The Brookfield Select Board’s Executive Assistant has notified us that the Select Board will put Apple Country Radio on its Wednesday, April 1 meeting agenda, where they will review – and hopefully, renew – the license agreement that allows us to use the Green Room on the second floor of the Town Hall and the Mezzanine above it as our live studio and storage space.

Apple Country Radio has spent almost $12,000 of our own funds cleaning, painting, refinishing the floors and Mezzanine stairwell, and installing electric wiring, lighting, and Ethernet capability in both the Mezzanine and the Green Room. We’ve left the rooms in much better shape than we found them. But the delays caused by the additional requirements imposed by the Town after the original agreements were signed last April meant that what should have taken at most three months to move in has instead taken over six months, which means that even as we’ve performed renovations, and prepared to resume broadcasting, the current agreement’s expiration date has crept ever closer. It is now merely days away, on Friday, April 3. Our new billing cycle for our required insurance policy for leasing the space also begins on April 3. 

We’re not only asking for a renewal, but for the license agreement to be extended to April 3, 2028, so that the expiration date will match that of our current antenna agreement. We feel that the year-by-year requirement to get Select Board approval to use the space is unnecessarily onerous to such a technically-dependent operation, which required moving and installing thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment and transferring over 45 boxes of music media into the Town Hall. 

We urge all supporters and listeners to attend the Select Board meeting on April 1 in the Brookfield Town Hall Banquet Hall at 7am to show your support of Apple Country Radio and our renewal/extension request, or, if you can’t attend, to send emails/letters of support to ALL members of the Select Board (rather than just the Executive Assistant or the Chair) and the new Interim Town Administrator. That way we can be sure the entire Select Board and TA gets to see those letters and emails prior to the meeting. Addresses are below.

Just a few loose technical ends remain to complete the move-in. Once the agreement is renewed, we expect to resume broadcasting ASAP this month in our new home, as well as expanding our programming in keeping with our mission to serve the greater Brookfield area by providing locally-based news and information, and showcasing local arts, culture and education. 

If possible, please copy Apple Country Radio on your emails as well (c/o applecountryradio@gmail.com).

The email addresses are:

Executive Assistant: selectmen@brookfieldma.us

Select Board Chair Richard Chaffee: rchaffee@brookfieldma.us

Select Board Member Sarah Campbell: scam02x@gmail.com

Select Board Member Beth Coughlin: bcoughlin@brookfieldma.us

Town Administrator Bob Ayers: townadministrator@brookfieldma.us

Thanks in advance for your support of Apple Country Radio!