Maine

Opinion: My doppelganger cut a wide swath in Maine broadcasting

Published

6 months ago

September 12, 2025

Opinion: My doppelganger cut a wide swath in Maine broadcasting

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Murray Carpenter is a journalist in Belfast and author of “Caffeinated” and “Sweet and Deadly.”

Here’s some great advice for radio journalism, memorable, pithy, and always useful: “Keep your ears open, and your mouth shut.” I’ve passed it along to many aspiring radio reporters. Oddly, this advice came to me via my doppelganger, the Maine broadcast pioneer Murray Carpenter.

I first heard about him in 1997 when I was working as a reporter for The Republican Journal, a weekly in Belfast. When talking to sources, I had the same experience a few times. “Murray Carpenter,” they’d say, “Did you used to work up around Bangor?” I’d say no, I was new to the area. But I got the idea that another Murray might have been out there somewhere.

A few years later, I was publishing Northern Sky News, a newsprint monthly covering the environment of New England and the Maritimes. Carol Carpenter Ketcham, a subscriber in Connecticut, emailed to say that her father had worked in Maine for years as a media entrepreneur. He was Murray Carpenter. Ketcham filled in some of the blanks, and it became clear that my doppelganger had cut a wide swath.

He arrived in Maine in the early 1950s after working in advertising in New York, and began working with former Maine Gov. Horace Hildreth at his Bangor AM radio station WABI. By January 1953, when WABI launched the first TV station in northern New England, Carpenter was the manager and a co-owner with Hildreth.

According to Judith Round’s history of Bangor TV, things got lively when Carpenter applied for a radio license in Portland: “Guy Gannett, another newspaper and radio station owner, convinced Carpenter to pull out of the Portland market, in exchange for licensing preference for a second station in Bangor — WGUY (Channel 2). Carpenter, who had relinquished his ownership of WABI, was now back in Bangor competing against his former partner, Horace Hildreth.”

WGUY never became a TV station, and Carpenter soon sold the radio station WGUY (which evolved into WKIT, later owned by Stephen and Tabitha King). But he kept the studio on Mount Hope Avenue and used it to launch the TV station WTWO in 1954. Carpenter sold WTWO in 1958, and it became WLBZ.

By 1963 Carpenter was in Florida, where he owned the pioneering FM station WTCX. He died of Alzheimer’s in 1990 before I became a journalist, but our connections mounted.

In 2022, a story I reported for NPR caught the ear of Robin Ketcham, in Ohio. He reached out to me to see if I might be related to his grandfather, Murray Carpenter. (Robin is the son of Carol, who’d contacted me 20 years earlier.) Ketcham passed on more details about Carpenter, including that he was a pilot who loved to fly his Mooney airplane. Ketcham said his grandfather had the first TV in Maine; it’s still in the family and it still works.

The most notable connection to my doppelganger came a bit earlier, in 2007, when I was working as a radio reporter in Maine Public’s Bangor studio. I was lucky to work alongside Maine radio veteran Barry Darling, who was eager to hear if I was related to Murray Carpenter.

Darling says Carpenter was one of the most interesting people he met in over 50 years of Maine radio and television work, a broadcasting genius who cobbled Channel 2 together from a heap of used equipment from a station in Puerto Rico. And he had interesting quirks, Darling says. He’d often drop off the radar and go fishing for a few days, leaving the station in the hands of his employees.

Darling’s earliest memory of Carpenter was when he was 13. He and his father, who worked in broadcasting, went to a reception at Carpenter’s house in Bangor. Darling’s father had told Carpenter that Barry was interested in getting into radio.

“Let me give you a piece of advice that I hope you’ll remember,” Carpenter said to the young Darling, “Keep your ears open and your mouth shut.”

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Maine

How the Good Neighbor Day of Giving telethon is impacting Maine’s communities

Published

8 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

How the Good Neighbor Day of Giving telethon is impacting Maine’s communities

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – Monday’s telethon held by WABI in partnership with Penquis and Heart of Maine United Way Monday raised money for the heating of homes, something so basic, yet so significant in a state like Maine.

Danielle Hewes, Penquis contributor and volunteer, says some people might not even know that they qualify for heating assistance.

“I think there’s this misconception that you can’t get that if you’re working. Like that’s just for people on general assistance. The truth of the matter is this is for the people that are maybe not able to work, but also for the people that are working. They’re making ends meet,” she said.

For Danielle, that’s what makes events like the telethon so special: it’s making a real difference in the community with people who need the help the most.

Speaking about Penquis in particular, she said, “You learn about all of the other things they do and how they help the community and you can’t help but want to be a part of that.”

If you weren’t able to donate Monday, donations are still being accepted.

You can go to homeunitedway.org/heat.

You can also call 941-2800.

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Maine

Arizona Sen. Gallego endorses Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner

Published

20 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Arizona Sen. Gallego endorses Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine Democrat Graham Platner has picked up another high-profile endorsement in his bid to flip a key Senate seat blue, marking another sign of the oyster farmer and combat veteran’s political resiliency even as he continues to face controversy throughout his campaign.

Arizona Democrat Ruben Gallego announced Monday that he was backing Platner, saying that the first-time candidate “reflects the grit and independence that defines Maine.”

“Graham Platner is the kind of fighter Maine hasn’t seen in a long time, someone who tells you exactly what he thinks, doesn’t owe anything to the special interests, and wakes up every day thinking about working families,” said Gallego, who won a Senate seat in Arizona in 2024 by more than 2 points while Trump carried the state by nearly 6 points.

Platner has previously been endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat.

However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has endorsed Platner’s main opponent, Maine Gov. Janet Mills.

Both Platner, 41, and Mills, 78, are hoping to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, 73, a five-term incumbent who announced last month that she was running for another term. A victory in Maine is crucial for Democrats’ efforts to take back control of the Senate. The Democratic Party needs to net four seats to retake the Senate majority, and they are aiming to do that in Maine, North Carolina, Alaska and Ohio.

READ MORE: Maine’s Graham Platner thinks voters will overlook his past to support a new type of candidate

Platner has gained traction with his anti-establishment image and economic equality message. He’s pressed forward despite controversies over old social media posts and a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, which he recently had covered up.

Gallego is among the Democrats named as possible 2028 presidential contenders. Last fall, he stumped in New Jersey, Virginia and Florida, where he campaigned for Democrats who went on to win their elections.

“I have an immense amount of respect for him and I’m looking forward to joining him as a fellow Marine and combat infantryman in the U.S. Senate,” Platner said in a statement.

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

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Maine

Building Hope: A Community Film Event to End Homelessness

Published

1 day ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Building Hope: A Community Film Event to End Homelessness

On March 2, Spurwink will join community partners for a special viewing of Building Hope: Ending Homelessness in Maine at the University of Southern Maine’s McGoldrick Hall.

Directed by Richard Kane and produced by Melody Lewis-Kane, the film shines a compassionate light on the realities of Maine’s homelessness crisis. Through deeply personal stories, Building Hope explores the challenges faced by unhoused individuals and families, while highlighting the hope that emerges when communities come together to create solutions. It’s been praised for its honesty, dignity, and inspiring message: change is possible when we work together.

Following the screening, a panel of local leaders and advocates will discuss the film and the ongoing effort in Maine to end homelessness. Panelists will include Katherine Rodney, Director of Spurwink’s Living Room Crisis Center; Cullen Ryan, Chief Strategic Officer at 3Rivers; Donna Wampole, Assistant Professor of Social Work at USM; and Preble Street staff. Catherine Ryder, Spurwink’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, will bring her expertise in trauma-informed care and community collaboration to the panel as the moderator.

This event is free and open to the public.

McGoldrick Center, USM Portland campus

05:00 PM – 07:30 PM on Mon, 2 Mar 2026

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