"Maine Outdoors” Radio Show Hosted By Former Bangor Daily News Chief Editor Pulled Off Air After 30 Years

By Ted Cohen/The Maine Wire

The former veteran Bangor Daily News top editor and longtime conservative conscience of Maine has been booted from the lineup at northern Maine’s WVOM, to be replaced with canned programming.

V. Paul Reynolds, a Maine Wire contributor, hosted “The Maine Outdoors” with Catherine Gordon, a member of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife advisory council.

The station cut the live format as part of a system revamp, reportedly declining a request for a final farewell broadcast.

The Voice of Maine (WVOM-FM) Blueberry Broadcasting dropped the program to reformat weekend airtime toward news and weekday repeats rather than continuing the traditional format.

Gordon, a Maine Guide, long time podcaster and columnist for NorthWoods Sporting Journal, was the first female to hold the co-hosting duties.

“We had so much fun doing the show,” she told Maine Wire. “V. Paul Reynolds is the long time host who started the show 30 plus years ago.”

Gordon said the show was off the air for two weeks of programming decisions and then abruptly cancelled.

“We thought we would be back on air and we will not be,” she told her Facebook followers.

“We were called in to the office - V. Paul went in, I was chicken - and they told us there would be no more live programming on weekends,” Gordon said in her social-media feed..

“I'm very proud of what we've done,” she added. “This past year we won Best Locally Produced Show from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

“That was a huge win and I was very proud of that,” Gordon said. “So at least we're going out on top, and that's good.”

In an email to WVOM management he shared with The Maine Wire, Reynolds said an alternate time slot he was offered for a show without caller participation “is unworthy of the time and efforts required to effect a workable transition to a different technology.

“For me, the deepest regret is that no opportunity is being provided for us to make a graceful exit, to say farewell to those many loyal listeners who have supported us and lauded the program over so many years,” he added

“Not to do so is a disservice, not only to Catherine, our faithful board operator Norm, and me, but to our Sunday night audience,” Reynolds wrote. “This stuns me, frankly, inasmuch as I have long felt that Blueberry Broadcasting prided itself on its community connections and “localness.”

The station offered the hosts “a different kind of show, one where you tape an interview and play it on air but that's not what our show was,” Gordon said. “Our show was a talk show. People from all over the country would call, not just from Maine.

“We asked if we could just do a farewell show and say goodbye to everybody, especially after 30 years for V. Paul, and they denied him that and that's sad for Paul because he put 30 years of his life into that show and it would have been nice to have given him that honor,” she added.

The Maine Wire has reached out to Blueberry Broadcasting.

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Email from V. Paul Reynolds to WVOM management

To: Louis Vitali and and Race Allen

From: V. Paul Reynolds, Host Maine Outdoors

Subj: Community Broadcasting

Gentlemen:

Thanks for meeting with me and for explaining all the changes at your radio stations.

Let me preface my response with a short history of Maine Outdoors. The program was created by me more than 30 years ago, when WVOM FM was owned by Jerry Evans, who now owns a chain of stations in Nevada.

During that considerable span I have, without remuneration, nurtured Maine Outdoors, found studio guests every week and built up a loyal listenership. Last year the Maine Association of Broadcasters selected Maine Outdoors as “The Best Locally Produced” program of the year.

While I appreciate the opportunity provided over the years to me and my listeners by Blueberry Broadcasting, as well as your efforts to find an alternative broadcast slot for us, I and my co-host Catherine Gordon have, after careful consultation, decided it’s best to call it a day. We believe that the Sunday morning time slot and pre-recording the program, without the vital call in option for listeners is unworthy of the time and efforts required to effect a workable transition to a different technology.

For me, the deepest regret is that no opportunity is being provided for us to make a graceful exit, to say farewell to those many loyal listeners who have supported us and lauded the program over so many years.

Not to do so is a disservice, not only to Catherine, our faithful board operator Norm, and me, but to our Sunday night audience. This stuns me, frankly, inasmuch as I have long felt that Blueberry Broadcasting prided itself on its community connections and “localness.”

I am sure that you are aware, Maine’s population comprises a significant percentage of outdoor recreationists, as well as hunters and fishermen. Blueberry Broadcasting has for 30 years served them in a sustained and reliable way with our programming.

Given your wide reach as Maine broadcasters, perhaps there is another innovative, yet to be identified way to skin the cat, which would involve Catherine and me as seasoned Maine outdoor communicators.

Respectfully yours,

V. Paul Reynolds