BeachBOOSTER interview

BeachBOOSTER Radio is an interesting demonstration of our changing media landscape. It’s not on the dial, you access it through the internet, which in my ignorance made me wonder, just how accessible would that be? But as owner Joe Bickerstaff explains, there’s an app for that, and BeachBOOSTER is working on one. In the meantime, any smartphone user can access the station through the internet, as of course can you, through your desktop or laptop.

And BeachBOOSTER is also in print, with a colourful biweekly tabloid publication that’s put together by Bickerstaff’s partner Bill Frieday. Like the radio station, it’s keenly promotional of Wasaga Beach, and a driving force behind several popular events. There’s a fun atmosphere at their small office on River Road that reminds one of the iconic 70s comedy WKRP in Cincinnati. If you’ve met Bickerstaff, you’ll know what I mean.

One of the BeachBOOSTER programs is It’s Your Town featuring interviews by Gary Cerantola on topics of interest to Beach residents and visitors, and he invited me on his show recently to explain why AWARE Simcoe is holding a ‘Defend our Nottawasaga River’meeting next Saturday. Here’s a link to a podcast of the interview. It should be noted that besides being radio host, Cerantola is running for deputy mayor against Wasaga Beach Councillor Nina Bifolchi, who is chair of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority.

This is an important time in the life of the river, of the watershed, of the beach, with a host of choices facing those who love this area. We will have an interesting panel to help cast light on good ways to move ahead – flooding expert Don Haley, Midhurst resident Connie Spek and angler Gary Christie (he’s the guy on the flyer we’ve been posting around town). BeachBOOSTER’s Frieday has kindly agreed to emcee the meeting.

Hope to see you there – Saturday August 23 from 9:30 am-12:30 pm at the Wasaga Christian Church Hall, 278 Main Street in Wasaga Beach.