need or have for sale); 10 to 11 a.m., “Robin's Roost” with Robin McBride (A re-broadcast of the previous Wednesday's show); 11 to 11:30 a.m., “A Need to Feed” with Patty Panozzo (Food talk with culinary expert Patty Panozzo of Panozzo's Pantry); noon to 1 p.m., “The Old Vinyl Show” with Jane Pellouchoud (With all the scratches and skips, it's all vinyl, played on a real (old) record player.)

€ Sundays - 9 to 9:30 a.m., “It's Elementary” (Join the students of Three Oaks Elementary for their weekly radio show about what's happening at the school); 10 to 10:30 a.m., “Harbor Country Inspired” with Gail Isaacson (Join essayist Gail Isaacson as she introduces you to some of your inspired, and inspiring, neighbors); 11 a.m. to noon, “With Respect” with John Smietanka (Discussions on politics, science, art, literature, history, current events, nature and philosophy with former prosecutor and U.S. Attorney for Western Michigan John Smietanka); 6 to 7 p.m., “Language in Array” with Sean Francis (Each week, Sean presents and comments on poems and other writings, from Shakespeare and his peers, famous speeches and other specimens of language. Also featured are interviews with writers.)

February 23, 20066 -Ray Gudas, News associate editor
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