A little over 40 years ago, filming began in North Carolina for an ambitious movie called Maximum Overdrive. The project was led by a legendary producer who’d made some of the greatest films of all-time. And it was written and directed by the most famous author in the world—Stephen King. It seemed like a can’t miss production. But then… everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The result was a 'cocaine-fueled' disaster that helped put the Southern film industry on the map.

Featuring:

• Bob Gunter, cameraman and actor
• Dan Brawley, executive director of the Cucalorus Film Foundation

Links:

• Jengo's Playhouse in Wilmington, NC
• The Assembly: After 40 Years, Maximum Overdrive Is Still Bad Enough to be Good

Cover image: A still from the 1986 cult classic horror film Maximum Overdrive. It starred Emilio Estevez, was produced by Dino De Laurentiis, and was directed and written by Stephen King. Maximum Overdrive was one of the first major movies filmed on location in Wilmington, North Carolina and is considered one of the pioneering productions of the modern Southern film industry.

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For most people, whistling is just a casual way to pass the time. But there’s a small worldwide community of whistling enthusiasts who've taken the artform to a whole new level. This week, we tell the strange story of competitive whistling in America and follow one man’s journey from North Carolina all the way to Japan in a quest to become one of the greats.

Featuring:

• Leslie Boney, competitive whistler and contributor at The Assembly

Links:

• The Assembly: The Trill of the Chase

Cover image: Masashi Ebihara performing in the final round for A Cappella Adult Division at the 47th World Whistlers Convention 2026 at Scrum21 Hall in Kawasaki, Japan (Photo by KQuhen via Wikimedia Commons)

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The cafeteria has been a cultural and culinary touchstone in the South for generations. But recently, many of these restaurants have shuttered their doors. In 2025, the long-serving North Carolina chain K&W Cafeterias closed its last location, marking the end of an era. But the spirit of the communal serving line still lives on in a few remaining restaurants. This week, we visit one of them in search of the perfect tray and find out what’s lost when the cafeteria serving line stops.

Featuring:

• Nikki Miller-Ka, food and travel writer and contributor for The Assembly

Links:

• The Assembly: The End of the Line

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For over a decade, no holds barred conservative populism has dominated the political conversation in the US. But that hyper-partisan brand of media savvy politics is nothing new and can be traced back over 70 years to an uncompromising politician from North Carolina: Jesse Helms. With the rise of MAGA and the politics of opposition, new research is reassessing Helms' legacy and laying out the case for why he just might be one of the most influential politicians of all-time.

Featuring:

• Bill Link, author of Jesse Helms: Modern Conservatism and the Politics of Opposition and Righteous Warrior

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College football has become a money-sucking machine, with schools spending every dollar possible to keep up in an athletics arms race. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill entered the fray this year in spectacular fashion, betting big on legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick in the hopes that he’ll elevate the school’s football program. But why are universities, especially those with academic and research clout, pouring all of this money into athletics in the first place?

This episode originally published on September 4, 2025. The 2026 college football season officially kicks off later this month when UNC plays TCU on August 29th in Dublin, Ireland.

Featuring:

• Scott Dochterman, national college football reporter for The Athletic
• Matt Hartman, higher education reporter for The Assembly 

Links:

• Check out Scott’s reporting on money in college athletics.
• Read Matt’s work on UNC-Chapel Hill's big bet on Bill Belichick.
• You can find a transcript of the episode here.

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Marlin fishing helps fuel a billion-dollar recreational saltwater fishing industry. Much of it is situated on the North Carolina coast, which also happens to be the site of one of the oldest and most celebrated fishing competitions in the world – the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. It’s an event filled with high stakes drama, and it continues to grow year after year. But are there enough blue marlin in the ocean for the good times to keep rolling on?

Featuring:

• Ashley Bleau, owner of the Sensation
• Neal Conoley, author and former head of the North Carolina Aquarium Society
• Dr. John Graves, marine biologist and former professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science
• Aaron Barr, first mate of the Never Enough

Links:

• Marlin Magazine: Marlin Fever Rewrites Big Rock History
• You can find a transcript of the episode here.

Cover Image: The crew of Marlin Fever pose with a massive 919.9 pound blue marlin caught off the coast of Morehead City, North Carolina on June 9, 2026. The catch broke the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament record and earned the crew a staggering $6.5 million in prize money. Credit: Big Rock Tournament

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The yellow-legged hornet is an invasive wasp that first showed up in Georgia in 2023. Since then, it’s rapidly expanded its footprint in the South and become a serious threat to an important pollinator: the honeybee. But a small army of scientists and beekeepers are fighting back and setting up a new line of defense in North Carolina.

Featuring:

• Emily Cataneo, contributor at The Assembly

Links:

• The Assembly: Is North Carolina Ready for an Invasion of Bee-Killing Hornets?
• WUNC News: Here's how you can help protect honey bees from Invasive yellow-legged hornets

Cover image: North Carolina agricultural inspectors share information about the yellow-legged hornet at the N.C. State Beekeepers Association annual conference in Winston-Salem. Credit: Cornell Watson for The Assembly

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Just a few miles from the tallest concrete dam east of the Mississippi River, there's a paved road that ends at a mysterious tunnel. This unfinished roadway, deep inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is a stark reminder of a broken promise to people who once lived there and the sacrifices they made in the name of progress at all costs. But it's also just a small part of a fascinating and bittersweet story about remembrance and tradition in this isolated corner of Appalachia.

Featuring:

• Lance Holland, owner of Appalachian Mercantile and local historian (also author of “The Little Tennessee River” and “Fontana: A Pocket History of Appalachia”)
• Henry Chambers, North Shore descendant and co-organizer of North Shore Cemetery Association 
• James Calhoun, North Shore descendant
• Chris Chandler, North Shore descendant 
• Katie Liming, Chief of Staff for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• Jessica Gunter, North Shore descendant

Cover image: Lakeview Drive road tunnel on the Road to Nowhere located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, North Carolina. Credit: Charlie Shelton-Ormond

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This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. The mood in the US at the time was very similar to the World Cup fever we're experiencing right now. But halfway through those games, that festive vibe shifted when a bomb went off in Centennial Olympic Park. 111 people were injured, 1 person was killed and overnight the Olympics became part of a criminal terrorism investigation.

This week we're looking back at those events. But this episode isn't about Richard Jewell, the hero security guard who was wrongly accused of planting the bomb. Nor is it about Eric Rudolph, the domestic terrorist and survivalist who fled the scene and was later the subject of one of the longest manhunts in American history.

This episode is about the life of the small town cop from North Carolina who ended it all. And how being a footnote to history is sometimes just the beginning of a life well-lived.

"The Rookie" originally published in 2019 and was produced for Away Message, a podcast from Our State Magazine. It features host and reporter Jeremy Markovich who is an occasional guest on The Broadside. Markovich now runs the North Carolina Rabbit Hole newsletter, where he explores the strange and quirky corners of his home state.

Links:

• Our State Magazine: https://www.ourstate.com/
• North Carolina Rabbit Hole: https://www.ncrabbithole.com/

Credits:

• Jeremy Markovich: producer, mixer, host
• James Mieczkowski: producer
• Elizabeth Hudson: editor-in-chief
• Music: "Bright Direction (You're A Dark Star Now)" by Hiss Golden Messenger

Special Thanks to Matthew Yates, Katie Killen, Bill Evans and the Boston College Police Department, and Charles Winokoor of the Taunton Daily Gazette.

Some archival audio courtesy of WLOS-TV.

Cover Image: Shrapnel imprinted into a sculpture from the bomb set off by Eric Rudolph on the morning of July 27, 1996, at the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia. Credit: Darth-Wiki-Man / Wikipedia

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Marriage is a deep and powerful bond. But for politicians, those relationships are often far more complicated. In addition to being a husband or wife, many spouses of elected officials take on strange and demanding roles. And on the campaign trail and at home their lives increasingly mirror our deepening political divide, which means dealing with intense criticism and even the threat of political violence.

Featuring:

• Billy Warden, freelance journalist and former political spouse
• Susan Tillis, wife of US Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina

Links:

• The Assembly: The ‘Surreal’ World of Political Spouses

Cover Image: US Senator Thom Tillis (R, NC) and his wife Susan Tillis during a campaign victory speech in 2020. Credit: WFMY / YouTube

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