Meet Scot Cannon, WERU Volunteer and the producer of The WERU Family Radio Hour.
“I first became interested in being on the radio when my godmother gave me an orange transistor radio with a gold dial and a single back earplug. I had the measles and had to stay in bed in a dark room. It was the window to the outside world I needed.The dial lit up too. I so wanted to hear my voice on that little box.”
“I am about to work on my 70th monthly WERU Family Radio Hour (first Saturday of each month, 10-11 a.m.) show, as I started the show almost six years ago. My wife Paula and I moved here in 2004 and as soon as I heard the station I wanted to do a show of some kind. This is in spite of the reality that I am a mime with a stuttering problem.
The WERU Family Radio Hour is a show about music and how it lives and grows in a family. I travel the mid-coast doing interviews and recording music performed by children and families. I combine these live recordings with other music that inspired me growing up along with recordings of artists I feel all family members should be able to share the joy of listening to.
I do my field recordings first. Sometimes it’s meeting people in their homes. I also go to festivals and places like Maine Fiddle Camp. I spend a lot of time editing these recordings. I then find complimentary material to add to the show. If I have no live recordings I come up with a theme and go through my archives to find material. The show is produced and recorded in my Belfast studio.
My hope is that the entire family can listen and enjoy the show. I try to select material that will inspire each family member to learn more about the artist or style of music. I also want kids and families to know that I want them on my show. I will come and record you at home or an event.
I love performing, writing, listening and seeing live music. I went to Berklee College of Music and was a junior high music teacher for 12 years. Paula and I became foster-adoptive parents and worked with kids we met at the school we taught at. Several came home with us and became part of our family. I then studied mime and stagecraft, developed a series of character education programs for school children and traveled working in schools for the last 30 years.
You can get in touch with me at scot@scotcannon.com or email info@weru.org and they’ll get your information to me. Also find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/scot.cannon. And don’t forget to listen to The WERU Family Radio Hour on WERU Community Radio!”