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Steve Post was an overweight, nebbische Jewish kid born in the Bronx who had a complicated childhood. His mother died of cancer while he was a child. Successive women in his father’s life treated him with indifference or outright hostility (save for one woman, a stripper, who treated him like a real person). With his brother, he spent two years in a Dickensian boarding school where he was bullied. And he never did well in any school environment.

Back at home, he found escape in radio. Despite his father’s prohibitions, Steve surreptitiously used his dad’s Webcor reel-to-reel recorder to make “radio” programs, employing pseudonyms like “Luke Warm” and “Paige Turner.” Eventually, he realized his dream at WBAI, became a cult radio personality who innovated in “free form” radio, and helped many other youthful aspirants find their voices and realize their radio dreams.

He moved on to National Public Radio’s New York City flagship station, WNYC-FM, in 1981, where he hosted the weekday Morning Music for twenty years. During this time, he established himself as the station’s number one on-the-air fundraiser. He is credited with having played a major role in helping the station raise the money to buy the station’s license from the City, thereby winning its independence from mayoral interference.

When WNYC changed its format to all-talk subsequent to 9/11, Post began a weekly program, The No Show, returning him to his radio roots, combining music, commentary, and satire.

He retired from WNYC in 2009 and died in 2014.

His radio persona was that of a curmudgeon, but his outstanding personal characteristic was that of nurturance. His struggle with cancer lasted off and on for more than thirty years. Although he always characterized himself as a coward, he demonstrated remarkable courage in facing that challenge and other challenges of moral principle: “grace under pressure.”

Our portrayal of Steve Post presents us with the opportunity to portray some of the spirit, the zeitgeist of the 1960s and early 70s, with special reference to a key cultural, or counter-cultural institution of the time, Pacifica radio’s WBAI-FM in New York City, “one of the few examples of freedom in action in the electronic media.” (Julius Lester)

Producer/Director: Rosemarie Reed

90 minutes

All proceeds support WFMU

WFMU Radio’s Monty Hall, located at 43 Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City (mere steps from the Exchange Place PATH station).

An Extraordinary Place is a 34-minute documentary about WMPG, a nonprofit community radio station in Portland, Maine powered by 200 dedicated volunteers. While many documentaries focus on societal challenges, this film highlights a solution: the transformative power of volunteerism in creating joy, meaning, and belonging. It celebrates diversity’s role in fostering strong, connected communities and offers a behind-the-scenes look at WMPG’s inclusive ethos, where shared purpose connects individuals.

The film has garnered widespread recognition, including “Best Short Film” at the 2024 Maine International Film Festival and “Best Maine Film” at the 2024 Maine Outdoor Film Festival, along with honors at festivals in England, Italy, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

The documentary explores the power of human connections, focusing on the relationships among the station’s volunteers and its radio audience. The film explores this unusual community and sense of belonging, through the lens of love of music – how its members see their own role and their relationships with the community of which they are a part.

Event Venue

Monty Hall, 43 Montgomery Street, Jersey City, United States