 . . .It’s a square dance!  On Tuesday, February 7, Appalshop will host its annual Breaking up Winter square dance, this year featuring T-Claw and the Eye of the Monkey Stringband. The dance starts at 7 PM at the Appalshop, 91 Madison Avenue in downtown Whitesburg, Kentucky. There is a suggested $7 door for the dance. This rug we have ain’t gonna cut itself (we don’t yet have that technology), so come on out and give us a hand.
. . .It’s a square dance workshop! On Wednesday, February 8, Appalshop will host a free community square dance workshop from 4-6 PM. Come learn how to call a dance, how best to start a tune for dancers, and how to swing your partner just right! Instruments welcome. For more information call WMMT at 606-633-0108.
WMMT is putting on an Old-Time String Band Day!  Join us on Saturday, March 17, 2012, for a full day of classes, concerts, dancing, and fun with Kentucky’s rich heritage of traditional music. Full details on our String Band Day page; a staff of nine has already signed on to facilitate the day, which will include workshops, a faculty concert, a potluck supper, and square dancing. Call us at WMMT or email us at wmmtfm@appalshop.org for more information. Can’t wait to see you!
A final note for your Tuesday morning: What’s Cookin’ Now!, the world’s only live radio cooking show (that we know of) will be preparing the February 2012 edition of the show live, tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 6 p.m. on WMMT. Jonathan and Jenny will be honoring Black History Month on tomorrow’s program, with recipes and words from the Affrilachian Poets. And if you miss the live broadcast, no worries–check back to the WCN streaming archive here on wmmt.org and we should have it up and streaming before too long. Finally, you can get ready for the show by checking out Jonathan & Jenny’s most excellent blog at whatscookinnow.org.
Okay, that’s all. Enjoy your Tuesday, thanks for listening, thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting WMMT 88.7 FM, Real People Radio.
 McROBERTS, KY.: A view of Main Street, with a gas rig visible on the hill overlooking town Natural gas drilling in southwest Virginia and eastern Kentucky is the subject of a new WMMT radio documentary. “Fractured Appalachia” is a one-hour program that examines legal and environmental facets of the region’s burgeoning new energy industry, and it will debut tonight, Monday January 30, at 6 p.m. on WMMT.
Natural gas extraction has grown rapidly in Central Appalachia in recent years. New technology has enabled drillers to reach major resources that were formerly uneconomic. As a result, natural gas has become a big part of the region’s energy economy. In 2010 southwest Virginia and eastern Kentucky combined to produce at least $6 billion worth of gas, and the reserves now in the ground could support this level of production for a century.
This rapid increase in natural gas recovery has affected many landowners in the area. Some are concerned about damage to their property from wells, roads and pipelines. Others question the way gas royalty payments are distributed. WMMT producers Jonathan Hootman and Rich Kirby interviewed landowners, gas company land agents, company officials, geologists, and attorneys. “We talked to people across the WMMT listening area,” says Kirby. “The concerns we heard about were not exactly like those in some other areas—we don’t have the same pollution issues here that occur in the Marcellus shale area further north. We heard about surface and water damage, about the importance of getting good legal advice, and about the ‘forced pooling’ controversy in Virginia. We tried to reflect these concerns in our work.”
In addition to tonight’s hour-long program, “Fractured Appalachia” will air in seven smaller installments on WMMT at 8 AM for seven successive weekdays from Monday, January 30 through Tuesday, February 7. The work can also be heard online at www.fracturedappalachia.org, a website which includes links to many informational resources on natural gas issues.
MN & WR for 1/26/12
Hosted by Sylvia Ryerson – In this edition of Mountain News and World Report, we share a new report from our Making Connections series on a program called How$martKY, a project of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, which allows customers to make energy efficiency upgrades to their homes using their energy savings to cover the expenses.
We also report on the Clean Energy Opportunity Act (HB 167) currently under review by the Kentucky General Assembly, share a new episode from our radio documentary on natural gas drilling in the region, and listen to voices from the Martin Luther King day celebration that took place in McRoberts last week.
 Join us tonight (Monday, January 23) at 6 p.m. for a new, special series on WMMT’s Mountain Talk: Health Matters.
On the fourth Monday of every month, Dr. Van Breeding of the Whitesburg Medical Clinic will host a live, hour-long show on a health-related topic. He will both provide his expertise as well as that of other health experts, and he will also provide space on the program for your calls. Tonight’s show, the very first in the series, will focus on influenza, touching on its causes, how to prevent the flu, and what to do if you get the flu. Dr. Breeding will also welcome a special guest to the program this evening in Dr. Fares Khater, a local expert in infectious disease.
So tune in tonight at 6, and feel free to call in if you’d like to join the discussion!
 Be sure to tune into The Rock Show with Greg Napier this Sunday, January 22, at 10 p.m., for an exclusive WMMT interview that Greg will conduct with Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes.
Rich is a founding member of the acclaimed rock-and-roll band, which he and his brother Chris began while they were in high school in Marietta, GA in 1984. He has embarked upon several projects post-Black Crowes, and has just recently released his second solo album, Through a Crooked Sun.
High-profile guests are nothing new for The Rock Show–over the years, Greg has interviewed a laundry list of rock-and-roll icons on WMMT, including Alice Cooper, The Cult, Gov’t Mule, Steve Vai, Deep Purple, Dokken, Ratt, Motley Crue, The Ramones, The Drive By Truckers, Primus, Great White, LA Guns, Pat Travers, Tesla, Zaak Wylde, and Rob Zombie. He invites any rock-and-roll lovers out there to join into WMMT’s Journey of the Rock-and-Roll Mind both this and every Sunday night from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. e.s.t.! You can follow the show online at facebook.com/greg.napier, and you can get in touch with Greg during the show either at wmmtrocks@yahoo.com or by calling 888-396-1208.
See you Sunday night!
We here at the WMMT command center in rainy, downtown Whitesburg, Kentucky, are proud as proud can be to share that WMMT, your mountain community radio station, has been making some recent headlines!
A quick rundown:
- The Rural Blog, the Institute for Rural Journalism & Community Issues‘s blog highlighting journalism “from and about rural America,” featured a story on WMMT’s Making Connections radio piece about the potential closure of nine post offices here in Letcher County, Ky. The piece, produced by Sylvia Ryerson, with Mimi Pickering, originally aired on WMMT’s Mountain News & World Report on December 1, 2011, as well as on West Virginia Public Radio’s Inside Appalachia. Interestingly enough, soon after the piece ran, the USPS announced a 5-month moratorium on the closure of post offices & distribution centers. Co-incidence? Who knows. But congratulations to Sylvia and Mimi for their fantastic work.
- The Daily Yonder, the multimedia blog published by the Center for Rural Strategies, also ran a story on the post office piece.
- The blog The Art Of The Rural also featured a great writeup on the post office piece, the challenges facing rural post offices, and the Making Connections project, which is a joint effort between WMMT and Appalshop’s Community Media Initiative.
- Finally, the National Center for Media Engagement ran two stories on WMMT projects. First, they spotlighted WMMT’s Hot 88.7 – Hip Hop from the Hilltop & Calls From Home programs, which air on Monday nights in an effort to engage with central Appalachia’s booming prison population. The Hip Hop show airs from 7-9 PM, and is followed by Calls from Home from 9-10 PM, our program which broadcasts messages from loved ones to those incarcerated within our listening area. Each week our DJs record these phone calls between 7-9 PM, and
 then put them out on the airwaves.
Hearty congratulations and thanks to everyone involved with these stories and projects for all of their incredibly hard work!
WMMT Presents
BLUEGRASS EXPRESS LIVE!
Featuring NewTown
Thursday, February 9 @ 7:30 PM
The up and coming bluegrass band NewTown from Lexington, KY is set to take the stage for Bluegrass Express Live! at the intimate Appalshop Theater in Whitesburg, KY on Thursday, February 9, 2012. NewTown features five artists demonstrating a vast array of acoustic music styling. The band is able to journey into a realm of their own while still maintaining the spirit of the legendary bluegrass and “Newgrass” sounds created within the walls of Lexington’s Red Slipper Lounge during the mid 70’s.
NewTown is Kati Penn on fiddle and vocals, Jr. Williams on banjo and vocals, CJ Cain playing guitar, James Kee on mandolin and vocals, and Terry Poirier on bass and vocals. NewTown creates their sound as a cohesive musical unit with a tangible diversity to which all listeners can relate.
Join us for Bluegrass Express Live!, Thursday, February 9 and see bluegrass the way it should be at the Appalshop Theater. It’s like having them in your living room. For more information and/or to make reservations call WMMT at 606-633-0108. Doors open at 6:30 PM with showtime at 7:30 PM. Admission is $15 for adults and $5 for students.
*Concessions provided by Letcher County 4H
Come on out!
Mountain News and World Report – January 12, 2012
 Main Street in McRoberts, KY, with a gas rig visible on the hill overlooking town This episode of MN & WR is a special one, as we debut the first installment of Fractured Appalachia, a 7-part documentary series WMMT has produced to inform residents on issues surrounding the increasing presence of oil and natural gas extraction in central Appalachia. This introductory segment, Geology, gives a background on what exactly is under our feet here in the coalfields and why it’s so valuable, as well as an introduction to “fracking” and how the process works. Future installments will delve deeply into all facets of the process, including legal issues, forced pooling, drilling, regulations, the effect on the economy, and much more. For tons more information or to hear all seven parts of our documentary before you hear them on the radio visit the series website, fracturedappalachia.org. This site features resources for landowners curious about the process, an f.a.q. section, and helpful links for those seeking to learn more. Stay tuned, as we will also be holding public forums on oil and gas extraction in both southeast Kentucky and across the mountain in southwest Virginia.
 Green, at left, with Dock Walsh This podcast also features a story from Candy Hughes, a local student who recently took part in the Appalachian Media Institute’s 2011 Fall Media Lab, a program which trains middle and high school students in producing radio story. Candy put together a fantastic story on high-school dropouts, and we’re proud to showcase her work.
Finally, this episode also includes an update on how Kentuckians can use the Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) program this winter, a report on prescription drug abuse in our state, and a segment from the Western Folklife Center in which the late folklorist Archie Green gives a background on the ballad “Factory Girl.”
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WMMT-FM is conducting a search for a General Manager. For a complete job description, visit our opportunities page. 
Donate using our secure site. featured underwriter:Psychologist Michele Amburgey of Whitesburg, providing confidential counseling close to home. For information or appointment, 606-633-0035. making connections  Making Connections is a project for sharing news, stories, and information highlighting opportunities and challenges for building a healthy future for Appalachia's people and the land. fractured appalachia  Fractured Appalachia is a series of radio broadcasts, public forums, and an online resource developed to inform residents on issues surrounding the increasing presence of oil and natural gas extraction in Central Appalachia. |
On Tuesday, February 7, Appalshop will host its annual Breaking up Winter square dance, this year featuring T-Claw and the Eye of the Monkey Stringband. The dance starts at 7 PM at the Appalshop, 91 Madison Avenue in downtown Whitesburg, Kentucky. There is a suggested $7 door for the dance. This rug we have ain’t gonna cut itself (we don’t yet have that technology), so come on out and give us a hand.
Join us on Saturday, March 17, 2012, for a full day of classes, concerts, dancing, and fun with Kentucky’s rich heritage of traditional music. Full details on our String Band Day page; a staff of nine has already signed on to facilitate the day, which will include workshops, a faculty concert, a potluck supper, and square dancing. Call us at WMMT or email us at wmmtfm@appalshop.org for more information. Can’t wait to see you!
