Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

Take it to the streets! That's the plan Mark Paolini has for upcoming editions of Hullaballoo, the all-things to all-people free-for-all heard every Wednesday from 8 to 9 p.m. on WCUW (91.3 FM). The fun starts on June 18, when Bob Jordan is slated to move his living room to 910 Main Street. "He's going to play out on the sidewalk," Paolini explains. "We're going to set up a table lamp and two microphones."

Next month, Paolini will host the Main South version of Twenty Questions. "I'm working on getting some people off the street. We'll try to stop some cars and if they get the question right, we'll go into our prize vault." First they need some prizes. If you want to donate to the cause, call WCUW at 753-2284.

The June 25 Hullaballoo will feature excerpts from last week's poetry show at the Green Rooster Coffee House. Silver Lined: A Spoken Word Performance of Social Cultural Commentary featured performances by Rich Boucher, Tina E. Gaffney (who read from Having Our Say and Fires in the Mirror), actress Jayne F. Monroe (who performed her one-act play, The Rise and Fall of Jayne S. Monroe), Todd Deal Sherman, and David Nader, who shared his pointed observations of our beloved city and its people in Stories from the Wayside Pulpit. Paolini hopes to air performances from each participant provided he gets permission.

He also plans to bring radio theater back to 'CUW in the near future. "I'm talking with 60 Second Theater in Denver who perform very short plays with elaborate sound effects. You could be inside a taxi or a house. It's a very aural experience." He's also talking with the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. "They've been at it since 1985. They present full-length plays mostly geared toward science fiction, especially H.P. Lovecraft."

Paolini continues to encourage anyone with even a touch of creativity to contact him. "I've been trying to get a lot of home tapers, the DIY [Do-It-Yourself] people."

IN LIGHT OF THE federal funding cutbacks to public broadcasters, WICN is holding a short four-day fund drive from June 19 through 22. With the feds planning to base 1998 allocations on listener support given in fiscal 1997, station management hopes to make sure there's enough in the coffers to continue to grow (its spring fundraiser was its biggest ever) to expand its broadcast day and the range of its broadcast signal. Call your pledge into 752-0700 or send a check to WICN, 6 Chatham Street, Worcester 01609.

WICN recently made some changes to its weekday jazz line-up. Jazz historian Bob Parlocha can now be heard Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon, following jazz director Stephen Charbonneau, who hosts A Tasteful Blend beginning at 6 a.m. The nation's best jazz, new and old, follows at noon. Jazz from the Kennedy Center, Nancy Wilson's Jazz Profiles (Tuesday), Marion McPartland's Piano Jazz (Wednesday), and Jazz Classics in Stereo (Thursday) are produced by National Public Radio. And the shows are followed at 1 p.m. by New Music Monday, Jazz New England (Tuesday), Captured Live (Wednesday), and Jazz Profiles (Thursday). WCUW's weekday jazz programming concludes with Jazz Matinee, hosted by Gene Petit from 2 to 4 p.m.

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS' annual visits to Great Woods are now one of the season's most-awaited shows. To celebrate their return next Friday (June 20), Ian Scheff's airing the Southern rockers' August 1995 Mansfield appearance on the June 16 Sunday Night Concert at midnight on WCUW. It will be paired with Jeff Beck's 1995 shed visit.