Monte Belmonte

Monte Belmonte

Monte Belmonte 6am - 10am

Having grown up in the suburbs of Boston, I always thought Western Mass was a desolate wasteland. Now I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Well, I guess I can imagine it but I don’t WANT to live anywhere else. On this page you’ll find conversations with some of the people I find most interesting in our Valley. Authors, astronomers, astronauts and other people that start with letters other than “a.”

I got my start in radio impersonating Al Gore while off the air on Election Day 2000, and since that election dragged on and on, so has my radio career. I love bringing music and my “low minded humor for high minded people” (Wine Squirrel copyright 2017) to people of the Valley every weekday morning.

Friday, March 27, 201503/27/2015

Meltdown 2015: Amazing Grace (Lin)

In Podcasts

Triple threat: amazing illustrator, amazing author, amazing person!  Meet relatively recent Valley resident, Grace Lin, who’ll be at The Meltdown…

Thursday, March 26, 201503/26/2015

Meltdown 2015: Erica S. Perl & Her Chicken Butt

In Podcasts

Guess what? Erica S. Perl is not just an author but she helps kids who have limited access to books…

Wednesday, March 25, 201503/25/2015

Word Nerd: Comeback Words Part Deux

In Podcasts

Words like ‘makebate,’ ‘mundigavant,’ ‘nutation,’ ‘quinquennium,’ and ‘whatness’ should all make a comeback according to Emily Brewster, Resident Wordster from…

Wednesday, March 25, 201503/25/2015

Meltdown 2015: Mike Curato

In Podcasts

Little Elliot. Big City. is Mike Curato’s first book and he’s already being heralded and lauded as one of the hottest…

Tuesday, March 24, 201503/24/2015

Meltdown 2015: Nick Bruel

In Podcasts

The man behind Bad Kitty is OK with the badness of cats and likes secretly (or not so secretly) hiding…

Tuesday, March 24, 201503/24/2015

Heavy Petting: KILL ME NOW!

In Podcasts

Why does the U.S. government want you to go out and kill this fish?

Monday, March 23, 201503/23/2015

Meltdown 2015: Jarrett J. Krosoczka

In Podcasts

The author/illustrator who, with his lovely wife Gina, rope in all the great authors and illustrators into our Meltdown: The…

Friday, March 20, 201503/20/2015

Wine Snob: Mourvedre!

In Podcasts

Sounds like a scary grape but it’s not.

Wednesday, March 18, 201503/18/2015

The Penultimate Penderwicks

Northampton author and National Book Award Winner Jeanne Birdsall talks about writing for “the sweet spot” of 9-11 year olds.…

Wednesday, March 18, 201503/18/2015

Word Nerd: Cicisbeo, Fleshment, Formosity, Fubsy, Lickpenny

In Podcasts

Weird words that  Emily Brewster, Resident Wordster from Merriam-Webster, things we should all start using again.

Recent Headlines

10 hours ago in Sports, Trending

Roger Federer is coming back to play at the US Open, but not interested in coming back to pro tennis

Roger Federer is actually nervous about his tennis. The man who won five straight U.S. Open championships during the height of his dominance of the sport is set to play again in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night for the first time since 2019.

17 hours ago in Entertainment, Trending

What to know about the first week of a trial in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur

In the first week of testimony at the trial of a man accused of orchestrating the killing of Tupac Shakur, the night of Sept. 7, 1996, has been run and rerun many times — through police who were at the scene, through the people near the hip-hop superstar, and through the recorded words of the suspect, Duane "Keffe D" Davis.

17 hours ago in Entertainment, Trending

‘Spider-Man’ tops box office in fourth weekend; ‘The Odyssey’ becomes Nolan’s highest-grossing film

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" fought off a slew of newcomers, including a comedy, a horror franchise, a Jason Statham action movie and a family pic, to maintain its first-place spot at the box office in its fourth weekend in theaters. "The Odyssey" also became Christopher Nolan's highest grossing movie ever, both domestically and internationally.

5 days ago in Entertainment, Music

After losing a friend and writing ‘Say So,’ Dan + Shay are back with the autobiographical ‘Young’

The lead single from Grammy Award-winning duo Dan + Shay's forthcoming album "Young" is a hard pivot from the wedding songs that make up so much of the country pair's discography.

6 days ago in Entertainment, Music

Frank Beard, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer of boogie-rock trio ZZ Top, dies at 77

Frank Beard, the drummer for the Texas boogie-rock trio ZZ Top who kept the tempo for the band's biggest hits like "Sharp Dressed Man," "Legs" and "Gimme All Your Lovin,'" has died. He was 77.