West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
On this WV Morning, the state continues to gain more interest in home-grown food; WVU students get a crack at testing cutting edge technology; and the…
On this WV Morning, the state continues to gain more interest in home-grown food; WVU students get a crack at testing cutting edge technology; and the 30th annual West Virginia International Film Festival opens in Charleston. Those stories and more.
While the International Film Festival gets underway in Charleston, in another part of the state, a man is working to bring film back to his small town.
Russ Stover is trying to restore the Grand Theatre in downtown Philippi, to make it an attraction to cinema enthusiasts in the area. Stover says in that part of the state, it’s very difficult for film lovers to go see movies.
“I want to open instead of just another theater showing new movies, I want to open a revival theater. I can show what the people want to see, and that is something that isn’t done around here. If you want to see a documentary, you’ve got to go to Pittsburgh or Morgantown if you’re lucky, or you have to wait until it comes out on disc,” Stover said.
Stover would like to screen older movies at the theater, like films from Alfred Hitchcock and other iconic movie makers. But getting it open won’t be easy.
In other parts of the state, older theaters have been demolished, like the two downtown theaters that used to be in Fairmont.
Others are vacant and basically abandoned, like the Warner Theatre in Morgantown. But there is at least one example of what Stover is trying to accomplish, in Shepherdstown, where a restored historic theater shows movies and hosts concerts. Stover is certain a restored Grand Theater, like the one in Shepherdstown, will be successful.
“I’ve seen too many of these wonderful old places turn into parking lots. A place like Philippi that appreciates its history, it’s something you want to save. With the way the college is expanding, I’m surprised other businesses haven’t moved into Philippi,” said Stover.
Stover is trying to raise the money for the theater, and he’s far away from that goal. But he’s hoping he’ll be successful in bringing cinema back to Philippi.
Roots rock heroes The Bottle Rockets return to Mountain Stage with a love song – and a story – inspired by a new guitar, and frontman Brian Henneman’s wife’s favorite discount shopping location.
Find your local affiliate and listen to the entire show this week.
West Virginia Public Radio’s part time classical music announcer, Frank Stowers, was among the 2013 class of inductees into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame on October 12.
The remaining eight inductees are: Jack Kane, Ralph Allen, Charles Baily, Shirly “Kitty” Bocock, the late Tom Hicks, Kay Murray, Emil Varney and George Woody.
Stowers’ first job in radio was after World War II as an announcer at WHIS Radio in Bluefield. A graduate of Duke University, he later worked in Human Resources at Union Carbide in Charleston from 1956 until his retirement in 1985. He was one of Carbide’s media relations contacts and did narrations for company film and TV productions. Since retiring, he has spent the past 28 years doing what he loves — working at West Virginia Public Radio as a part time staff announcer. A job he continues to this day.
The West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame is located at the Museum of Radio & Technology in Huntington. It’s mission is to commemorate exceptional broadcasters, who through talent and dedication, have brought great honor to the state or contributed the most to its cultural heritage by entertaining, informing, or otherwise enhancing the means of broadcasting; and to provide a repository at the museum for a collection of broadcasting memorabilia to keep alive the memory of those we celebrate so that their examples of excellence may educate and inspire future generations.
Notables who have been inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame since its inception eight years ago include Soupy Sales, Don Knotts, Little Jimmy Dickens, Bob Denver and Larry Groce, host of West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Mountain Stage.
The Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District is banking on the idea that if WiFi is available, people will come to the park.
An internet service provider based in Huntington pipes a signal directly to antenna’s located at strategic locations in the park. That signal is turned into WiFi; available to connect to mobile devices in the park. At 50 megabytes per second the Park District thinks they’re on to something that the public will enjoy. Kevin Brady is the Executive Director.
“With today’s technology there is really no reason you couldn’t do that in a park. So here we are I can basically go in and access my email account and spend two hours here and work just like I was sitting at my desk,” Brady said.
At a cost of $400 an antenna, Brady thinks it’s a good idea. He said it may seem backwards, that at a place where people come to exercise and look at nature, is trying to be a technological innovator for the area. Brady said in a time when everyone is glued to their smartphone, tablet or computer it just makes sense to provide them with another incentive to come to the parks in the area.
“The thought process is combining old with new. We have always wanted people to get up from their couches, get up from in front of their computer, get out away from the TV and come to the parks and I know that we’re not going to get everybody to put their smart phone down and put their laptop down and just go play,” Brady said.
Charlie Theuring was at Ritter Park Tuesday. He said he can see why some would like it, but says coming to the park is his time away from technology.
“Really should you be utilizing WiFi while you’re enjoying the outdoors and the scenery and hanging out with your kids and stuff like that, maybe you should be paying attention to them. That’s my first immediate reaction to WiFi at a park. I don’t think about getting on my phone or my laptop while I’m out enjoying the scenery,” Theuring said.
Brady said though to others the service will be useful, like Marshall students or those wanting to leave the office cubicle and work outside one afternoon. Or he said those exercising can now stream music off the internet without using their data plans.
Besides Ritter Park wireless has also been set up at Harris Riverfront Park in Huntington and soon at Rotary Park. Brady said the hope is to have wireless available at each of the parks they run in town.
And so far, Brady said they’re not worried about a lack of bandwidth at the parks.
“They tell me that 100 users will not be a noticeable slow down, 200 users it might be, 300 users, and that’s per unit, 300 users and it’s really going to start slowing down, if we had a huge event here and everybody suddenly logged in at the same time you might notice a slowdown,” Brady said.
Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District will combat the idea of overload by creating a layout that will alleviate problems.
“We’re setting up basically a grid system, there is a transceiver here, there’s one at the fountain, and there will be one up here and one up there and that grid system should cover the entire area and it’s somewhat omni-directional,” Brady said.
Brady said this will help bring the park district on the cutting edge.
West Virginia Public Radio Presents is broadcast Thursdays at 9 p.m. and features a variety of insightful programs that explore life, politics, and culture in and around the Mountain State.
Produced by Larry Groce (host of Mountain Stage) these three one-hour programs dramatize five of the short stories from G.D. McNeill’s book, “The Last Forest.”
October 17 The First Campfire Back in the 1880’s when this story takes place, the author was a 10-year-old boy living on a mountain farm nestled up against one of the last virgin forests in the eastern United States. It was a life bounded by the seasons and the sun, a life enriched by the tall tales, legends, and family memories recounted over long winter nights by the fireplace. This story tell of his first fishing trip across the mountains to the Cranberry River wilderness.
October 24 The Battle at the Whirlpool & The Last Campfire This is a fish story told at a time when the native Brook trout streams of the Gauley country were struggling to survive. Logging and waste during the first two decades of the twentieth century killed off many good trout fisheries. The Battle at the Whirlpool is a quest-story about a young boy seeking to catch the last great brook trout in the Gauley country. In The Last Campfire, 50 years after The First Campfire, a group of old friends reunite to travel to the old wilderness where they spent their youth. It’s a story of loss and renewal, as the group of friends faces the reality of the destructive hand of man, and the ability of nature to be restored.
October 31 The Mystery at Gauley Marsh & The Duke of Possum Ridge In these stories, G.D. McNeill tells the story of the Gauley Marsh, based on the real-life Cranberry Glades, a sub-arctic wetlands environment that was left behind when the last Ice Age receded from the Allegheny Mountains. In the spirit of Halloween, this is a murder mystery inspired by a real story from McNeill’s day. The Duke of Possum Ridge is a tale of greed about neighbors who took advantage of those around them during the boom times when the railroads, timbering and mining began to exploit the cheap land and resources of the state.
A curriculum guide is available at The Last Forest Website from the Pocahontas Communications Cooperative. Made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the West Virginia Humanities Council.
