WPVM's Dr. Herb Johnson Shares His Art

Dr. Herb Johnson, treasurer of Friends of WPVM Inc, has been an art collector for many years, a passion he inherited from his father—a jazz musician in the 1920s-30s and then owner of an art gallery in Chicago in the 1940s. Dr. Johnson's art interests include American print makers and American primitives of the 1930s as well as traditional West African tribal art.

Also known for sharing pieces of his art, three of Dr. Johnson's donations to the Asheville Art Museum are now on display with other American prints. He is shown above at the recently re-furbished museum beside a collection of prints from the 1930s and early '40s, featuring scenes that are urban, industrial and rural in a range of printmaking techniques. The exhibit includes his gifts by Reginald Marsh, Grant Wood and Helen West Heller—artists who Dr. Johnson believes “truly express the iconic American print movement in the 1930s.”

Helen West Heller - Isometric Architecture  1941

Grant Wood - In The Spring 1939

Reginald Marsh - Merry Go Round 1930

WPVM Featured in "Capital at Play" Magazine

Ms. Davyne Dial and Dr. Herb Johnson, president and treasurer of Friends of WPVM, Inc.—and husband and wife—are featured with nine other regional non-profits in the November issue of Capital at Play magazine. The couple is profiled in an informative two-page spread about how they came to be involved with the station.

Additionally, other station volunteers, including Blaine Greenfield, host of “Blaine’s World,” and Jessica Rice, host of “NC Serves Veterans Radio Hour,” are featured in a section called “Fun for a Better WNC.” 

Davyne and Herb thank editor Fred Mills and his staff for including WPVM is this distinctive annual issue! The magazine is available at a number of locations in the WNC region.

NATIONAL RADIO DAY  

Each year on August 20th, National Radio Day recognizes the great invention of the radio. Celebrate the news, information, music, and stories carried across the airwaves.

Several inventors had a part in the invention of the radio in the late 1800s. Amazingly, not just one person can be credited with its beginning. Each component developed through invention and discovery. As these technologies converged, the radio came to life.

THE CONTRIBUTORS

In the paragraphs that follow, a noted international effort contributed to the conception of the radio. In Germany, the research of Heinrich Hertz proved electricity could be transmitted wirelessly. Elsewhere, the multiple patents of the prolific inventor Nikola Tesla provided the radio with the Tesla coil. Born in Croatia, Tesla also contributed many patents involving alternating current advancing the science and production of numerous inventions. When it comes to the first commercially available wireless, Italian, Guglielmo Marconi receives the honor.   

 In radio, you have two tools. Sound and silence. ~ Ira Glass

While entertainment and music fill the airwaves today, they were not the radio’s first functions. First, the wireless radio served the military. It also provided a regular public service role. Much like the dits and dots of a telegram, the wireless transmitted information. On board the Titanic at the time of its sinking, a Marconi wireless broadcast the ship’s distress signal. However, in 1906, the first radio broadcast of voice and music purely for entertainment purposes aired. Reginald Fessenden transmitted the program from Brant Rock, Massachusetts for the general public to hear. The Canadian born scientist would go on to many more successes in his lifetime.      

BROADCASTS

As wireless came alive, the first broadcast stations began airing programs in the 1920s. News and world events were the first items over the airwaves.

• Radio ownership grew. In 1931, two out of five homes owned a radio. By 1938, four out of five owned a radio.  
  
• According to FCC statistics, at the end of 2012, there were more than 15,000 licensed broadcast radio stations in the U.S.
• On October 1, 1999, the first satellite radio broadcast occurred. Worldspace aired the broadcast in Africa. 

The founder of National Day Calendar hosts a radio talk show.  The “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson hosts the Tech Ranch, featuring discussions on technology for everyday life.  Click here to listen.

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalRadioDay

To celebrate National Radio Day, listen to your favorite radio station. Give special recognition to the station, radio personalities and the programs that make your days better.  Use #NationalRadioDay to post on social media. 

Educators, join the National Day Calendar Classroom to get your students involved in National Radio Day with crosswords puzzles, a podcast and more! Every week the classroom offers a variety of lessons and projects to keep children engaged and learning.