Have you ever wondered how macroeconomic policy affects our daily lives in Orange County? Ranging from consumer prices and inflation to affordable housing and workforce trends, the decisions influence us in many ways. Join Aria Allen — an economics reporting fellow for 97.9 The Hill WCHL in Chapel Hill, N.C. — as she dives into these topics and explores national economic policies impact the greater Orange County community in this monthly series!

The post ‘Economics with Aria’ — Series Teaser appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

Aaron welcomes Dr. Meri Harper from the Chapel Hill Children and Adolescents’ Clinic, for a conversation about the importance of breastfeeding. Dr. Harper specializes in supporting lactation and helping new parents who are struggling with breastfeeding.

Conversation presented by the Chapel Hill Children and Adolescents’ Clinic. Visit ChapelHillChildrensClinic.com.

97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news and local voices in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every weekday morning, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck chats with government officials, UNC scholars, business and nonprofit leaders, area musicians, and others in our community as they share their thoughts, their experience, and their expertise on the central issues of today. Click here to listen back to all of Aaron’s conversations – and tune in to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” at 7:30 a.m. on 97.9 The Hill to hear those conversations live.

You can also listen to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” on Spotify. Click here to follow Aaron and listen to all his segments, from local news to fun features to hard-hitting interviews.

Listen:

The post On Air Today: The Importance of Breastfeeding, with Dr. Meri Harper appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

Trending today: Victor and Aaron spar over when and whether it’s polite to be wearing headphones in public. (Aaron is pro, Victor is anti, but they’re not really that far apart.) Also, Victor and Aaron have doppelgangers, and Aaron unfairly stereotypes Trader Joe’s.

Want to know what folks are talking about on social media? Every weekday on 97.9 The Hill’s “This Morning with Aaron Keck,” Victor Lewis scours the Internet for the day’s top trending stories, from weird news to wacky crimes to odd business ventures and everything in between. Click here to listen back to all our past What’s Trending segments – and tune in to “This Morning” on 97.9 The Hill every weekday at 7:45 to hear What’s Trending live on the air.

You can also listen to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” on Spotify. Click here to follow Aaron and listen to all his segments, from local news to fun features to hard-hitting interviews.

What’s Trending is made possible by Dynamic Electric. Listen now:

The post What’s Trending: Victor’s Little Fred Astaire Dance appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

This Saturday, March 7, Chapel of the Cross on East Franklin Street is hosting its annual ABC Sale. Now in its 61st year, the ABC Sale (“ABC” stands for Attics, Basements, and Closets) is a massive sale of all kinds of donated items that raises tens of thousands of dollars each year for important local causes.

Aaron chats with Amy Daubert, who’s co-chairing this year’s sale.

97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news and local voices in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every weekday morning, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck chats with government officials, UNC scholars, business and nonprofit leaders, area musicians, and others in our community as they share their thoughts, their experience, and their expertise on the central issues of today. Click here to listen back to all of Aaron’s conversations – and tune in to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” at 7:30 a.m. on 97.9 The Hill to hear those conversations live.

You can also listen to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” on Spotify. Click here to follow Aaron and listen to all his segments, from local news to fun features to hard-hitting interviews.

Listen:

The post On Air Today: 61st Annual ABC Sale, at Chapel of the Cross appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

In today’s news: UNC chancellor Lee Roberts says the university is scrapping a policy that would have allowed secret recording of faculty. Also: Durham County considers a townhome proposal; Chatham school officials plan for growth; Chapel Hill says no (for now) to a Fourth Amendment resolution; a Hillsborough woman fights off an armed robber; PlayMakers and DPAC announce next year’s lineups; and early voting turnout spikes in Orange and Durham Counties – especially Durham. Primary election day is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3. And in sports, it was a good weekend to be a Tar Heel: big wins for UNC men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, baseball, softball, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, and men’s soccer.

97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every weekday morning, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck recaps the day’s news, from local government to business developments to UNC sports. Click here to listen back to all of Aaron’s daily news reports, which you can hear live during “This Morning with Aaron Keck” every weekday from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m.

You can also listen to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” on Spotify. Click here to follow Aaron and listen to all his segments, from local news to fun features to hard-hitting interviews.

Listen:

The post The Morning News: No Secret Faculty Recording at UNC, High Early Voting Turnout, Big Tar Heel Wins appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

Singer/songwriter Chris Chism stopped by Live and Local last month, following the release of his sophomore EP, “All Our Time.”

Visit ChrisChismSounds.com.

Originally from Indiana, Chris Chism’s music fits right in among other introspective Midwesterners like Sufjan Stevens or Bon Iver. (In fact the EP was mastered by Nick Petersen of Track & Field Recording, who’s worked with Bon Iver in the past.) “All Our Time” is his second EP, his first since his slightly-grammatically-incorrect 2023 debut “Things Has Changed.”

“I think I got a lot of things right on this one,” he says of the new EP. “I think it turned out good…And that means something, you know, especially when you’re writing about sensitive things, difficult things to write about, like people passing away…you want to respect that and feel like you did the subject matter justice.”

Follow Chris Chism on Instagram.

Death – and life beyond it – loom large in the four tracks that comprise “All Our Time.” The cover features a photo of Chism’s childhood dog Fluffy, whose sudden death was personally impactful, and the EP itself is anchored by the haunting “Remembrance,” about his mother’s passing – “last night,” according to the lyrics, though Chism says it actually happened over a decade ago.

“My commute’s been really long lately,” Chism says of his writing process. “You think about stuff when you’re just sitting there alone in traffic, and I feel like that’s where it comes from…

“But (it’s) just trying to find inspiration and happiness, you know, trying to find silver linings in things. I think I’m a pretty nihilistic negative person, and sometimes I just try to force myself to be like, ‘let’s look on the brighter side. Let’s just choose to do that.’ And I think there’s a little bit of that in the music.”

Chris Chism stopped by Live & Local to discuss “All Our Time” and play two songs: “The Bluebird” (live in studio) and “Take Shelter” (EP track). Listen:

The post ‘All Our Time’: Live and Local with Chris Chism! appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

Chef Arlena Strode

This Week:

Chef Arlena Strode is a culinary education expert and the founder of the Children’s Culinary Institute. With a passion for nurturing young talents, she established the institute to inspire children to explore the art of cooking. Her award-winning curriculum is taught in over a dozen places worldwide, and she is the author of five amazing children’s biographies about chefs in history who changed our culinary world. Chef Arlena’s innovative approach combines interactive, hands-on experiences with a strong emphasis on education and creativity. Under her leadership, the institute continues to cultivate the next generation of chefs and food enthusiasts.

Randy Voller

Come on up to the porch to have a chat with Randy Voller — former mayor, real estate developer, musician, man-about-town and more — in a recurring conversation and slice-of-life program presented by VRC Limited. If you love great conversations and amazing anecdotes, then come on up and join us…On the Porch!

The post On the Porch: Chef Arlena Strode – Cooking Up Fun appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

Hailey Brighton and Don Miller of the band Taxicab Preacher recently stopped by Live & Local, following the release of their debut EP “Solid Ground.”

Visit TaxicabPreacher.com.

“Solid Ground” is not a new release – it actually dropped in October of 2024 – but their lead single “Better” became a beloved staff favorite at 97.9 The Hill all through 2025, not to mention a crowd favorite (one of several) at their increasingly popular live shows.

And while “Solid Ground” is technically a debut, Taxicab Preacher is far from a brand-new band. In fact their origins date back over two decades: guitarist Patrick Vernon and drummer Don Miller played together while attending graduate school together in the early 2000s. (“It was a business school band,” Miller says. “We went by ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’.”)

Ten years later, Vernon and Brighton found themselves playing in a separate band: “we played Sundays at the Crunkleton, for four o’clock fun,” Brighton says. All three (plus Chris Zagar) played together for the first time in 2017, at a block party that Miller was hosting – and they’ve been together ever since.

Follow Taxicab Preacher on Instagram.

In addition to their recorded output, Taxicab Preacher has also developed a reputation for being one of the Triangle’s not-to-be-missed live bands. They have several shows just in the next month: Saturday, March 7, at the Sonark Barn north of Chapel Hill; Friday, March 20, at the Speakeasy in Carrboro; and Saturday, March 28, at Sidetrack Lounge in northern Chapel Hill.

Click here for a full list of their upcoming shows.

As for that band name? “Taxicab Preacher, to me, is about inclusivity,” Brighton says. “No matter where you come from, no matter your background, you can talk to people and always find common ground. That’s really what it is to me.”

Hailey Brighton and Don Miller of Taxicab Preacher stopped by Live & Local and played recordings of recent live performances of two songs: “Wait Wait Wait” and “Taxicab Preacher.” Listen:

The post Standing on ‘Solid Ground’: Live and Local with Taxicab Preacher! appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

This week, Dr. Deborah Stroman is joined by a retired Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach, UVA’s Debbie Ryan. They discuss her coaching history, the current state of the game, NIL, and wrap up by talking about the legacy of Coach Dean Smith.

The post February 28, 2026 appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

97.9 The Hill’s Dr. Deborah Stroman and Brighton McConnell talk on Friday, Feb. 27 ahead of the final weekend of the regular season in women’s college basketball and the ACC tournament beginning in Duluth, Ga. Stroman shares the storylines she’s been most interested in from ACC play and what she’s looking forward to before covering the conference tournament, while McConnell discusses the importance of UNC finishing as the No. 3 seed in the ACC standings. Plus: the pair share their thoughts ahead of the Tar Heels hosting the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils on Sunday to finish off the regular season and get March Madness started!

Dr. Deborah Stroman — who is a consulting professor for UNC and Virginia, sports businesswoman, former basketball player, and columnist — chats with 97.9 The Hill’s Brighton McConnell each week about headlines from the world of sports. Covering both local and national stories, Stroman specializes in connecting the on-field product to the impact of sports on business, culture and society. Listen to their past conversations on Chapelboro, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

The post Previewing the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament, UNC-Duke Rematch– Stroman on Sports (Feb. 27, 2026) appeared first on Chapelboro.com.