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 profiledin 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 Dial, WPVM general manager, was a recent guest speaker at the Grassroots Radio Conference in Rochester, New York. Her topic, “Social Media Savvy,” showed her audience how to incorporate live video to Facebook, cameras, smart phones, and mics to capture action or live programming. Davyne also explained to the radio station attendees how to use social media to help establish their brand in their particular communities to vastly increase their reach and engagement. Asked about the response, Davyne, who used PowerPoint to enhance her presentation, said her audience seemed dazzled—they had no idea such connections were possible. Verifying this, feedback from her audience was enthusiastic, like from Theresa Mitchell, radio commentator and music programmer for KBOO in Portland, Oregon: “A great presentation! You did a terrific job!”
A radio personality who later watched the video of Davyne’s talk confirmed this, calling it a “‘revelatory presentation’ that a vast majority of community radio stations are not knowledgeable about...and Davyne, with her immense technical expertise, presented the facts in a way that her audience could get it!”
An entertaining
5-minute listen from Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR) writer Cory Vaillancourt featuring Haywood County’s “elder
statesman of mountain music” Raymond Fairchild and Grammy Award-winning American songster Dom Flemons.
Billy Scribbles and Mikey Merrill on Asheville streets
Billy
Scribbles—travel writer, folklorist and busker (including playing banjo and
spoons on the streets of Asheville)—shares a Facebook post about playing with Raymond Fairchild. A delightful read! Photo on left of Billy with Mikey Merrill of Madison County. “The Reverend,” as Billy calls him, “is the real deal!”
A 2015 article from The New Yorker magazine by Amanda Petrusich on Roscoe Holcomb; Bob Dylan “described Holcomb's work as exhibiting a certain untamed sense of control.”
WPVM presents "Land of the Sky" radio
show on Sundays at 7:00-9:00 pm which features 78 rpm recordings of regional
music—with lots of banjo! Plus the station’s weekday afternoon programs highlight current musicians influenced by traditional regional sounds such as Steep Canyon Rangers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and many other artists with local roots; along with vintage recordings by Bascom Lamar Lunsford and Jimmie Rodgers. Enjoy!
On August 26, 1920, after three generations of an unrelenting, brilliant, courageous, political campaign, women in the United States won the right to vote.
In 1971, to honor and commemorate this historic event, Congresswoman Bella Abzug introduced a Congressional Resolution (she had to introduce it again in 1973 when Congress passed it) to ensure that this date would be commemorated with the designation of Women's Equality Day, which is now celebrated on August 26th each year.
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi leads a Women's Equality Day celebration in 2016
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
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 theNational Day Calendar Classroomto get your students involved in National Radio Day with crosswords puzzles, a podcast and more! Every week theclassroom offers a variety of lessons and projects to keep children engaged and learning.
In celebration of the Suffrage Centennial—when women won the
vote in August 1920—and as a way to support the modern women’s movement, WPVM recently
premiered a special interview program, “Women Fighting the Good Fight.”
The first show featured Justin Souther, the senior book buyer
and store manager at Malaprops (Asheville’s renowned bookseller) and Cornelia Powell, fashion historian, guest speaker and writer. Justin
brought a number of books from the store to “show and tell” focusing on the
suffrage movement in the U.S. as well as in Great Britain, sharing stories of
courageous women who gave their lives to this 72-year-long struggle for the
vote. Cornelia (who is presenting a series of lectures over the next year
around the Southeast—one titled, “Dress to Protest: What Women Wore to the Revolution”) interjected anecdotes from suffrage history.
Cornelia will join Davyne Dial—WPVM’s general manager and tech diva extraordinaire—at future randomly scheduled programs throughout the next year. (Plus, Justin will return as more books on women’s suffrage and woman-centric topics hit the book shelves at Malaprops.) Stay tuned. ~
In February of this year,
WPVM premiered a new monthly show, “NCServes Western Veterans Radio Hour.”
NCServes, now known as Veterans Services of the Carolinas (VSC)—a local division
of AmericaServes—is a non-profit organization that offers
veterans, service members and families of both, access to a range of supportive
sources from superior housing and emergency service providers to employment,
recreation and fitness, health and well-being, financial capabilities and more.
Kevin Rumley Coordinator, Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court
The show is presented
live on the first Thursday of the month at 11 a.m. and rebroadcast on Tuesdays
at 5pm. Each show presents experts in specific fields important to veterans and
their families. One of the featured guests, Christy
Shortridge, an Air Force veteran currently working on her master’s degree in
social work, shared: “WPVM is giving us veterans an unstifled voice to speak to
our brothers and sisters in a very candid manner that otherwise we wouldn’t
have. We are so grateful.”
Following their mission of
giving back to their much-loved Asheville community, managers of WPVM 103.7FM,
Ms. Davyne Dial and Dr. Herbert Johnson, who acquired the FCC license for the
not-for-profit station in June of 2015 (building the long-dormant station into
a strong, positive voice of the community), consider it a privilege to
broadcast the “NCServes Western Veterans Radio Hour.” The couple sees the
program as a vital addition to their already notable lineup of informed show
hosts well-versed in the fields of arts and culture, with a focus on vintage
and regional music, as well as politics and current events—all covering
subjects important to Asheville and the surrounding communities.
“It’s especially
reassuring to know that women veterans and veterans’ families are being cared
for and offered support services through NCServes Western,” remarked Ms. Dial,
who is the daughter of a World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veteran, as
well as the former wife of a Vietnam War combat serviceman. “I’m happy that
WPVM can play a part in focusing on these needs. In fact, I felt working with
this group was nothing less than a sacred opportunity.” ~
