Keene Native Jared Goodell Launching Morning Talk Show in Manchester
Keene independent newsman and local radio pro Jared Goodell has been given a major promotion – straight to morning talk radio in Manchester, NH, starting Tuesday 8/25. Saga Communications’ Manchester-based WFEA-AM 1370 flipped to talk radio earlier this year to provide some competition to iHeartMedia’s longtime market leader, WGIR. This summer, WFEA also signed onto translator 99.9 FM.
Goodell’s show will be the first local, longform weekday talk show on the station and it’s a major win for Goodell, a Keene native who cut his teeth in Keene music radio for years – he started at age 13 at WOOL-FM in Bellows Falls, VT. It’s a bold move for Saga to tap a young talk host like Jared to head up mornings. Good for them for taking the chance on the farm team rather than going the typical route of hiring some old politico or using a national morning show.
Goodell says of his new gig, “I hope to usher in a new era for talk radio. There is a lot of speculation as to the future of the format, some of which is not great. I love talk radio and want to see it live on for many more generations. Talk radio has always been the medium that the American people could use to amplify their voice and to hold their government accountable.”
He’s proven he’s got the chops for issues-oriented talk radio in his recent week-long fill-ins for longtime local morning man Dan Mitchell on WKBK here in Keene. I was grateful to be a guest on a recent episode to discuss the Shire Free Church:
Goodell’s new show will be 7a-9a to start, eventually expanding to 6a-9a after a syndication contract ends. While his show will not air in Keene at this time, you can still listen online via WFEA’s website.
Longtime readers of Free Keene remember the controversial and short-lived “Topless Tuesdays” events from 2010. Many critics in the area still cite it as something they didn’t like that liberty activists have done. It’s relevant to point out that none of the females who participated in that were Free State Project participants. They were all townies.
Now, five years later, the topless equality movement has come again to New Hampshire, this time with over 1,100 saying (on Facebook) they will be attending “Free the Nipple” at Hampton Beach. (Who knows what the actual turnout will be.) The event is slated for all-day on Sunday 8/23. There is no specific meeting time or location besides Hampton Beach. This is an interesting approach and one of the event organizers comments on why on their facebook page:
“Even though there is no meeting spot, I have a feeling we will notice each other and make some new friends. I plan on walking around and I’ll gladly introduce myself, but I want to enjoy the beach as much as all of you! We don’t need a giant gathering or “spectacle.” Our goal is to just be normal about it. We want to show everyone that the breast and nipple can be seen without all hell breaking loose, traumatizing kids, giving old men heart attacks, or causing the apocalypse.”
Things are definitely getting interesting. Stay tuned to Free Keene for the latest on this social change in New Hampshire. Though people are legally free to be topless, there’s a large social stigma that needs to be broken. Thanks to the courageous ladies who will be participating in Sunday’s event, and especially to those who will eventually risk arrest in Laconia at an unknown date in the future.
Like with all new churches, there are many who are disrespectful to our freedom of religion. While our church may not be hundreds or thousands of years old, it’s still subject to the same constitutional protection as anyone’s. The issuance of this marriage certificage is more recognition of those rights by the people calling themselves the state. Thanks to the Registrar of Vital Records for officially recognizing our freedom of religion. They now join the NH State Police, who recognized my status as a Shire Free Church minister in a 2014 press release and Keene District Court judge Edward J Burke who recognized Shire Free Church: Monadnock’s nonprofit status by accepting our certification of a defendant’s community service hours, which Burke has also done for the Church of the Sword.
The Shire Free Church offers a sanctuary for those seeking an escape from state churches. We perform media and real-life outreach to spread god’s message of peace and love and awakening those to the evil state religion. As the state believers continue to force their beliefs on us, we will continue to use their system to accomplish our god-given mission. Please join us.
Cop Blocking is not one of my favorite forms of activism. To be honest I dislike it. Mostly because I try to avoid violent people as much as I can. However, in the situation when police are threatening violence to your neighbors right in front of you, I feel an obligation to help out. The Rebel Love Studio is near what New Hampshire considers a “ghetto” in Manchester. On the night of August 12th, 2015 there was a large crowd of minority teens and a large contingent of Manch PD on the corner of Cedar and Union St. Ann Leverette, Renee Kate, and I hit the streets with smart phones in hand to help out our neighbors from the threats of violence by the police. We used the opportunity to hand out cop block lit to the people the police were harassing. The Manch PD also confront us a couple of times during the incident. Luckily no one was arrested on this night.
In a 42-page decision, the US District Court for New Hampshire has ruled in favor of protestors including Free State Project early mover and attorney Brandon Ross who violated the state’s “ballot selfie” prohibition and were investigated and threatened by the Attorney General’s office. In 2014, Ross had taken a picture of his ballot and posted it to his facebook accompanied by the words “come at me bro”. They did, and now Ross and his co-plaintiffs state representative Leon Rideout, and Andrew Langlois are victorious in their case thanks to the NH ACLU, as the law has been overturned as unconstitutional!
The defendant in the case, representing the state, was secretary of state Bill Gardener who argued that free speech (photos of ballots) should be curtailed because voters will be either induced to sell their votes or subjected to coercion if they are permitted to disclose images of their ballots to others. Judge Paul Barbadoro denied there was any evidence those speculative objections would be the case, and even if there were evidence, that’s not reason enough to restrict free speech.
State Rep Tim Horrigan, Snitch
The case reveals on page 18, that it was Timothy Horrigan, an anti-freedom state rep (rated as a “Constitutional Threat” in 2015 by the NH Liberty Alliance) that both introduced the bill banning ballot selfies AND snitched to the Attorney General’s office about Ross’ facebook post. Ross, in an exclusive interview for Free Keene said Horrigan’s behavior, “shows that lawmakers will absolutely use their laws they’ve just made to try to censor people”.
Ross also said he was surprised the state actually moved against him, saying, “I gave them too much credit, thinking they would never try to enforce that clearly unconstitutional law. Joke’s on me. But, a little healthy defiance can be a good thing now and again too.”
Last year, Keene liberty activists manned a bitcoin outreach booth at the Cheshire Fair. In that five days, we installed a grand total of three bitcoin wallets (though we did hand out hundreds of bitcoin flyers). This year, we did it again and installed eighteen wallets, had dozens of great conversations, and shared bitcoin intro flyers with hundreds more fair attendees! Despite a couple of minor issues, the fair outreach booth went swimmingly! A couple of people used the original Keene bitcoin vending machine at the fair, and many others were directed to the BVM at 101 Deals Thrift Store for future purchases.
Fair attendees had plenty of good questions and our professional staff of bitcoin-enthusiasts had answers, including Derrick J Freeman and Chris Cantwell. Thanks to all the folks who helped with the booth and everyone who stopped by. If you want to meet with other area bitcoiners, drop into the Keene Bitcoin Network group on Facebook.
