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Credit By Vicki Dameron
Richard Beard 2017
I was as surprised as anyone when I heard that the North Carolina Legislature, in the late 1980s, had mandated that citizens within our state should, and would, receive a National Public Radio signal generated within the state boundaries. I had been listening to NPR, and especially
Morning Edition, for decades on the WEPR affiliate of the South Carolina ETV network. Since no such network existed in North Carolina, both the far Eastern and Western portions of our state had no NPR representation. All of that was about to change.
It was through a series of events, some that now seem providential, that WNCW came into being, and was established on the campus of Isothermal Community College. We all take for granted, some almost three decades later, of the impact WNCW has had, not only in our region, but also on the public radio landscape nationwide, and in the new era of cyber broadcasting, on the International scene as well. Where and how did this odd, precocious, and innovative radio station come to be? Here is the story of how all that happened: