podcast Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

On this West Virginia Morning, writer Jonathan Corcoran grew up in Elkins. While in college, his mother discovered he was gay. She disowned him and told him to never come back to West Virginia. She died in 2020. They never reconciled.

Corcoran, a writing professor at New York University, has written a book, No Son of Mine, which explores grief and his relationship with his mother. Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch spoke with the author, who began with a reading.

Also, in this show, we have the latest story from The Allegheny Front, a public radio program based in Pittsburgh that reports on environmental issues in the region. Their latest story takes us to an art exhibit highlighting our local pollinators.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Emily Rice produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

On this West Virginia Morning, roughly 20,000 people traveled to Braxton County for an annual Bigfoot Festival hosted in the small town of Sutton. One of them was reporter Briana Heaney, who spoke to festival goers about the annual celebration of cryptids.

Plus, new legislation takes effect today that allows permit holders to carry a firearm on any college campus in West Virginia. Reporter Chris Schulz spoke to some of these schools about how they're preparing for the change.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Eric Douglas produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

This week, dinos fight Civil War soldiers at a theme park throwback — Dinosaur Kingdom II in Natural Bridge, Virginia. 

Also, if you’re hungry for a pepperoni roll in West Virginia, you can find one at just about any gas station. So — how did they get so popular? We’ll hear one theory.

And we check out the backstory of a bus that sits at the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers — and the man who put it there.

Hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Every summer, Americans hit the road for vacation. The tradition of summer road tripping dates back for as long as there have been automobiles.

On these long drives, people needed breaks. So they’d stop at fruit stands, or fireworks stores, or … bizarre roadside attractions. A lot of those weird old-style attractions have disappeared, but some have managed to hang on.

In 2020, Mason Adams visited artist Mark Cline’s Dinosaur Kingdom II, in Natural Bridge, Virginia.

Pepperoni rolls have been enshrined as part of West Virginia history through their connection to coal miners. They're absolutely a favorite and available almost everywhere, but that wasn't always true. How pepperoni rolls became a statewide convenience store staple might have less to do with coal mining and more to do with lunch ladies in Kanawha County.

Folkways Reporter Zack Harold took a bite out of pepperoni roll lore.

If you listen to the popular podcast Death, Sex and Money, you know Anna Sale. Back in 2005, Anna was a reporter for West Virginia Public Broadcasting. She got curious about an old bus that sits on a rock at the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers, just past the town of Gauley Bridge.

So Anna traveled by boat with producer Russ Barbour to meet the man behind the mystery.  

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Sierra Ferrell, Paul McCartney, Joe Dobbs and the 1937 Flood, Blue Dot Sessions, Yonder Mountain String Band and Hot Rize.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from folkways editor Chris Julin.

You can send us an email: [email protected].

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

On this West Virginia Week, we mark two years since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which protected access to abortion nationally. We discuss what women are doing now.

This week also marked the 50-year anniversary of a heated debate over whether the Kanawha County Board of Education should adopt new, multicultural language arts textbooks. Trey Kay, host of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s podcast Us & Them, reflects on the controversy and his journey reporting on it.

Plus, we’ll hear about concerns over an unexpected figure popping up in a mural at the State Capitol, and how lawmakers are addressing chronic absenteeism in West Virginia schools.

Jack Walker is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.

West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week's biggest news in the Mountain State. It's produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick and Maria Young.

Learn more about West Virginia Week.

On this West Virginia Morning, Ohio poet laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour has a new collection of poems titled Dirt Songs. In it, she recalls her small-town upbringing in the ‘70s and ‘80s. But also thinks of the people who owned the land where she lives. Bill Lynch spoke with Gunter-Seymour about her new book and what she sees as good in Appalachia.

Also, in this show, our Mountain Stage Song of the Week comes to us from 2022 NPR Tiny Desk Contest Winner Alisa Amador. We listen to her performance of “Slow Down.” It’s the second track on her EP Narratives.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Our Appalachia Health News project is made possible with support from Marshall Health.

West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick and Maria Young.

Eric Douglas is our news director and produced this episode. Teresa Wills is our host.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

On this West Virginia Morning, there’s a deadline looming for business owners across the state. Tens of thousands of them still haven’t filed their annual reports as required by state law. Assistant News Director Maria Young sat down with Secretary of State Mac Warner – who’s hoping all of them get the job done by midnight Sunday night – just, not all at once.

Also, in this show, 50 years ago, June 27, 2024, the Kanawha County Board of Education set off a chapter of the nation’s culture wars as it debated whether to purchase a controversial series of new textbooks. The meeting room was packed, and emotions were hot. Us & Them Host Trey Kay produced an award-winning documentary about the textbook controversy and provides this reflection.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Chris Schulz produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

This week’s encore broadcast of Mountain Stage features the 2022 NPR Tiny Desk Contest Winner, Alisa Amador. As a bilingual singer and songwriter, Amador commands the audience with her soulful voice and mixture of rock, jazz and alternative folk that is sweetly wrapped with the Latin music she grew up with.

We also hear performances from premier Americana roots band Donna the Buffalo, North Carolina singer-songwriter David Childers & The Serpents, folk-country artist Jon Byrd, and multi-generational, bi-coastal duo, David Jacobs-Strain & Bob Beach.

Our Song of the Week, “Slow Down,” is the second track on Alisa Amador’s EP, Narratives. “This song is for anyone who’s feeling stressed,” Amador explains, speaking about those days and moments when you wish you could just slow down time.

This episode begins Friday, June 28 on these public radio stations.

If you are listening overseas or on a smart device, the Mountain Stage podcast is a great way to listen to new and old episodes.

Read the companion piece to this episode from Us & Them Host Trey Kay.

Fifty years ago this month, a fierce controversy erupted over newly adopted school textbooks in Kanawha County, West Virginia. 

The fight led to violent protests in the state. Dynamite hit vacant school buildings. Bullets hit empty school buses. And protesting miners forced some coal mines to shut down — because of the new multicultural textbooks. 

The classroom material focused on an increasingly global society, introducing students to the languages and ideas of diverse cultures. The material was an affront to many Christian social conservatives who felt the books undermined traditional American values. They saw their religion replaced by another belief system: secular humanism. 

Many of those frustrations boiled over in Kanawha County in the summer of 1974.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, CRC Foundation and Daywood Foundation.

This episode was honored with George Foster Peabody, Edward R. Murrow and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

On this West Virginia Morning, West Virginia students are struggling to achieve proficiency in basic academic skills like reading and math, according to national test scores in recent years. One possible contributing factor: chronic absenteeism. But as Chris Schulz reports, a new law hopes to address the issue this fall.

Also, in this show, nearly 20,000 active-duty military service members died from 2006 to 2021. That’s not to mention thousands of veterans who died from issues tied to their service. Dubbed “Gold Star families,” the loved ones of service members who die are left with grief that can last a lifetime. But many of these families turn their hardship into an opportunity to help others in need.

West Virginia University (WVU) graduate Emily Zirkelbach spoke with reporter Jack Walker about what she learned from several Gold Star families across West Virginia.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Chris Schulz produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

On this West Virginia Morning, dozens of BASE jumpers leap from the New River Gorge Bridge during Bridge Day each year. High school students Dylan Neil and Nella Fox of the Fayette Institute of Technology got curious about how to become a Bridge Day BASE Jumper. For Inside Appalachia, they talked with expert BASE jumper Marcus Ellison.

Also, in this show, we have the latest story from The Allegheny Front, a public radio program based in Pittsburgh that reports on environmental issues in the region. Their latest story explores flood prevention along the Ohio River.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Eric Douglas produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning