WFCR's Locally Produced Features

Health Reform in Massachusetts

From September 2008 to May 2009, WFCR's Karen Brown was on a Kaiser Foundation Media Fellowship to look at the health reform law in Massachusetts—what's working, what's not, and what other states can learn. She will continue to cover the state's health reform efforts as developments occur.

Voices of the Transgender Community in Western Massachusetts

Voices of the Transgender Community in Western Massachusetts, winner of a 2009 Gracie Award for outstanding series, profiles several transgender residents in Western New England, their lives and transitions from one gender to another. It then turns to the transgender community's struggles to pass civil rights legislation in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

At Home With War

At Home With War is an ongoing series, produced by the news department at 88.5FM WFCR. It uses the war in Iraq and Afghanistan to examine some of the unique effects war has on everyone. While focusing on individual and deeply personal experiences, we believe At Home with War, speaks to any generation which has faced the ever-uncertain circumstances surrounding nations in conflict.

Foster Care Series

Every year, about 700 adolescents in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services simply age out of the system at 18—having never been adopted. Studies have found a high percentage of them will end up homeless, unemployed, or mentally unstable. This second of a two-part series on the foster care system continues as child advocates speak out about what can be done to help these lost teens.

A Burden to Be Well: Sisters and Brothers of the Mentally Ill

This documentary focuses on the issues and emotions that face the sisters and brothers of people with mental illness. These siblings often feel ignored by family, health care providers, and society at large while the ill sibling takes up most of the available attention. Meanwhile, these siblings may be suffering in their own right – from the trauma of exposure to mental illness, the grief of watching a sibling lose control, the responsibility of caring for an ill sibling, and the guilt of being the "healthy one." A Burden to Be Well is a radio documentary written and produced by WFCR’s Karen Brown, and edited by Mary Beth Kirchner from American RadioWorks. Additional editing help came from John Dankosky of WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio.

Voices Of HIV

Voices Of HIV is a bilingual radio project that looks at how HIV and AIDS are affecting the Latino communities of Western New England. The HIV epidemic has hit Latinos disproportionately hard across the nation. In Massachusetts, Holyoke and Springfield rank second and fourth on the list of towns with the highest rates of new HIV infections. In Connecticut, Hartford has the second highest rate of infection in that state. These cities all have large Latino communities.