© 2026 New England Public Media

FCC public inspection files:
WGBYWFCRWNNZWNNUWNNZ-FMWNNI

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@nepm.org or call 413-781-2801.
PBS, NPR and local perspective for western Mass.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Impacts of legalized marijuana, 'Dear Alien' play at Chester Theater, Mr. Universe

We’ve now had legal cannabis in Massachusetts for a decade, but what is its impact on the Bay State and other states who’ve changed their stance on marijuana. This is the subject of a new study by the Parabola Center which asked folx in places that have legalized weed for at least 5 years, and the results are very interesting. We chat with one of the authors of "I Like Not Having to Go Behind the Dumpster at Taco Bell," researcher Faith English, about what they found.

In Chester, the 2026 season for the town’s theater company is coming to a close and inviting questions about our own interactions in its final production. Dear Alien” starts with the author of an advice column but delves into a number of other topics, and we speak with playwright Liz Duffy Adams and the play’s director and Chester Theater’s co-artistic director, Michelle Ong Hendrick, about this new work and the way it makes us look at connections we make with each other and the world.

And, speaking of this world, Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed of Kainaat Studios, is extra excited about a new super earth that’s been found to have an atmosphere. We learn why this is an important detail amongst the many other super earths that have been found, and how it relates to the idea that we may not be alone out here in the cosmos.

Christopher “Monte'' Belmonte is host and executive producer of NEPM's The Fabulous 413. He was born and raised in Massachusetts and has been a radio host in western Massachusetts for the last 20 years — the last 17 of them as host of Mornings with Monte on The River 93.9/WRSI.
Kaliis Smith is a radio host and producer for NEPM's The Fabulous 413.