Mark Kimball had a wonderful, albeit ambitious idea: to create an independent radio station out of Hallowell for Hallowell. Run it entirely with volunteers and start it with a shoestring budget and lots of great intentions.

In May of 2007 I was on my way back from Vermont — fresh from divorce and in need of a new beginning. At that time I was just transitioning from MySpace.com to Facebook.com when I saw a post by Joel Gagne — “Graphic artist (among other positions) wanted for radio station startup”. This was perfect! There was a meeting scheduled sometime in early June at the now closed Earthly Delights shop in Hallowell.  I was early to this first meeting and none-too-shy in  eagerness to be apart of this venture, as were many others in attendance.

All around me were faces of creative determination who were already committed to take part in the effort to bring about this radio station. I recognized no one here. But we were all in silent agreement that this was big, and with the right leadership we could do this.

Two people of note were there: Jen Howard and Joel Gagne.

Joel is a student of radio and promoting entertainment. He was amazing as the coordinator of this huge project that was to be this radio station. But his position was short lived since he continuously reached one dead end after another. Finding no resolution to these problems he had no choice but to quit. Without Joel went any chance of the radio station ever getting off the ground, a true testament to his ability and talent.

During this first meeting Mark had said he thought a little flyer to keep people up-to-date about the radio station would be a great idea. Jen on the other hand saw much greater potential, and a use for her skills as a writer. She took no time pitching the idea of a full fledged publication released monthly and her willingness to take the lead as editor. It was a no-brainer, and I was immediately on board. Rhiannon Schaumburg completed the staff and in just less than a month we released our first publication of the Hallowell Record on Old Hallowell Day 2007.

Jen found it impossible to work with Mark so she eventually quit after the third issue — Rhiannon followed suit. I continued to do the paper until September 2008 when I ran into serious mismanagement  issues Jen and Rhi had only begun to see. After asking for a controlling stake in the Hallowell Record with no success I had to bow out, but not completely — yet. For Six more months I helped Terry McCabe learn how to layout and publish the paper. Terry is a quick study and was doing the paper entirely himself through most of 2009.

Then the day came. I spoke with Terry on the fourth of January when he explained he was stepping away from the project indefinitely. Not because he wanted it to end, but because it was an enormous task to do by himself — much the way I had felt.

I am very proud to say I was a part of something wonderful but now without someone else to step in, the Hallowell Record may be no more. Perhpas someone will fill Terry’s shoes and continue the project. But this is a volunteer organization and you have to dedicate 20 or more hours a week to the cause. To whoever has the time and talent to create this paper please do so. If it’s you — good luck!

As for the radio station, no one has seen or I should say, heard it yet. But there is all kinds of time to get that together!