Apple Country Radio - Brookfield's Community Radio Station

06/19/2026

Brookfield's Interim Town Administrator Blythe Robinson has suggested to General Manager Sharon Mahoney that they have a one-on-one discussion about a solution to the issue of "license" vs. "lease" and the role of MGL 30B Section 16 for rental of the Town Hall Green Room and Mezzanine spaces, and she has agreed.

To facilitate this, the Select Board has granted another 30-day extension to the current rental agreement for July 30. We're hopeful this will result in the continuation of our studio rental in a way that both satisfies MGL and is agreeable to both the Town and the station.

Meanwhile, we're working to get back on the air. Stay tuned for more updates!

Send a message to learn more

06/16/2026

AN INVITATION TO OUR LISTENERS AND SUPPORTERS TO WEDNESDAY'S SELECT BOARD MEETING (DETAILS BELOW)

On Saturday a memo was sent to the Brookfield Select Board, who had declined at their meeting on April 1 to renew our rental agreement for the Town Hall second floor Green Room as our studio.

The text of the memo is as follows:
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To: The Brookfield Select Board and Town Administrator
From: Sharon Mahoney, President and General Manager, Apple Country Radio Inc.
Re: Apple Country Radio’s lease of the Town Hall Green Room under MGL 30B, §16
Date: June 13, 2026

During your meeting on April 1 of this year, the Select Board unanimously voted to give my organization a 90-day rental extension for our studio after the expiration of Apple Country Radio's current Green Room contract so that we would have time to work out an agreement that follows M.G.L. Ch. 30B §16 and is acceptable to all parties.

That rental extension expires June 30, seventeen days from now.

According to what I’ve researched at M.G.L. and the state-issued Chapter 30B Manual which accompanies this email, the process for leasing municipally owned property in all cases must be originated by the municipality [Page 86 - 94]. If the value of the property to be leased is valued at under $10,000, which I believe is the range under which the Green Room valuation falls, then the requirement is for the town to use “sound business practices” (see Ch. 30B §4c) to “solicit price lists or quotes” and create a “fair and accountable method for proposal selection.”

Chapter 30B allows municipalities to offer property for sale or lease “in order to promote a public purpose rather than to raise revenue” [Page 89 - 90]. I believe that Apple Country Radio, Inc., as an IRS-designated nonprofit broadcast community media organization, falls under that description. In the case of offering municipal property for lease in order to promote a public purpose, the Select Board must follow a number of steps outlined in the Manual.

As a prospective leaseholder who is currently occupying the rooms in question, I need to know what the Town will require for conditions in a new lease agreement. I have not been told the name of the official procurement officer for the Town, if any, so I’m unsure who will oversee formulating those conditions, so I assume that task will fall to the Select Board as a whole. As for the conditions themselves, as of today I haven’t heard from anyone on the Select Board about those requirements. The bottom line is I can’t issue a proposal—the term the Manual uses in this case, as opposed to “bid”—on behalf of Apple Country Radio, Inc. for leasing the Green Room without knowing what documentation the Select Board expects Apple Country Radio to submit—and time is running short.

Please let me know as soon as possible when I can expect to get a set of guidelines from the Select Board so that I may move this process forward on my end. If this is to be discussed in an open meeting, I would like to know what date it will appear on the agenda so that I may attend.
——
Today a Select Board meeting was posted for this coming Wednesday, June 17. The first agenda item reads, “Review and Execute Apple Country Radio Lease Agreement.” We haven’t been asked to submit a bid or proposal in accordance with Mass. General Law Chapter 30B, Section 16,, as was insisted upon by Chair Sarah Campbell at the April 1 meeting. We have no draft lease proposal from the Select Board in hand. Indeed, the only reason we know about this meeting is because we’ve signed up for automatic meeting notification. So we have no idea what the Select Board has in mind.

Nevertheless, we are grateful that the matter has been placed on the Select Board agenda prior to the June 30 deadline, and we’re going to go into the meeting assuming that there will be a good-faith discussion agreeable to all parties. And we are still hoping that the town will grant a two-year lease with an expiration date of April 1, 2028, to bring it in line with the Antenna/Mezzanine lease currently in effect.

Once again, we urge all listeners and to attend the June 17 Select Board meeting at 7pm in the Brookfield Town Hall Banquet Hall, 6 Central Street, 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.

As for getting back on the air, we are working on it and hope to have an announcement soon!

The email addresses are:
Executive Assistant: [email protected]
Select Board Chair Sarah Campbell: [email protected]
Select Board Member Richard Chaffee: [email protected]
Select Board Member Beth Coughlin: [email protected]
Town Administrator: [email protected]

Thanks in advance for your support of Apple Country Radio!

Send a message to learn more

05/21/2026

Kind of late notice, but if you're available and plan to attend the Brookfield Annual Town Meeing, it will give you the opportunity to ask questions.

May 21st, 2026 6:00PM

05/15/2026

For commuters, an important announcement.

B79 SCHEDULE CHANGE FOR MAY 19 AND 17 ONLY!!!!
PLEASE PLAN AHEAD!!

05/11/2026

The Friends of the Library cordially invite you to an open house at the library to say “Farewell!” to two library employees. Julia and Samantha will be leaving the library soon, so please join us on Wednesday, June 10th from 5 to 7 p.m., as we gather to say our goodbyes. In addition, you’ll have an opportunity to meet the Friends, learn about what they do, and discover how you can get involved. Light refreshments will be served.

05/04/2026

Busy today? Take five and have a listen! 😁

04/16/2026

The Brookfield Select Board is forming a Town Administrator Search Committee. Anyone wishing to volunteer to serve on that committee should contact Executive Assistant Karen Trainor at [email protected].

04/14/2026

No snow predicted, but high winds may cause power outages.

Strong to severe thunderstorms are possible between 2 PM and 8 PM Tuesday across northwest CT/MA. Damaging winds may down trees and powerlines. Storms will weaken as they track into RI and eastern MA.

04/11/2026

An update to our and listeners,

On Wednesday, April 1 we appeared before the Brookfield Select Board to talk about renewing our contract to use the Green Room as our live studio, located adjacent to the Great Hall stage on the second floor of the Town Hall. Our request was to renew the agreement for two years, not only to bring it into line with the April 3, 2028 expiration date of the antenna/transmitter and Mezzanine contract, but to alleviate the need to go before the Select Board every year several months in advance to begin renewal negotiations. I pointed out that Apple Country Radio had spent over $12,000 of its own funds on renovations, including cleaning out piles of flats, costumes and props from both rooms, establishing electrical and internet connectivity, refinishing the floors, and painting and repairing holes in the plaster, and erecting our antenna atop the Town Hall Clock Tower.

Both the former Chair, Richard Chaffee, and the newly-elected Chair Sarah Campbell, declined to move for renewal of the contract for two years. Mr. Chaffee said that there was a grant application in the works for a chair lift that would render the Great Hall ADA compliant, and said if it was granted and the chair lift installed, the Green Room would be needed for use in presentations, theatrical and musical productions, and for that reason our contract, if they chose to renew it, should only be renewed for one year at a time rather than two as we had requested.

I pointed out that no attempt to clear out or clean the Hall or renovate or replace the old seating had taken place since the now-disbanded Town Hall Improvement Committee paid to have the Hall painted two years ago. I also reminded the Board that the Great Hall itself needed much more renovation work prior to it being used, as it was littered with random pieces of furniture and cartons, stacks of folding chairs dating from the early 30s that had been gathering dust for decades, and set pieces - including a large stack of some very heavy flats. The stage and main floors are in need of refinishing and the stage lacks a cyclorama curtain along the back wall and and teaser curtains on the wings.

Select Board member Beth Coughlin commented that the Green Room was not essential to the operation of the Great Hall, pointing out that the right-hand side of the stage as well as the landing above held enough room for a changing area and that screens could be used for that purpose. She also pointed out that the Green Room was also being shared with Brookfield Cable Access Coordinator Jacob Gorham for his command center, and asked if he would be required to vacate the space as well.

For her part, Ms. Campbell cited Mass. General Law 30B, Section 16, which governs how towns and cities handle procurement and disposition of property. She said she had communicated with Town Counsel and said they had indicated that the procedure for allowing us to use the space had not been properly followed, and that the space - which we had occupied since mid-2024, should instead have gone out to bid prior to any further agreement being signed.

I responded that Town Counsel herself had drafted the original agreements, and it was on the basis of that contract wording that the Select Board had based and signed its final rental agreement back in 2025. Ms. Campbell said that Town Counsel had never received copies of the signed agreement. (That task had been left up to the previous Town Administrator, and it evidently had not been followed through.)

In the end, Ms. Coughlin proposed that Apple Country Radio be granted a 90-day reprieve from the agreement expiration while the situation was resolved. The vote was unanimous. I also insisted upon an additional vote that that Apple Country Radio not only be allowed to continue setting up its live studio but to be allowed to go back on the air again when it was ready, to which the Select Board also unanimously agreed.

The bottom line is that Apple Country Radio will be allowed to continue using the Green Room until Tuesday, June 30. If the contract is not renewed at all, we will be asked to vacate that space.

Until then, we will continue to finish up our work and to get back on the air, and continue to work with the Select Board and Town Counsel on a renewed rental agreement. We thank the large group of supporters who attended the April 1 Select Board meeting. Your presence in support of the station made a difference, and we are grateful!