Madness Radio Producer's Blog

Hi everyone, because of limited resources Madness Radio is going on a monthly format for a while. Without any funding coming in I can't currently financially manage to produce the show more often.

National Public Radio's Morning Edition just did a piece on Judi Chamberlin that uses the interview Madness Radio did with her in 2006; here's the text of the story and you can listen to it on the NPR site (or listen to the entire Judi Chamberlin interview on Madness Radio here:

http://www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-judi-chamberlin-psychiatric-survivor-movement

Advocate For People With Mental Illnesses Dies

by Joseph Shapiro

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122706192

Movement visionary and activist firebrand Judi Chamberlin will always be with us in spirit. She was a longtime friend and will be deeply missed.

She recently wrote:

I don't believe in an afterlife; I think when I die it will just be a return to the same nothingness as before my birth. I believe that the only 'afterlife' is the way one lives on in people's memories, and it has been so gratifying to me to hear from so many people who appreciate the work I've done and the positive effect I've had on their lives. So I feel confident that I will live on in the memories of many, many people, and that thought gives me great comfort.

You can listen to a great interview with Judi here:

http://www.madnessradio.net/madness-radio-judi-chamberlin-psychiatric-survivor-movement"

Update: National Public Radio used clips from the Madness Radio interview with Judi for their radio and website profiles.

KBOO, a community station in Portland Oregon, is now airing Madness Radio first Monday of the month at 11:30AM. That'll be a special 30-minute version of 60 minute shows posted on this site. Madness Radio is also now co-sponsored by the local organizing effort I started, Portland Hearing Voices

Check out the station and their other great programming at the KBOO website here: www.kboo.fm/

I presented at the Rethinking Psychiatric Crisis: Alternative Responses to First Breaks conference in New York City. The conference joined more than 200 researchers, people with psychiatric diagnoses, policymakers, clinicians, advocates, and family members from several countries including Finland and the UK.

Join INTAR for our 5th annual conference on November 23rd at New York University’s Kimmel Center — Rethinking Psychiatric Crisis: alternative responses to “first breaks.” I'll be presenting, as will Oryx Cohen, Bonfire Madigan Shive, and others.

Hi everyone, happy World Hearing Voices Day. I'm terribly jet lagged but just arrived in Valkenburg Holland for the World Hearing Voices Congress. (also check out the audio)

Just got word the WBCR-LP, a community station in Great Barrington Massachusetts, is now airing Madness Radio weekly.

Check out the station and their other great programming at the WBCR website here: www.berkshireradio.org/

Newsweek magazine just did a big story on Mad Pride and The Icarus Project, which profiled me.

It's a mainstream magazine, but considering the limitations the coverage is pretty sympathetic and alot of important ideas get across: writer Alissa Quart did a great job. Check it out on the Newsweek site here; you can also take a look at the art gallery they put together here. And feel free to leave comments and join the discussion on the Newsweek site.

Here's some glowing feedback from Washington State. Thanks for the inspiration folks!

WPRR 1680 AM Reality Radio, a Pacifica affiliate in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has added Madness Radio to their regular lineup!

Programming Director David Fletcher writes: Thanks for the quality programming, we at WPRR are proud to air your show.

You can listen to WPRR online at www.publicrealityradio.org.

A listener from the Icarus Project website writes:

Thanks so much for all the awesome work you do! Madness Radio is like a huge amazing radio gem within the radical alternative mental health treasure chest of Freedom Center, The Icarus Project and the mad pride movement overall, and I'm profoundly grateful to have it in my life.

A listener emailed this:

Hi Will,
I caught your show one night on KAOS radio here in Olympia. Great program! Keep up the good work!

S

That's right, Madness Radio got started in winter of 2005, with the launch of WXOJ-LP, Valley Free Radio in Northampton MA. When I found out about low-power FM radio licenses offered by the FCC, and joined forces with local activist and ham radio operator Ed Russell to get Valley Free Radio started, I only had a dim idea that I'd end up hosting a show. Madness Radio went on the air the first week VFR went live, and since then it's broadcast non-stop every week for 3 years. Along the way we got syndicated in Alaska and joined the Pacifica Network, so today thousands of people listen to Madness radio every week.

As if this weren't enough, astonishingly, while developing the new website and moving all the files over, I realized that Madness Radio just recorded its 100th show!

Wow!

A hundred freaking shows!

I was really excited to get this email from a listener in Prague Czech Republic! Here's the email she sent -- and also check out her powerful poem...