UMFM is pleased to announce three new shows in its morning talk radio blocks -- plus a bit of reorganization that may help listeners tune in to issues that matter to them.

Thursday has a new program in Midweek Politics, which focuses on U.S. politics and news of the week, with truly bipartisan interviews and a remarkable breadth of topics, starting at 8 a.m.. It's followed up with Alternative Radio at 9 and ALERT! at 10, making Thursday morning great for politicos of all varieties (except perhaps the FOX News variety). Early risers can get a dose of This Week in Science on Thursdays at 7 a.m..

Friday has a great ecologically themed pairing of If You Love This Planet at 6 a.m. and Earthbeat Radio at 7 a.m.. At 8 a.m. tune into brand-new show Essay Selections, a compilation of great programming from other National College Radio Association (NCRA) stations, followed up by the nefarious Interview Show, with -- you guessed it -- interviews with musicians of all genres.

Saturday morning has a great independently programmed hour of news, with Groundwire national news at 7 a.m. followed up by new addition Terra Informa, an insightful and well-researched show covering environmental issues, produced at CJSR in Edmonton. Don't miss it bright and early at 7:30 a.m.!

In the evening, don't miss Remembering Our Jets -- a new addition that broadcasts the voice of the Winnipeg Jets -- Tuesdays at 6 p.m.. Shaking The Tree is another new local show that puts the spotlight on environmental and food injustice in and outside of Canada, produced by U of M Faculty of Environment students and professor Stéphane McLachlan.

UMFM's programming is evolving with new and better shows all the time, so watch for more great niche news and public affairs shows. And if you can't listen in live, check them out by podcast.

As all of you all know, a major earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince, on Tuesday January 12th, causing catastrophic destruction across the city of two million people in the western hemisphere's most impoverished nation. Over the past few days, many of our listeners, as well as many of UMFM's own volunteers, have contacted us asking how they can help with the relief efforts. After a little research, I can suggest that donating to one of the following organizations will certainly help to make even a little difference.

• MCC
• Oxfam
• Partners In Health
• The Red Cross
• Plan Canada
• Unicef
• World Vision
• The Haitian Education Project

Also, I would encourage you to head down to the Lo Pub on Monday, January 25th, as the Mass Appeal folks have put together a fundraiser for Haitian Relief Efforts. For more information you can go here.

Be sure to tune into Smash It Up Radio, Monday nights from 8PM until 9PM, throughout the month of January to win a rockin' prize pack as part of the Transistor 66 Royal Albert Weekender Feb 5 & 6!

To be entered to win this amazing prize, just email your name to email your name to   smashitupradio@hotmail.com, with Transistor 66 Raffle in the subject line. The grand prize winner will be announced on the February 1 edition of the show!

The big prize includes:

• 2 Weekend Passes to the Transistor 66 Royal Albert Weekender (Feb 5 & 6)
• A 10 CD Transistor '66 Library
• 2 UMFM T-Shirts

Free passes to the shows & a Transistor 66 cd library! Hot Damn!!

UMFM is pleased to announce that Men's & Women's Bison Hockey will be returning to the airwaves starting January 8th at 7PM, when the Womens Hustlin' Herd takes on the Lethbridge Lady Pronghorns. Join Chris Zuk, Catherine O' Rourke and Jimmy Mac for all of the game action, with the pregame show kicking things off 15 minutes prior to each broadcast. The complete schedule is as follows:

1. Friday, January 8th @ 7PM - Manitoba Bison Women versus Lethbridge
2. Friday, January 15th @ 7PM - Manitoba Bison Men versus UBC
3. Saturday, January 23 - 7PM - Manitoba Bison Women versus Calgary
4. Saturday, January 30 - 7PM - Manitoba Bison Men versus Alberta
5. Friday, February 5th - 3PM - Manitoba Bison Women versus Regina
6. Friday, Febuary 26th - 7PM - Manitoba Bison Men versus Regina

We, the staff and volunteers at UMFM 101.5, are pleased to welcome you to the newly revamped umfm.com. We're very proud of our new look, but we'd love to hear what you have to say as well, so if you have anything to say about the new site, either positive or negative, you can do so by emailing feedback@umfm.com. Please bear with us over the next month or so as we work out some of the kinks with the new site. Soon enough we'll be firing at all cylinders and you'll be able to enjoy the site to it's fullest capabilities. In the meantime, some of your favorite hosts will be making their show available to you via our new podcast feature, so enjoy, it's been a longtime coming!