To All Listeners and Partner Stations:
First, I sincerely hope you are all well, and that you are all staying safe during these chaotic times we are living in. So far, I am well, and am observing the necessary social distancing measures to ensure that I remain that way.
I have recently made some changes to the GCR3 program schedule. I have added a few new shows, and moved some shows around to other times. I have done this to give the station a more consistent sound, and, also, to satisfy some requests from GCR partner stations. Please refer to the GCR3 schedule page for the most up to date program listings.
Fortunately, the COVID pandemic has had minimal impact on GCR programming overall. A handful of our international broadcasters have suspended English language radio broadcasts due to virus related staff cuts in their respective countries. In some cases, they have substituted radio broadcasts with audio from their English language TV services, while others have suspended foreign language output entirely. We can only hope these measures are temporary, and that normal program production will resume once this situation finally passes. One broadcaster which has suspended programming is RAE Argentina. For now, we are replacing their nightly half hour at 11 PM Eastern with an additional airing of DW News. We hope to resume carrying RAE as soon as program production resumes.
Speaking of DW, their science and tech program has been renamed from Spectrum to Science Unscripted. The show still airs at its normal time on Tuesdays on GCR1.
A few of the music programs on GCR2 and 3 have also had to suspend production due to being locked out of their studio facilities due to the crisis. Among them, The Cool Jazz Set with Paul Pearce. GCR will offer archived programs until new episodes become available.
One show that we are regretfully saying goodbye to very soon is Rolling Hills Radio. Ken Hardley announced recently that he is ending production of this outstanding live music series from Jamestown, NY, in order to pursue other personal and professional endeavors. It has been a pleasure to have RHR on GCR2, and I want to wish Ken and Cathie the very best. We will continue to air the series until all the backlogged episodes that have been downloaded are broadcast. Watch the GCR2 schedule soon for updates.
That's the latest from here. Thank you, everyone, for your continued support of Global Community Radio.
Stay safe!
Jason Longwell
GCR Station Manager
