Week 1

November 19, 2007: Jim Talbott, owner of Millinocket radio station WSYY for more than 20 years, begins an on-air protest after finding out that MAGIC, (Millinocket Area Growth & Investment Council), the Katahdin region’s tax-funded “economic development agency” has applied to the FCC for its own radio station, which will be in direct competition with his radio station. This after MAGIC’s founder, Matt Polstein, squeezed him off the property where Talbott’s tower once stood. He invites Bruce McLean, director of MAGIC, Town Councilor Matt Polstein, cofounder of MAGIC, or any other director to come on WSYY and explain the situation.

November 20, 2007: Talbott again invites any director of Millinocket Area Growth & Investment Council (MAGIC) to call in. He also asks for anyone who can point to anything MAGIC has brought to the area in the last 7 years to please call in. JT talks about Lincoln News reporter Lisa Pelkey Hayes, who broke the story about MAGIC’s application but failed to speak to Talbott. She said in the phone call that she would write a balanced story in the next issue of the Lincoln News. He reads from the Wilderness Campaign’s handbook regarding the importance of controlling the media.

November 21, 2007: Talbott discloses that supporters of the “economic development” entity, Millinocket Area Growth & Investment Council (MAGIC), are talking to his advertisers, asking them to pull their ads from WSYY. He announces that in response for his invitation for anyone to call in with the name of anything positive MAGIC has done, he has gotten zero calls. He renews his invitation for any director of MAGIC to call in. He also talks about the fact that he has contacted the Maine State Attorney General’s office to investigate MAGIC, what they have done with more than 1 million taxpayers’ dollars, and how they can apply for an MPR station with public funding.

November 22, 2007: Talbott promises to air “the MAGIC theme song” on Monday’s show, “MAGIC Music Monday”. He points out that MAGIC is ostensibly a nonprofit and that they have obtained tax money for 7 years by claiming to help businesses in the area.

Week 2

November 26, 2007: Talbott unveils the MAGIC theme song. He also reacts to Lincoln News reporter Lisa Pelkey Hayes’ newest “hatchet piece” about him and the situation he finds himself in. He explains the history of the station, how he was squeezed out by Ktaadn Resorts developer Matthew Polstein, and how MAGIC has applied to the FCC for a station which will use his former tower site. Discussion centers around Brims Ness, Allagash Valve and the grants MAGIC got them, as well as Federated Services Corp, whose president is MAGIC’s Bruce McLean, and whose officers include Terry Ingram, owner of Allagash Valve.

November 27, 2007: Again, no word from MAGIC, and Talbott points out that MAGIC seems to think that if they ignore him, he'll go away. He promises that he will not go away. He asks the popular question "what has the 1,100,000-plus done for the region?" and points out that they will not disclose where those public funds were spent. He invites public comment, either written or mp3 file, to be emailed to public@themountain949.com.

November 28, 2007:Talbott discusses East Millinocket’s recent town celebration and how it was wildly successful with no help from Millinocket Area Growth & Investment Council (MAGIC), and the fact that MAGIC’s “help” for Porter’s Woodworking ended up costing East Millinocket $250,000. He asks why listeners think that MAGIC decided to go into the radio business and not the grocery business. He points out that MAGIC has still not called or written to explain themselves, despite his constant invitations to do so.

November 29, 2007:Talbott points out that, while he is getting plenty of feedback, MAGIC directors, including Gail Fanjoy and Bruce McLean have been curiously quiet about why they are spending taxpayer money to buy a radio station to compete with WSYY. He reads some of the information people have sent to the station about MAGIC and about Matt Polstein, including some of Matt’s public comments about making Millinocket a “gateway community”.

Week 3

December 3, 2007:Talbott starts out with the MAGIC theme song, and then explains that MAGIC now says that they are applying for Dennis Dunbar, a resident of Washington, D.C., because Dunbar does not have nonprofit status, and the FCC requires one to operate an NPR station. That FCC application is here. He reads from an account where Matt Polstein testified against the “Big A” dam in 1986. and an article about Polstein finally disclosing that he had been in negotiation for the land for “more than 2 years” during which time, he did numerous favors for the landowner, including helping to write a TIF for them.

December 4, 2007: In addition to his invitation to have Gail Fanjoy, Bruce McLean, Matt Polstein, or any other MAGIC member call or write explaining themselves, Talbott has asked for anyone who received the alleged “Home to Katahdin” survey to call and let him know, as no one seems to have gotten any, despite the huge grant that went to MAGIC to send it out.

December 5, 2007: Talbott reads the letter from Councilor Matthew A. Polstein to Roxanne Quimby, which is available for you to read here. The reading of this letter is what has prompted several councilors to try to stop WSYY from broadcasting, and also eventually prompts Councilor Matthew Polstein to have a televised temper tantrum when he alleges that the letter was “leaked” by another councilor (despite the fact that this letter is public information, obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request from the state, after Polstein flaunted the law and refused to give it -- or any other information -- up..

December 6, 2007: Talbott discusses Councilor Matt Polstein’s “us against them” attitude, as evidenced by the fact that in his letter to Roxanne Quimby, he refers to us as “the locals”. He explains that Dennis Dunbar says that the proposed new station will be MAGIC’s, while MAGIC says it is Dennis Dunbar’s. He asks again “where did the $1 million we gave MAGIC go”? He reads the Maine State Statute governing “Director or Officer Conflict of Interest,” questioning Bruce McLean’s business partnership with Terry Ingram and Jerry Tudan, both helped financially by MAGIC, in that regard.

Week 4

December 10, 2007: Talbott states that this fight he is fighting has been going on for years, and he is only the latest casualty. He points out that Bruce McLean’s salary is in excess of $63,000 a year but that, other than that, MAGIC will not fully disclose where the money has gone. He advised people to read the Magic City Morning Star, who Councilor Polstein named a “threat to the community” in a special council meeting, as well as YouTube to see what is really going on in Millinocket, Maine..

December 11, 2007: Week 4, Day 23 of “Magic, where’s the money? Talbott discusses Dennis Dunbar’s assertion that MAGIC needs an NPR station because it’s a good way to get Bruce McLean’s teachings in the public. He explains that he’d heard for years about what was going on in Millinocket, but he thought it was “conspiracy theories” about the Nature Conservancy and the Wilderness Society, but since he had become a target of MAGIC, he is rapidly beginning to believe. He reads some comments from an article about the Katahdin Land Deal which mention Millinocket Area Growth & Investment Council (MAGIC) and WSYY.

December 12, 2007: Talbott once again invites anyone representing MAGIC to explain where the money went, what jobs they have brought, and/or why they are applying for a radio station in direct competition with WSYY, which paid taxes which in turn went to MAGIC. He explains that he is broadcasting this information because he is one target who has a voice, and he needs to get the word out about what this tax-funded group is doing to people in the area and how they are economically sanctioning people who speak out.

December 13, 2007: Talbott reads a letter from someone in Westbrook saying "How ucky that the taxpayers of the town get to support the instrument of their own destruction by supporting" MAGIC. He discusses the fact that the only MAGIC supporter to contact the station so far used language so bad that it could not be played or repeated.

Week 5

December 17, 2007: Talbott clarifies that Matthew Polstein is not on the Board of Directors of MAGIC but is a co-founder and is involved. He then read the names of the MAGIC directors whose names appear on the FCC Form 340. Those names are Gail Fanjoy, Brian Stetson, Don Casko, Marie Vinneau, Brett Cole, Avern Danforth, Jana Garvin, Kathy Lee, Richard Levasseur, Orin Merrill, Steve Stanley, Russell Smith, Shirley Tapley, Steve Waceken, Richard Waller, and Rick Nicholson. He invited any of them to call or write to let him know whether they were aware of MAGIC's pending acquisition of a radio station. Talbott references Matt Polstein’s temper tantrum from last week’s town council meeting and promises we would have it up shortly.

December 18, 2007:Talbott declares it “Bad, Bad Alyce Maragus Day” after Mrs. Maragus was blamed by the MAGIC crowd for the “negativity” in the area after she asked for an accounting of MAGIC’s spending. He asks why it is that the only people who seem to benefit from MAGIC are friends of the core group of MAGIC and/or Matt Polstein. He reads from Mrs. Maragus’s column entitled “Thank You - WSYY and James Talbott”.

December 19, 2007:Talbott reveals that a MAGIC proponent called in but used so much foul language that her comments were not playable. He invites that MAGIC president and former Millinocket Town Councilor Gail Fanjoy to come on the air and explain herself. Again. He explains that taxpayer money is paying for the road to Ktaadn Resorts, as well as the three-phase power and wonders aloud how that could be when Matt Polstein, Ktaadn Resorts owner, denied WSYY the opportunity to even be spoken about at town council meetings because WSYY is 50 feet outside of town. He points out that Ktaadn Resorts is outside of town as well. He discusses the “surge in propaganda” put forth by MAGIC proponents.

December 20, 2007: Talbott issues yet another invitation to MAGIC, Gail Fanjoy, Matt Polstein, Bruce McLean, or other MAGIC people to come on the air and explain what’s going on with MAGIC and with Ktaadn Resorts. He discusses the “Katahdin Cultural Center’s” former building, the old Newberry Building, which is going up for auction to pay off the default. He invites email at public@themountain949.com. He reads “See No, Hear No” which describes the propensity Matt Polstein and the MAGIC proponents have for blaming news outlets for being “negative” when they report on the conflicts of interest and ethical “problems” those people and the local economic development agency continually find themselves embroiled in.