In today’s episode of Mountain Talk, we will be taking a special look back at Highlights from a few of Joshua Outsey's favorite Episodes of WMMT's Public Affairs Broadcasts from 2024.

On December 10, 2024, Kentucky Voices for Health hosted their 2024 annual meeting in Lexington. In this episode of Mountain Talk, you’ll come along with Teddy Wimer as we hear from two panels hosted at the annual meeting.

First, we’ll hear from Several maternal and prenatal care expert panelists who spoke on recent regulations and legislation that aim to create better support systems for expecting mothers and their babies, including Senate Bill 74, also known as the “Momnibus Bill”. Then, we’ll also hear from a panel of Kentucky lawmakers, including Keturah Herron, KY State Senator, as they preview priorities and policy opportunities for the 2025 General Assembly and take questions from the audience.

Come along with us as we learn about healthcare policy solutions that aim to better the lives of folks in the commonwealth, and explore the legislative challenges as we move into the 2025 Kentucky General Assembly.

Join host Crystal Jones for a spotlight on the largest recovery-focused festival in the world: Healing Appalachia.

Join host Joshua Outsey as he highlights the Red Fox Storytelling Festival, held in October 2024 in Pound, VA.

Mountain Talk: Sister City Italian Stone Masons by WMMT/Appalshop

KVH Legislative Update #2: Week of January 20 by WMMT/Appalshop

This Making Connections News edition of Mountain Talk shares some good news from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Appalachia for Letcher County kids and their parents. Then Conan Cao, summer intern at Appalachian Citizens Law Center, describes the prevalence of black lung disease in his native China and the US, and offers some thoughts on the hopes of local folks in both countries. The episode ends with Hazel Dickens’ powerful rendition of her song “Black Lung.” Listen to Mountain Talk on Thursday at 6 pm, with encore broadcasts Mon at 10 am and Tuesday at 11 am.

KVH Communications & Development Director, Kelly Taulbee, joins General Manager Teddy Wimer for the first legislative update, covering January 13-17. This series will continue throughout the legislative session, and we will cover what to expect from the legislative session, senate and house bills of note, and how your legislators are voting on issues.

For this holiday edition of Mountain Talk we delve into the WMMT archive to hear from two amazing Appalachian women artists, poet Nikki Giovanni and singer/songwriter Jean Ritchie. Nikki Giovanni died in Blacksburg, VA on Dec. 9th at age 81. A native of Knoxville, TN, she is a celebrated African American poet, writer, and activist who gained prominence in the 1960s during the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements. In 1987, she was recruited to VA Tech as a visiting professor by Virginia Fowler, who later became her wife, and she taught there until retiring in 2022. She came to see herself as one of the Affrilachian poets and her writing on race, love and justice have significantly influenced Appalachian poetry. Giovanni is the narrator and the subject of one of the 15 interviews included in "Tell It On The Mountain: Appalachian Women Writers," a series created by WMMT producer Maxine Kenny that first aired in 2015. Here is the interview with Nikki Giovanni.

We also celebrate Appalachian songstress Jean Ritchie who was born December 8, 1922, in Viper in Perry County, KY. Ritchie is a gigantic figure in both Appalachian and American folk music. Eventually leaving eastern KY for New York City and the emerging folk music scene, Ritchie became recognized as a skilled musician, beautiful singer, accomplished songwriter, folk song collector, and renowned ambassador of Appalachian folk song nationally and throughout the entire world. In 2001, Rachel Goodman produced this story on Ritchie as part of the WMMT series "Southern Songbirds: Women Pioneers of Country and Old Time Music."

Listen to WMMT-fm broadcasting from Whitesburg, KY at 88.7 and online at wmmt.org.

The distribution of ticks is changing in Appalachia and with it the incidence of tick-borne disease. On this edition of Mountain Talk, some folks dealing with Alpha-Gal Syndrome, a tick-transmitted allergy to red meat, share their stories. We also ask Kentucky’s state epidemiologist and Extension entomologist about the likely causes of more ticks and what you can do.

Photo: John Skaggs