If you tune in to the new radio station in Elberta, you’ll get music, local news, and community interviews. What you won’t get is the political rancor heard on many other media outlets.
Mike Tarkington, left, and Dave Beaton, center, interview actor/director Greg Abbey at WUWU’s studio about the CSA’s upcoming production of “Mary Poppins.” Link below.“We’re not open to people disrespecting each other,” said Dave Beaton, co-founder of WUWU 100.1 FM, the non-profit station on a mission to “build community.”
Beaton also co-founded the Elberta Labor Heritage Center, which holds WUWU’s license. He and partner Arlene Sweeting ran a low-power radio station in Sarasota, Fla., for 20 years before moving to Elberta in 2019 to retire. Instead, they became enamored with the local history and wanted to share it.
In short order, they bought the town’s old railroad boarding house to live in, founded the heritage center, decided to get back into the radio business, and applied for a low-power station license from the FCC. A retired Benzie County school teacher donated an RV, which they kitted out with second-hand equipment for the station. An all-volunteer staff does everything else.
CSA member Pearce Decker is one of 13 programmers who help keep the station on the air 24/7. Decker joined in November, a few months after WUWU began broadcasting. He had recently moved to Frankfort and was looking for a way to plug into the community. WUWU was a good fit.
“My initial training was just a single day with Dave Beaton. He showed me his process and after that they’ve just been giving me little pointers as I go.”
On-board with the mission, Decker added: “Hate is very easy in the abstract, it’s very complex and difficult in the specific. Your neighbors are your friends, your cheerleaders, and your safety nets.”
To help build community, WUWU hosts monthly events off the air. In June, it was a well-attended concert featuring the award-winning Cerus Quartet from Ann Arbor. Last spring, WUWU sponsored a Democracy Film Series at The Garden Theater in Frankfort. And from 5 to 8pm July 27, it will be nationally known musician Grant Peeples stopping by for a potluck and concert at the station’s studio in Elberta. Get tickets here:
https://givebutter.com/g1eUBl
“The same reason we do community radio is the same reason we do events—to bring people together,” Beaton said. “When we get to know each other, we overcome our fears and our differences. If we all get together then we tend to act more civil.”
Matt Nahnsen, who with his wife owns The Roadhouse Restaurant & Bar in Benzonia, is another longtime CSA goer who now volunteers at WUWU. In January, he said he watched on TV as Elon Musk made a Nazi salute at a Trump rally. In response, Nahnsen organized a Unity March through Frankfort.
“I wanted everybody from all the political spectrums to come out and just walk in silence.” WUWU interviewed Nahnsen about the march, “and then they asked me if I wanted to do a show. I said absolutely.”
“Matt’s Movement Radio” show airs Tuesdays from 11:00am to 1:00pm. “It’s music that people can move to, whether it’s Motown or punk or whatever.” He might also throw in some guided meditation, deep breathing, haiku, poetry, whatever inspires him. Nahnsen said it’s designed to get people moving physically and maybe to move some mindsets, too.
Every programmer is allowed free rein in designing their show, within FCC limitations.
Decker has interviewed a variety of community members, but one that may resonate most with CSA members and local anglers was with Heather Hettinger, a fisheries management biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Joining Decker that day was his dad, David Decker, who drops in as co-host occasionally, especially when the talk is about fish. David and his wife, Christine, previously owned a fly-fishing ranch in Montana.
“What are the two or three biggest things that the Central Michigan fisheries is worried about?” Pearce Decker asked.
Pearce Decker, left, interviews Elberta hang-gliding pioneer Mark Olsen in a recent interview. Photo by David Decker
“Whitefish are in a world of hurt right now,” Hettinger said. “We saw it in Lake Michigan first and we’re seeing it in our inland lakes now.”
The culprit? Quagga mussels, which are edging out zebra mussels as the current invasive pest of concern.
“They filter a liter of water a day and lock up all the nutrients in the water,” Hettinger said. Whitefish need those nutrients to grow.
David Decker turned the conversation to a fish whose ancestors date back 136 million years that he and others have recently spotted in Crystal Lake.
“Every year I get at least one report of a sturgeon in Crystal,” Hettinger said. “We don’t very often hear of sturgeon being in the Betsie… but at some point in time, something enticed them when the lake level control structure wasn’t there to squiggle up the Crystal Lake outlet and make their way into Crystal Lake. And maybe they were helped.
“We see that with a lot of species. People will hook and line catch a fish and pass them over the dam. They want to help it along,” Hettinger said “And for the most part they’re pretty happy campers in there aside from the fact that they’re stuck and they’re probably not going to be successful at reproducing.”
Most shows can be heard for two weeks after they air. The interview with Hettinger is one of a handful that will stay up longer at a listener’s request.
Beaton would like to ask people who “buy local” to “listen local.”
“I don’t think we’re playing anything that will offend you. Some people may not like ‘Democracy Now,’ because it can be depressing with the world news today but that’s the one show we figure we need to carry so people do know what’s going on.”
Anyone interested in volunteering at the station is encouraged to apply.
“We’re part of a much larger group of stations that are very small, that train people how to do radio, how to public speak. It’s important. It empowers people,” Beaton says.
There’s also something to be said for working in the middle of nature. A few weeks ago Pearce Decker interrupted an interview to comment on his view from the RV window. “A raccoon just passed by the studio…He’s just doing his own thing. I love raccoons.”
_________________________________________________________________
WUWU is a low-power station—limited to 100 watts—with a radius of about 10 miles, depending on the strength of your antenna. But it can be streamed anywhere via the website.
- To listen, set your dial to 100.1 FM or visit the Elberta Labor Heritage Center and click on WUWU-LPFM.
- To listen to Greg Abbey’s interview, visit the Elberta Labor Heritage Center website, click on the WUWU-LPFM tab, then the Archive link, then navigate to the 9am July 16 show.
- Call or text the station at (231) 774-6360
- Jazz fans can sample the station’s broad jazz collection from 9pm to 6am daily
At home, some might describe this year’s recipient as quiet, but as you get to know him, you’d discover more of his passions. He enjoys fishing, is comfortable around animals, and wants to pursue becoming a veterinarian. At school, he’s a fierce competitor on the water polo team and a state championship level swimmer.
n a rich place for painters, actors, singers, musicians, composers, photographers, and writers who not only pursue these endeavors in the summer months but professionally as well.