This morning I turned on the radio and a familiar thing happened: I heard the voice of someone I know singing a song they wrote, and feelings of comfort and wonder washed over me. In this case the voice belonged to my friend and bandmate Brandi Ediss, singing a song from her excellent solo record “Bees and Bees and Bees.” It’s an experience that has played out over and over as I’ve cooked meals and run errands and driven to work and explored the back roads and odd corners of this place we call home. While the voices have been many, the source is always the same: radio station WRSI FM, The River.

“Different is good,” The River’s tagline says, and what a difference it makes when a radio station’s DJs and staff take such care in cultivating community and creating a sense of place. It’s tempting to say we’re lucky to have such a vibrant array of artists here in western Massachusetts. But it’s not luck. It’s the product of hard work by the people making that art — and by the people making space for those voices on the airwaves and in venues, galleries, theaters, bookshops and more, and by all of the people taking the time to listen, look, read, and engage.

Greg Saulmon

Holyoke