The Spark

Fridays at Noon, Saturdays at 3pm

The Spark is WMRA's own creative look at --well-- creativity.    We dig into whatever people are passionate about in the WMRA region:  sculpture, model railroading, costume-making, poetry, whatever  --we might go there. 

We want to hear from those who are doing artsy or interesting or wonderful or obsessive things.  We also recognize that lots of creatives are a tad shy and might not ever speak up for themselves. 

You can put something on our radar about yourself or can tell us about someone you know of who might be interesting by sending an e-mail to the show host, Martha Woodroof:
WoodroMH@jmu.edu
(To launch an email to Martha automatically click here. )

Scroll down to hear past segments.

Consider this hour a community-wide celebration of the many people among us who invest time, energy and discipline into pushing against life's boundaries.

Listen to a typical 2012 version of the show's end credits (including Martha asking to hear from those who know about creative goings-on) : here (60 seconds).

2013 Spark intern Julia Skinner has been tasked with blogging about potentially Spark-worthy peers, and you can find the link to that blog on this page.

Genre: 
Composer ID: 
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The Spark
4:14 pm
Sat March 23, 2013

Like Airplanes

Images: Modified from NOAA photo

Jeff Ell muses about looking up at contrails --and jetwatching with binoculars. (By the way, Jeff penned one of our web's most-ever clicked  essays: 

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The Spark
12:43 pm
Fri March 22, 2013

Festival of The Book Organizer Nancy Damon

Credit George Loper
Nancy Damon

Charlottesville’s Nancy Damon talks about directing her beloved literary mayhem, the Virginia Festival of the Book.  

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The Spark
12:29 pm
Fri March 22, 2013

Web-Music To Air on Local TV

Some folks watch TV shows on the web. It is rare though for a web-based show to go onto TV. Doug Stanford’s production, "Aux Send,"  is getting picked up by local public television. 

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The Spark
11:49 am
Fri March 22, 2013

Shoe, Hiking Boot Fixer David Young

David Young, songwriter, retired hobo, cobbler, all around interesting guy operates Graham’s Shoe Service in Waynesboro.  The shop has long welcomed trail-hikers and accepted unusual repair requests. 

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(VFOTB Event Fri 22 Mar)
10:00 am
Fri March 22, 2013

WMRA Alumna leads Festival of the Book Panel

Hey Andifans! Past classical music announcer Andi Arndt is moderating a Virginia Festival of the Book panel about audiobooks

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The Spark
12:19 pm
Fri March 15, 2013

PBS Picks Up JMU Prof's Film

Film crew at Graham Greene's gravesite.

British film and theater heavyweights appear in the documentary Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene. Martha chats with director Tom O’Connor --long-time filmmaker and JMU professor.   

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The Spark
12:11 pm
Fri March 15, 2013

Chirp To Win

Some world-class performers --have beaks.  We meet canary expert Andre Dight.   As a lad, Andre was once decorated for agricultural/genetics achievement by Royal Family member, the Duke of Kent.   

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The Spark
12:05 pm
Fri March 15, 2013

The Author of The Altarpiece

What fun, historically speaking:  Lexington’s Sarah Kennedy’s first novel, The Alterpiece, is a sixteenth century whodunit.  Her sleuth?  A comely and opinionated, twenty-year-old nun.  

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The Spark
1:08 pm
Fri March 8, 2013

NomNomNomNom

She who custom-designs cakes including eggs from her own chickens, Rachel Willis of Cakes By Rachel joins us.   

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The Spark
6:28 pm
Thu March 7, 2013

Meet Professah Blues

For decades Greg Versen has spun vinyl (and then CDs) live on one of the region's only on-air blues music shows: Blues Valley (on WMRA Saturday nights, eight 'til late).  And to begin with: 

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