02/02/2026
Happy Monday! Would anyone local to our area be interested in doing a short interview for a weekly podcast. The goal of the podcast is to share stories and perspectives of people who live in rural Maine. Far too often are the voices of rural communities ignored in public policy. Here is a note from Jay Field describing his goals for the podcast. HIs contact information is at the end for anyone willing to reach out and have your voice heard.
My name is Jay Field. I live in Belfast—and among other things—am a former reporter with Maine Public Radio.
I’m reaching out to let you know about a podcast project I’m working on and see if I might you might be able to help.
Unorganized Territory, a twice weekly podcast and newsletter on Substack, tells the story of the 2026 election, and politics in the nation’s most rural state, through the voices of voters across Maine.
Maine is in the middle of the battle for control of Congress and the key races in our state are already receiving weekly coverage from the national political press and scrutiny from pundits, pollsters, analysts and others in the professional political class. This attention focuses mostly on "inside baseball” stuff—who’s up, who’s down, who’s raising the most money, how party leaders in Washington see the races, and the tactics and maneuvering campaigns are engaged in to gain the upper hand.
Unorganized Territory believes there’s space, and an important need, for coverage of this consequential election through the real lives and experiences of those doing the actual voting across our state—stories and audio diaries of differing lengths about community pride and sense of place; the roots of voters personal engagement with politics and choices in elections; economic uncertainty and affordability concerns; rising health care costs and housing insecurity; President Trump and his policies and the often-stark divide between the realities of rural life, and the way rural voters and their communities are often represented, perceived and stereotyped far away in the country’s urban power centers.
Fulfilling the potential of this project will depend, in large part, on finding compelling characters to interview, who are good natural storytellers.
Would you have a few minutes to chat by phone about whether there’s anyone on your orbit who might be interesting to talk to?
Thanks,
Jay
[email protected] | 847.630.6918
The 2026 election—one general store at a time. Click to read Unorganized Territory, by Jay Field, a Substack publication. Launched 2 years ago.
