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In an interview from 2003 that has never been aired before, the late Frederick “Pal” Barger, founder of the regional restaurant chain Pal’s Sudden Service, talks about his business philosophy. With stores throughout East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, Pal’s became the first restaurant company in America to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Pal Barger died in October of 2020. August 23, 2025, would have been his 95th birthday.

Dr. Colin Baxter, Professor Emeritus of History at East Tennessee State University, explains how Kingsport, Tennessee, and Hawkins County, Tennessee, helped win World War II, through the production of an explosive called RDX.

Author Robert Sorrell takes us from Greene County, Tennessee, north to Norton, Virginia, through his new book Secret Appalachian Highlands: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure.

We learn about the musical background and philosophy of Cornelia Laemmli Orth, Music Director and Conductor of Symphony of the Mountains.

This is part two of our interview with Cornelia Laemmli Orth, Music Director and Conductor of Symphony of the Mountains, a fully professional orchestra that traces its origins back to 1946, when it was called the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra.

We visit the Langston Centre in Johnson City, Tennessee—a multicultural facility that promotes community engagement through the arts, education, and leadership activities. The building housed Langston High School, where African American students were educated from 1893 until 1965. Langston supervisor Adam Dickson talks about the ongoing work at Langston, the history of the Juneteenth holiday, and another significant date in American history that will be observed in our area later in the summer.

We talk about the history of Wade’s Restaurant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with co-owner Wade Lindsey III. His grandparents, Wade and Betty Lindsey, opened the business in 1947. Wade’s was recently honored by the James Beard Foundation with its America’s Classic award.

We talk with Gayle Manchin, Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission. She became the 13th Federal Co-Chair in May of 2021 and is the first native West Virginian to serve in that position.

In the first of two interviews, we look back on the summer of 1963, a critical time in the struggle for civil rights in America. Our guest is Odessa Woolfolk, founding director of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, who remembers both the promise and the pain of that period in civil rights history.

We explore the history of a cocktail called the French 75, with journalist and LSU professor John Maxwell Hamilton, who has written a book about the drink. Here is a French 75 recipe from Arnaud’s in New Orleans, where the bar is named after the drink:1 ounce Cognac¼ ounce fresh lemon juice¼ ounce simple syrupTop with about 2 ounces brut ChampagnePlace the Cognac, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a shaker filled with ice. Shake to chill and pour into a tulip Champagne glass. Add the Champagne and garnish with a twist of lemon.