Bill Sturgeon's 'Morning Drive' Finale Set for Jan. 6

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — WTBR-FM, Pittsfield Community Radio, will broadcast a special live "Morning Drive" radio program on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 7:30 a.m. to celebrate seven years on the air at the Pittsfield Community Television facility. 

The station moved to PCTV from Taconic High School in 2018 and had its inaugural broadcast from the new studios in January 2019.

The special broadcast will also mark the retirement of the morning program's longtime host, Bill Sturgeon. 

Sturgeon, a broadcast veteran and well-known personality in the community, has volunteered his time hosting the hour-long weekdays broadcast prior to the station's move, and continued through to the present day. In that time, he has hosted more than a thousand programs featuring interviews with local community members, elected officials, educators, local business, arts and nonprofit leaders, and more.

He has indicated that he will host an occasional special program on the station going forward.

A former student-run station, WTBR-FM is now managed and operated successfully by PCTV as a community radio station, which added a second frequency in Lee one year ago. Sturgeon was instrumental in saving WTBR amid an outpouring of listener support, when the former Taconic High School building which housed the station since the mid-1970s, was planned for demolition. He has also been active in fundraising for the organization. 

Several of Sturgeon's regular guests will join the special show, including several who were key figures in the transition of the station from Taconic High School to PCTV.  Also expected are current elected officials and representatives of organizations in the area. 

The anniversary broadcast, which will take place at the WTBR studios at 4 Federico Drive, can be heard on 89.7 FM in Pittsfield and central Berkshire County, as well as on 88.1 in Lee, Lenox and Stockbridge; by webstream at wtbrfm.com; and via a simulcast on PCTV's Access Pittsfield channel 1301 and live streamed at pittsfieldtv.org and on the PCTV Select service.

Sturgeon is a Vietnam veteran who served with the 101st Airborne Airmobile Division. Upon returning from Vietnam, he served with the Massachusetts National Guard's Yankee Division, where he was acting platoon sergeant for the unit's Scout Platoon.  As part of his criminal justice career, he had assignments in Haiti, South Africa, the Netherlands, and the U.K.  Sturgeon made over 120 criminal justice training videos.

In 1995, he won a Telly Award for his video on high-profile celebrity inmates.  After completing a successful criminal justice career in 2005, he started his radio career, initially while teaching criminal justice at Southern Vermont College.  He then hosted a 3-hour Monday- Friday show on WBRK before moving on to WRRS at UCP of Western Massachusetts. Sturgeon has 19 years of radio experience. 

In addition to his involvement with many community organizations, he is a member of the PCTV Board of Directors and the WTBR Community Advisory Board.

Community Meeting Addresses Prejudice in Pittsfield Schools

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:49PM / Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Johanna Lenski, a special education surrogate parent and advocate, says there's a 'deeply troubling' professional culture at Herberg that lets discriminatory actions and language slip by.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Around 60 community members gathered at Conte Community School on Monday night to discuss issues with prejudice in the district. 

The event was hosted by the Pittsfield Public Schools in partnership with the Berkshire NAACP and the Westside Legends. It began with breaking bread in the school's cafeteria, and caregivers then expressed fears about children's safety due to bullying, a lack of support for children who need it the most, and teachers using discriminatory and racist language. 

"One thing I've learned is that as we try to improve, things look really bad because we're being open about ways that we're trying to improve, and I think it's really important that we acknowledge that," interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips said, reflecting on her work in several other districts before coming to PPS last summer.  

"It is very easy to stay at the surface and try to look really good, and it may look like others are better than us, when they're really just doing a better job of just kind of maintaining the status quo and sweeping things under the carpet."

Brett Random, the executive director of Berkshire County Head Start, wrote on her personal Facebook page that her daughter reported her math teacher, "used extremely offensive language including both a racial slur (n-word) and a homophobic slur (f-word) and then reportedly tried to push other students to repeat those words later in the day when students were questioning her on her behavior."

The school department confirmed that an eighth-grade teacher at the middle school was placed on leave.  

The Berkshire Eagle, which first reported on the incident, identified the teacher as Rebecca Nitsche, and the teacher told the paper over the phone, "All I can tell you is it's not how it appears." Nitsche told the paper she repeated the words a student used while reporting the incident to another teacher because officials needed to know it happened. 

Johanna Lenski, speaking as a special education surrogate parent and parent advocate, on Monday said there is a "deeply troubling" professional culture at Herberg that has allowed discriminatory, racist, non-inclusive, and ableist treatment of students.

She said a Black transgender student was called a "piss poor, punk, puke of a kid," and repeatedly and intentionally misgendered by one of the school's teachers, and then wrongfully accused of physically assaulting that teacher, which resulted in a 10-day suspension. 

Another Herberg student with disabilities said the same staff member disclosed to an entire classroom that they lived in a group home and were in state Department of Children and Families' custody. When the teacher was asked to come to an individualized education program meeting for that student, Lenski said he "spent approximately 20 minutes attacking this child's character and portraying her as a problem, rather than a student in need of services and protection and support."