(First airdate: September 25, 2018) ANITA SCHMUCKER: 100 KIDS & A BANKING CAREER. Our Town Host Maryanne McNellis interviews Anita Schmucker, manager of the Port Hadlock Branch of First Security Bank. Anita switched from waitressing to banking and is excelling - she’s worked her way up the ladder to be branch manager. Along the way, Anita and her retired firefighter husband Andy have fostered around 100 kids. She’s passionate about children’s causes and works constantly to try to see that no kid slips between the cracks. She brings that same passion and enthusiasm to her bank. According to Anita, excellent customer service is the key to her career success.

You, our valued audience, have asked for more local news coverage, and KPTZ delivers. As many want to know more about our community, we have recently expanded our local news offering with a twice weekly headlines program. KPTZ News now airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:05pm.

Hosted by journalist Charlie Bermant, the 5-minute program summarizes stories from local media including the Port Townsend Leader and Peninsula Daily News, along with original stories produced by the KPTZ news staff.

“Not everybody reads the local papers, so they can miss what is going on around them,” says KPTZ Program Director Larry Stein. “We monitor the local media and report those stories of greatest interest and relevance to area residents.”

During our first month of operation nearly half the reported stories were written and produced by Bermant, who worked as the Peninsula Daily News Port Townsend bureau chief for 6 years before retiring in 2016. Other members of the KPTZ News team will contribute over the next few months.

The short bursts of the KPTZ News program complements the deeper coverage of KPTZ’s weekly half hour Compass program, which highlights more in-depth, feature-oriented stories.

Bermant has retained many of his PDN sources, adding “I still have the same cell phone.” He also has held on to many of his previous Facebook friends, as the social network is a tremendous source for news tips.

While Bermant has written a fair share of longer pieces, this program caters to the prevailing short attention span of the listening public. “People don’t have the time or inclination to learn about issues in depth,” Bermant said. “So we are boiling down these stories to the barest bones. Still, it plugs listeners in to the latest issues, and they know where to go if they need more information.”

This week on the Compass: In the afterglow of the Port Townsend Film Festival, we revisit our interview with a local philosopher about his lecture entitled “Seriously Funny: Humor, Film and Philosophy.”

It’s a Tradition!*

KPTZ’s Live Broadcast from opening night at the Port Townsend Film Festival will feature interviews with filmmakers by hosts Larry Stein, Cris Wilson, and Chris Bricker. The show airs Friday, September 21 from 5 to 7pm. Tune in! And if you're at the festival, visit us at our remote studio. We will broadcast from our temporary studio in the lobby of Gooding O'Hara and Mackey, Accounting Corp, at Washington and Taylor Streets. Guests will have just arrived in a parade of classic cars down Washington Street, then celebrated the opening of the festival with the traditional Salmon dinner on Taylor Street. We'll bring a number of them into our studio to catch the excitement of the Festival. Always an exciting night of film and radio!
*We continue the inspiration and spirit of our longtime partner in Film festival coverage, Marcia Perlstein.

Pre-Festival interview programs air the following times:
Program #1 - Tues Sept 18, 5:05pm & Wed Sept 19, 10:30am - interviews with director Sarah Menzies of Afghan Cycles; and composer David Keenan and performer Nova Devonie of Steamboat Bill Jr
Program #2 - Wed Sept 19, 9:30am & Thurs Sept 20, 12:10pm - interviews with director Arwen Curry of Worlds of Ursula K. LeGuin; and director Dan Habib of Intelligent Lives
Program #3 - Wed Sept 19, 10am & Fri Sept 21, 12:10pm - interviews with directors Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown of United Skates; and director V. Scott Balcerek of Satan & Adam

Tossed Salad host Phil Andrus launches us into the Fall season with Can’t Wait for Salad at 12:40 featuring Amanda Milholland of the Farmers Market and the closing of the PT Wednesday Market season. Thereafter:

1:00 - Jeanie Murphy, “Banjo Tunes, Tunings, and Lore”
2:00 - Jasmin Faulk-Dickerson, with Eros and Dante Faulk
3:00 - Holly Near and Laura Love, with Ellen Bonjourno
3:45 - Summer Love Cajun Band, sending summer off to good memories
4:30 - Don White, reading “ A Fable with Slips of White Paper Spilling from the Pockets”, by Kevin Brockmeier

This week on the Compass, a meditation teacher says our hearts can actually think and feel; a geologist finds stories in stone buildings throughout Seattle and Port Townsend; and we talk with a doctor who says the biggest selling pharmaceutical of all time may actually be bad for you.