1on1 with Jon Evans

Lilah Pate had her first on-screen acting role when she was ten years old. More than a decade later, her career is taking off after starring as Sophia on the hit Prime Video series The Runarounds. The experience also helped Lilah open her heart once again to her first love of singing. 

Clandestine late-night meetings in a park. Brushing past a contact, and discreetly sliding a note into a pocket. That was Ann E. Butler’s life for more than 25 years as an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. She lived and worked in cities around the world, recruiting people to spy on their own government and share secrets with the United States. In her new book, Wife, Mother, Spy, the retired operative tells the world how she gathered vital intelligence while also balancing life as a wife and mom of five kids.

After spending decades as a screenwriter in Hollywood, Chris Hauty became a bestselling author with his series of thrillers featuring intelligence operative Hayley Chill. In his new book, Dead Ringer, Hauty delves into the world of conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A former secret-service agent must protect a university professor as they chase clues into what may have happened in 1963, while being hunted by an assassin bent on keeping history’s secrets hidden.

When Tom Llamas took over as fulltime anchor of NBC’s flagship Nightly News in June, he joined a list of legendary journalists who have had their name on that broadcast. The Miami native’s career has now come full circle from when he first joined the network as an intern 25 years ago. Many jobs and long shifts later, Llamas is now out front, dialed in, and venturing into the future of news coverage.  

The Runarounds is Wilmington’s new television series from the creators of the hit show Outer Banks. It follows a group of high school grads who form a garage band and chase their dreams of being rock stars. Original music, teenage romance, and the quest for fame are the backdrop for this high-energy story featuring real-life rockers William Lipton, Axel Ellis, Jeremy Yun, Zendé Murdock and Jesse Golliher along with cast members Lilah Pate, Kelley Pereira, and Marley Aliah.

New York Times bestselling author Kyle Mills published his first book featuring former Navy SEAL Salam al-Fayed, called Fade, in 2005. After writing three books in Robert Ludlum’s universe and nine featuring Vince Flynn’s beloved character Mitch Rapp, Mills decided to bring Fade back from the dead. Fade In is Mills’s 24th thriller, a pulse-pounding thrill ride of a book that puts his character in life-or-death situations that are straight out of today’s headlines.

Edwin McCain says his breakthrough 1998 hit I’ll Be saved his recording career. A year later, he hit the Top-10 again with I Could Not Ask For More. Now, 30 years after the release of his first album on a major record label, McCain has released his 11th record, Lucky, the first collection of all-new songs from the South Carolina native in 15 years. He is also going out on a coast-to-coast tour with Train starting August 1.

The families of five murder victims have waited years, even decades, for justice. They lost mothers, fathers, sons and daughters to violent crimes in the Wilmington area, and the killers have never paid the price. In this special podcast episode, you’ll hear detectives talk about the investigations into these unsolved murders, while loved ones share their feelings about the pain that has never gone away. What is the piece of information that can help solve these Crimes of the Cape Fear?

Larry the Cable Guy grew out of Dan Whitney's stand-up comedy routines. The character known for his Southern drawl and rapid-fire one-liners has become an American success story, selling millions of tickets, CDs and DVDs, winning several awards, and starring in the Blue Collar Comedy Tour shows. But the native of Nebraska says his biggest break came when he got the chance to voice the character of Mater in the Pixar movie Cars. Nearly 40 years after his comedy career began, Whitney is now bringing Larry the Cable Guy to Wilmington.

Bethany Joy Lenz’s acting career took off in 2003, when she got the role of Haley James Scott on the hit show One Tree Hill. Fans of the Wilmington-based show didn’t know that while Lenz enjoyed success on-screen, her personal life was being manipulated by leaders of a religious cult. Lenz’s bestselling 2024 memoir, Dinner for Vampires, details how she was lured into ‘The Family’ and later found the courage to escape with her daughter. Years later, Lenz has now become a Queen, in a city that feels like home.