Pittsfield Community Radio Begins South Berkshire Broadcasts

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Local radio programming from Pittsfield Community Radio, WTBR-FM, can now be heard on 88.1 MHz in Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge, and neighboring South Berkshire towns, in addition to 89.7 MHz in Pittsfield and central Berkshire County. 
 
The new FM radio signal, with call letters WSBR, was granted a license by the Federal Communications Commission on Jan. 14, 2025, after a three-year planning and construction process. 
 
The new signal is a full-power Class-A FM radio station licensed to Pittsfield Community Cable Broadcasting, Inc., the parent organization of Pittsfield Community Television and WTBR-FM.  The city of license is Lee and broadcasts all programming originating from the current WTBR-FM in Pittsfield.  The application process with the FCC is a competitive one, and not all requests for new frequencies are granted by the federal agency. 
 
Pittsfield Community Radio is a Non-Commercial Educational station, broadcasting 24 hours a day, and featuring 34 regular, locally produced programs created by area volunteers.  Programming includes both talk and music shows, along with the Morning Drive interview show heard every weekday morning at 7:30 AM.  The community radio station also features an all-rock music format between community shows.  The station is supported by contributions from the listening public, as well as non-commercial corporate underwriters.
 
The establishment of the new radio station is a product of cooperation between two of the county's community media centers.  The new WSBR station is co-located with a future low-power FM (LPFM) station which is under construction at Community Television for the Southern Berkshires (CTSB-TV) in Lee.  CTSB-TV, which serves Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield with community television programming, was granted a construction permit from the FCC in 2024 to build a new radio station.  That station is expected to be on the air within the next two years as well.
 
The newly licensed station broadens the reach of WTBR-FM to more of Berkshire County.  
 
"We are excited to welcome listeners to the station from Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge, and surrounding towns," Executive Director Shawn Serre said. "Our station features so much local content that matters to Berkshire County.  We are losing many sources of local programming and information these days, so it's even more important to connect our communities." 
 
Serre emphasized the diverse local, entertaining, informative, and educational programming available to listeners. 
 
"Many areas of our county share the same concerns over issues we address with interviews on the station.  And of course, all listeners will benefit from the variety of music programming, from jazz music, to country, polka, oldies, Latin, and classic rock."  The multi-lingual Spanish/English-language program ‘Mundo Latino' is also featured on the station.
 
In addition to broadcasting on the two area FM stations, WTBR-FM can be streamed at wtbrfm.com, and most of the local shows heard on the air are available as podcasts which can be downloaded from that website.
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Pryor & Peacock's Whimsical Furniture Environmentally Friendly

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
 

The company uses digital printing to create the upholstery fabric, saving water and saving vintage furniture from ending up in landfills.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique furniture store has popped up on Elm Street this month.

Mom-and-daughter store Pryor & Peacock is hosting the pop-up storefront from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25 at 6 Elm. The New Marlborough business is co-founded by Rosalina Wright and Luca Shapiro, who is also the creative director. 

Their online shop was created in 2024 but they wanted people to see the pieces in person, so they're renting the space for a limited time before a long-term tenant moves in.

The store sources prints to create unique fabrics and reimagines vintage and antique furniture acquired at auctions, local shops, and online.

"We source prints from all over the world that date from the late 1600s up through mid-20th century, and Luca turns those prints into fabric by manipulating them, scanning them, oftentimes has to add or subtract things, and then we manufacture the fabric using only digital printing, which is very environmentally friendly, unlike traditional textile printing," Wright said.

Upholstering the furniture can take weeks of work. Shapiro looks for the perfect design for each piece and, if need be, uses Adobe Photoshop to extend the art work to fit or enhance the print.

"One of the most difficult parts comes in marrying the fabric to a piece of furniture because we only use antique and vintage frames also to be earth friendly, and they're also more beautiful and durable than new furniture," Wright said. "So the image has to go with the furniture, so that takes a lot of work."

One of Pryor & Peacock's missions is to be environmentally friendly. Digital printing doesn't use the same amount of water as traditional textile productions do nor does it contaminate water with ink according to their website.

Not only are they saving water, but they are saving furniture from going into the landfill while also using more durable furniture that doesn't break as easily as current pieces. They started their business to create something unique and to help the environment together.

"It's creating something nobody else is doing. People can't continue to buy throwaway furniture. Six percent of American landfills is furniture, and digital printing not only opens up the possibility of being able to put unique images on a piece of furniture, but it also is, as I said, environmentally friendly. So, for us, the excitement is to take an old East Lake settee that somebody's going to store in their barn and forget about, and make it something completely new and surprising," Wright said.

They hope their furniture helps bring a pop of fun to someone's home.

"We think our furniture is very whimsical and surprising, and most furniture today is oatmeal colored couches and gray neutral chairs, and it's boring," she said.

The two named their business after their mothers' maiden names to honor them and believe the name reflects their pieces.

Shapiro works in interior design outside of the business and the two liked working together and thought it would be great to start a business together. Shapiro says they can work well together and that her and her mother, Wright, has flipped houses before and have the same eye for design.

"So it's very easy for us to work together. When we see something, generally we agree on whether it works or doesn't work on a piece. We agree on the color schemes and that sort of thing. So it's very fun and fulfilling to work together," Shapiro said. 

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