In 2013 a writer who was a member of Spirit of the Hills Arts Association told a meeting of our Writers’ Group that a new community radio station was opening up in Cobourg. He suggested someone should find out if they were looking for proposals for programmes.  Felicity Sidnell Reid attended the station’s next public meeting and found that this was the case. She asked Gwynn Scheltema if she would be interested in co-designing a half-hour weekly show, writing a proposal, and if accepted whether, she would be interested in cohosting it.

Together they wrote a proposal for a twelve-week series of interviews with, and readings by, local authors. “Word on the Hills” aired in the fall of 2013 with technical help from staff at the new station, Northumberland 89.7 FM, Truly Local Radio.

Before the first series ended, Gwynn had become the show’s editor and she and Felicity divided the other production tasks between them. “Word on the Hills” has been broadcast on Northumberland 89.7FM on Sundays at 1:00 pm ever since and is still going strong.   Since its inception, the reach of the show has expanded,  featuring guests from all over our region who have a connection with our locality.

 In 2018, Chris Cameron joined as a third member of the production and hosting team and has taken over the sound production and editing as well as becoming the third host. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, recording the show moved online.

This website wordonthehills.com was set up early in 2014 to give the public access to both recent programmes and archived ones at any time and from anywhere.

The Word on the Hills team looks forward to working together to continue bringing news of writers, editors and publishers and anyone else involved in the world of words from Northumberland and beyond, to their audience.