One Small Step | WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

About One Small Step | WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Audio archives of spoken word broadcasts from Community Radio WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill (weru.org)

Publisher

One Small Step – WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Jan 2024

Latest episode

6 Feb 2025

Latest episodes

7 episodes in the feed.

1. 6 Feb 2025

   One Small Step Short Feature: Eric and Donna

   WERU One Small Step Moderators: Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle. Produced by Chris Battaglia. Created by StoryCorps, One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us, even those with whom we disagree. The initiative brings strangers with different political beliefs together for a conversation—not to debate politics—but to get to know each other as people. This WERU project was in partnership with StoryCorps, and made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

2. 6 Feb 2025

   One Small Step Short Feature: Darby and March

   WERU One Small Step Moderators: Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle. Produced by Chris Battaglia. Created by StoryCorps, One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us, even those with whom we disagree. The initiative brings strangers with different political beliefs together for a conversation—not to debate politics—but to get to know each other as people. This WERU project was in partnership with StoryCorps, and made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

3. 6 Feb 2025

   One Small Step Short Feature: Achaia and Beverly

   WERU One Small Step Moderators: Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle. Produced by Chris Battaglia. Created by StoryCorps, One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us, even those with whom we disagree. The initiative brings strangers with different political beliefs together for a conversation—not to debate politics—but to get to know each other as people. This WERU project was in partnership with StoryCorps, and made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

4. 31 Jan 2024

   One Small Step WERU Live Special 1/31/2024

   Host: Matt Murphy Facilitators: Michele Christle and Chris Battaglia Engineer and Producer: Pepin Mittelhauser Additional Help: Joel Mann Guests: Karla and John, Melissa and Christa, Phil and Sue Theme Music: “Two Dollar Token” by Blue Dot Sessions Back in June 2023, we put out a call. We were looking for people who were willing to come together for an hour-long facilitated conversation with a stranger with different viewpoints, during which they would be invited to get to know each other as people, through listening to each other’s stories. As you can imagine, the response was mixed. But by the end of 2023, over a hundred people had signed up to participate. WERU brought on two local contractors to conduct outreach, recruit strangers, wrangle participants, scout locations, and facilitate, record, and archive One Small Step conversations: Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle. They also did a lot of deep reflecting on the project at large and its implications—for their communities and themselves. We recorded 25 One Small Step conversations with 50 participants from 37 towns in 15 different locations/venues (as well as two virtual conversations)—all the way from Falmouth to Presque Isle. Participants laughed, cried, disagreed, found common ground, and sometimes, exchanged contact information. This program was a live broadcast with One Small Step Facilitators Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle, and Station Manager Matt Murphy, on January 31 2024, from 4–5 p.m. Participants and community members joined the conversation by phone, and joined in discussing experiences with the project, personal takeaways, and how the project has affected them since. Chris Battaglia (he/him) has produced multimedia and storytelling for 15 years, working with many local businesses and nonprofits. His work has been funded by the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Kindling Fund via SPACE’s national regranting program through Andy Warhol Foundation, Maine Community Foundation, and the Maine Arts Commission. You can learn more at chrisbattaglia.info. Michele Christle (she/her) is a freelance writer whose work focuses on ecology, culture, and place. Her writing has been published in Eater, Down East, Insider, and The Kenyon Review. She served in the Peace Corps in Cameroon, received an MFA in Creative Writing from UMass Amherst, and has worked in nonprofit storytelling and communications—locally and internationally—for 15 years. You can learn more at michelechristle.com.

5. 3 Jan 2024

   One Small Step Short Feature: Nina and Milissa

   WERU One Small Step Moderators: Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle. Produced by Chris Battaglia. Recorded in Frankfort, ME. Created by StoryCorps, One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us, even those with whom we disagree. The initiative brings strangers with different political beliefs together for a conversation—not to debate politics—but to get to know each other as people. This WERU project was in partnership with StoryCorps, and made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

6. 2 Jan 2024

   One Small Step Short Feature: Thia and Alex

   WERU One Small Step Moderators: Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle. Produced by Chris Battaglia. Recorded in East Orland, ME. Created by StoryCorps, One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us, even those with whom we disagree. The initiative brings strangers with different political beliefs together for a conversation—not to debate politics—but to get to know each other as people. This WERU project was in partnership with StoryCorps, and made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

7. 1 Jan 2024

   One Small Step Short Feature: Rick and Katie

   WERU One Small Step Moderators: Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle. Produced by Chris Battaglia. Recorded in Belfast, ME. Created by StoryCorps, One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us, even those with whom we disagree. The initiative brings strangers with different political beliefs together for a conversation—not to debate politics—but to get to know each other as people. This WERU project was in partnership with StoryCorps, and made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

21,216

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 24 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

17

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

0

Contact One Small Step | WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.