Podcast: MakeIt Haverhill’s Boucher Tells of Motivation by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This week’s observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day brought back memories for some and reinstilled long held values motivated by the slain civil rights leader. Among them, Keith Boucher, founder of MakeIt Haverhill, who first became aware the concept of equity when he was a child. “When I was young, back in the early 60s, we used to eat a lot of grapes during the summer, I don’t know why, but my mother, one time just said we can’t have grapes. We said ‘Why, where are the grapes?’ She said because there’s a gentleman out in California, Cesar Chavez, who is organizing people because they aren’t getting paid enough to pick those grapes, so we are going to support those people. And, that just started for me the whole issue of diversity, equity and inclusion that everybody has the right to a decent wage and a decent life, so that’s kind of how we got started,” he told WHAV listeners.

Podcast: Whittier School Drama Club Readies for Disney ‘Descendants: The Musical’

A new theatrical season is about to open at the John Greenleaf Whittier School in Haverhill with the production of Disney’s “Descendants: The Musical.”

Music teacher and JGW Drama Club Executive Director Robert D. “Bobby” Gariepy III explained how to audition for a part during a recent appearance on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program. “Jan. 8 is vocal audition. Come prepared to sing 30-seconds of your favorite song. Tuesday, Jan.

WHAV Holiday Programs Begin with ‘The Night the Wolves Came to Christmas’ by Local Author

WHAV continues its longtime Christmas tradition Sunday night with 24 hours of holiday programming, beginning with the reading of a new story by a local author and followed by classic old-time radio shows Christmas Eve. “The Night the Wolves Came to Christmas,” written by Georgetown author Richard F. Zapf, will be read by WHAV’s own Win Damon following the 6 p.m. local and national news. During a recent interview heard over WHAV, Zapf explained the origins of the story date back to Christmas in Germany during the 1890s. “The background comes from my family, which is an immigrant family from Germany. The story about the wolves really came from my grandmother who told me the story when I when I was a little kid—at least she told me part of the story.

Podcast: Coach ‘Spike’ Sprague Prepares to Celebrate 50th Anniversary of HHS Hockey Team

This season represents a milestone for the Haverhill High School hockey team. It was 50 years ago that the first Haverhill High Varsity team hit the ice. For those oldest enough to remember, Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president in December, the film “The Exorcist” made its debut and Richard “Spike” Sprague scored the first goal for the Haverhill Hillies hockey team. “I was fortunate enough to be on the ice for the first shift, and I got lucky enough to score the first goal, and the only thing that upset me the whole time was my coach said whoever scored the first goal would get a cigar. I never got the cigar,” he said.

Podcast: Looking Back, Fiorentini Details 20-Year Path to Haverhill’s Turnaround

Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini was sworn in almost 20 years ago against the backdrop of the largest municipal debt in state history, downtown buildings that had been mostly vacant for decades, the recent layoffs of 43 city workers and even ragged carpets in City Hall held together with duct tape. The downtown commercial district had been in decline for decades, worsened by such efforts to prop it up as the federal urban renewal demolition program. It was the financial collapse of the city-owned Hale Hospital, part of a national trend, however, that turned simmering hopelessness into full-blown panic. As he prepares to leave office, the mayor detailed during an extensive WHAV interview how the city turned around. During a live appearance on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program, Fiorentini said, for example, downtown’s renaissance came down to parking, but not in a conventional sense.

Podcast: Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Stevens Discusses Hanukkah, Which Begins Thursday

The Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, begins Thursday. Rabbi Ashira Stevens, of Haverhill’s Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill, speaking on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program, discussed the historical significance of the holiday. “When the Jews won against their enemies, back in those days, back in the days of the Maccabees, they then rededicated their temple. The word Hanukkah itself actually means dedication, or rededication, and when they did that, they cleaned everything up. The temple had been made into a complete mess, and they shined the menorah and they looked around for oil to light it, and they only found one cruise of oil, one small container.

Supporting Nonprofit WHAV on #GivingTuesday Underpins High Community Values

Tomorrow is #GivingTuesday and the day nonprofit WHAV launches its year-end appeal to uphold the highest values and pay for local news and community programs.

During the past year, Greater Haverhill’s only public radio station and nonprofit local news service maintained the highest principles and played a far-reaching role in shaping the community’s future. At WHAV, it’s about staying true to sincerely held values and encouraging others to do the same for overall public good. WHAV’s local news reporting is about disseminating truth; holding people, government and organizations accountable; and helping nonprofits and civic organizations get the word about enriching, critical and—many times—lifesaving programs and services. WHAV is part of a national trend of household and small business-supported nonprofit local news services that are stepping up to provide vital information. It is widely understood that being locally owned and physically based here puts WHAV in the best position to uniquely recognize and address community needs.

Podcast: As Dice Retires, Pentucket Regional High School Plans to Recruit New Service Dogs

A retirement is on the horizon one of the beloved members of the Pentucket Regional High School staff, who offers comfort to both students and staff. Pentucket Regional School Superintendent Justin Bartholomew, a recent guest on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program, talked about the service dog named Dice, who is coming up on his 10th birthday. “That is about the age when you retire a service animal from a public space like this, so we have spent, at the end of last year and this summer, we have spent quite a bit of time trying to determine how do we replicate what Dice has brought to the students, what Dice has brought to the adults in that building as well,” Bartholomew says. Dice is a black lab that started going to Pentucket Regional High School in 2018. “Dice was originally—we have one of our teachers, Pam Shedd, her daughter had diabetes and because of certain situations, her daughter couldn’t have a pump.