WRGC Radio has received notification that Swain County Schools will be on a two hour delay Thursday.  That might change if conditions change early Thursday.  WRGC will announce the weather closings when they are received.

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect starting Thursday morning for elevations in excess of 3500 feet.  Those areas could receive up to eight inches of snow.  In the valleys a Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for all day Thursday. Expect sleet and snow with accumulations from a trace up to four of five inches, depending on elevation nearer the 3500 foot mark. Thursday might be a good day to go to the Great Smokey’s National Park Website and look at what the weather is like at at the top of the world. WRGC will keep you posted throughout the day when conditions worsen. Listeners are invited to call in at 586-2221 and report the conditions that you can see from where you are.

You may have noticed the EAS beeps going off more times on Tuesday.  Because of the WRGC coverage area being so much greater that before the station is required to broadcast those alerts to the listeners in the counties adjoining Jackson. This was not the case before,  but is the case now with 540 A-M being 5000 watts and becoming a primary station for lots of individuals in the other counties.

01/14/13  The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to announce the release of our updated website to provide the citizens with improved access to convenient information regarding the Sheriff’s Office operations and public data.  The improved site was tailor-made for simple interactivity by the most novice internet user. The Sheriff’s Office worked closely with Webmaster Kelly Fuqua with the County’s IT department to make this improvement.  This will allow for quicker and more updated changes to our website as opposed to the outsourcing of this task as in years past.  Listed below are just a few of the improvements to the updates site.

• Real Time Current Inmate Search of the Jackson County Detention Facility to include mugshots, dates of birth, charges, and bond information.
• Current Sex Offender Search information by address, GPS location, or the entire county
• Weekly arrests data on all arrests by the Sheriff’s Office updated every Monday morning
• Updated and regular announcements to include and valuable information regarding public sales of seized property, press releases, and community information
• Updated and improved contact information for Sheriff’s Office staff

The scanner has been busy this evening with two vehicles reported to have left the road and entered into either a river or stream.  This time of the year with cold temperatures hypothermia can come on suddenly not to mention the sheer danger of being in a vehicle in the water. Pay attention too because the emergency personnel would also like to be at home with their families.

There was a gorgeous sky as the sun came up on the last day of the year! Our beloved secretary Tammie took these photos:

12/25/12 It may be a positive sign that according to one observer the attendance was slightly down at this year’s Christmas Dinner at the Community Table. Dedicated volunteers were on hand to makie sure that everyone received a traditional Christmas dinner and a warm and comfortable place to enjoy both the food and company. A special thanks to all those wh0 volunteered a part of their day to make this beneficial event possible.

Thursday night’s high winds blew trees and debris which caused power outtages to over 600 residences in Jackson County and also to WRGC Radio.  The wind caused a Sycamore tree to break off about 20 feet in the air and plug down across the stations auxillary satellite dish, ripped the cable, telephone and electrical utility lines off the building, and caused damage to the station’s primary satellite receiver causing the station to loose NBC News, CNBC News, and the North Carolina News Network News. Duke Energy cut the power off the building at 9:45 Friday Morning due to safety issues from the exposed wires caused by  cut into the protective shield when the weatherhead was broken off the building. An immediate and intense search for an electrician who would tackle the project was launched. Pete Poppins with Poppins Electrical Services in Bryson City agreed to come in on his day off, with wind chill factors below zero, and make the repairs. Peter was able to locate a new external meter base from a local vendor, a Waynesville supplier delivered the heavy electrical service entrance cables (400 amps)  to Sylva to expedite the repair. County Electrical Inspector Jim Buchannan assisted with the final installations to the station would be ready for Duke Power to reconnect the lines when the station power request came back to the top of the work order list. The power was restored Friday Night but the station came back on the air Saturday morning at 7:00 a-m because there is a specific sequence for bringing the equipment back on line, especially the computers which schedule all the station’s programming. Technicians came from Asheville on Saturday to make repairs to the satellite receivers and by eleven a-m the station was able to again receive the news and programming feeds fro,m the different networks. Morris Broadband repaired the cable service on Friday afternoon making that service ready when the electrical service was restored. By mid-day Saturday servives were back to normal except a huge tree is still resting in the completely destroyed auxillary satellite dish. “Hopefully the insurance company will be as cooperative as the other professionals have been, I can’t thank Poppins Electrical Services from Bryson City enough, and the county inspections office really went the extra mile to help us get back on line. Without their help we would have been out of service till next Thursday.” said Owner Roy Burnette.

The Smoky Mountain High School Boys basketball team, coming off a significant win over the Franklin Panthers 0n Tuesday night will be back home to take on a powerful squad from Bryson City. Like the Mustangs the Maroom Deveils are coming into the game fresh from a win, in the Maroon Devils case an 81-48 blowout of East Henderson on Tuesday. Several of the Swain players already have name recognition among WRGC Radio listeners because of their recent participation in the state championship football game.  Against East Henderson Matt Manaele had 19 points, Greg Tisho had 28 points, and Raymius Smith added 10 , Corbin Panther had 6 and Zachary Weeks tossed in for 8 points.

Should be a terriffic game to watch the matchups, Jayce Welch speed vs Tisho’s speed, Thompson’s size and strength vs Manaele’s athleticism, the size matchups and shooting of Spencer Norris, Jarod Couch, Zachary Carter. Join WRGC live or on line at wrgc.com. about 6:00 p-m

The staff prepared to broadcast the Friday Night basketball game from Smoky Mountain High School.  In thbis day of high tech equipment and fabnulous communication capabilites Friday Night was not one of those nights that would lend itself to getting the game on the air by alternative means when the standard broadscast system failed.  “There will be nights like this from time to time, once I drove to Charlotte to broadcast a WCU/Davidson baseball game but the phone company has installed the loop at the wrong field so we missed that game,  another day we were in Chapel hill for a game and as simular thing happened, it happens sometimes, we regret it.” said WRGC Radio Owner Roy Burnette.  We hope to have everytrhing fixed in time to have the next games on the air.  WRGC will not be broadcasting the Christmas tournament games later this month.

The 5th Battalion 113th Field Artillery Regiment from Louisburg and the Winston Salem area held a staging muster in mid October in preparation for their deployment to Egypt. The Unit has been undergoing training in Indiana for two months in preparation for their peace keeping job assignment. This is the first time that American forces have been stationed in the area since 1979 when a peace agreement was signed. This return of the American forces is part of a ten nation peace force that has been rotating troops for several decades. While tensions have been increasing in the region over the past months, National Guard officials report the arrival of the 5th Batallion is not related to the increased tensions in the area but are simply a sequenced rotation. The 5th Batallion is expected to complete their rotation by September 2013.

As tensions increase in the area and the announced departure of American Troops from Afghanistan there continues to be a concern for all troops deployed to the region, those preparing for deployment, and other National Guard Units in the state which may be in a standby mode.

The Smoky Mountain Girls basketball team showed improvement with scoring and defense on Tuesday night but were unable to hold off a strong Tuscola girls squad who finished the night with a 60 to 38 win over the Mustangs.  The Boys Varsity team dominated the game until the middle of the third quarter when Tuscola got their first lead.  The teams traded leads for a few minutes of play but a 9-0 run by the Mountaineers had the Mustangs on their heels. Full court pressure in the last minute combined with timely shooting by the Mustangs got the game tied at the end of regulation. Tuscola took controll of the game in overtime period.  A couple of Mountaineers got deadly hot while the Mustangs missed a couple of high percentage shots under the basket, made a several errant throws and committed other turnovers, and the three point shot vanished for the Mustangs in overtime.  The final was 83-73 Tuscola.

The next game by the Mustangs will be against West Henderson on Friday. The game will be broadcasted live on 540 a-m WRGC.

We do not know what happened with the live stream on of the game on Tuesday.  the station plans to have the problem corrected by Friday.

Seems whether a current game or a game of the alumni the Franklin Football seems to have Sylva’s number. So it was again Saturday night when the Franklin Alumni Football Team crushed the Sylva Alumni 26-0 in front of a large crowd in Franklin. All things taken into consideration it should have been a worthwhile fundraiser. These events are conducted by the Alumni Football USA as a fundraiser for the school or a local athletic program. The Enka-Erwin game last spring was the biggest game of all time raising over $21,000 for the schools. The home team gets the concession receipts while the individual schools get to keep the advance ticket sales. Reports are that over 700 local tickets were sold which will give a nice boost to the Jackson County Youth Spoprts Program. Also some of the money raised was being used to help with hospitasl expenses for one of the players who sustained a serious injury during practive. The insurance that players purchase through Alumni Football U-S-A is a game insurance and not a practice insurance. Jerry Hill coached the Sylva team while former Former Franklin High School coach Fred Goldsmith came out of retirement to coach the Franklin Alumni and added yet another win to his incredible coaching credential.

Saturday Afternoon… listen for Balsam Range on the Into the Blue Show with Terry Herd

High School Basketball Friday Night did not turn out well for the Mustangs… nailbiters you don’t win.

The WRGC sports team was on the road Friday at Erwin for high school basketball. While the Lady Mustangs played theirt hearts out and some of their best basketball of the season they were not able to hold off the Erwin Warriors. After a tough see saw battle Erwin was able to seal the deal late with a 53 to 47 win.  The Mustang Varsity Boys team felt the pain this time when they were the victim of a last second call giving Erwin the last two shots of the game.  Erwin connected once at the free throw line with about two seconds left. Jayce Wolfe took the last shot for the Mustangs,  but the shot was off the mark. The Mustangs end the week with a 6-1 record.  The JV boys and Girls also losy to Erwin.

Saturday Afternoon Live Coverage of the Bryson City Christmas Parade

Andy, Robert, and Josie will be present in Bryson City to report on the events of the parade.  This will give all the folks in Bryson City the opportunity to meet the WRGC Radio personalities.  Being live and local radio we did not have have to ship in the announcers from Colorodo or Texas… Robert is from Bryson City, Josie lives in the Cherokee area, Andy is from Waynesville and the operator for thre show will be Kaitlin Blaylock from Cherokee.  The Radio Station owner Roy Burnette also maintains a residence several miles west of Bryson City.

WCU Basketball

This is the big one,  WRGC will join the Catamount Sports Network for live coverage of the Catamounts basketball game with  Appalachian State.  Live coverage will begin at 4:00 with the pregame show.  Tip-off will be at 4:30.

Crook and Chase will be on Saturday Night

After the conclusion of the broadcast from the WCU  basketball game WRGC will broadcast this week’s Crook and Chase Country Countdown. It should be a fabulous show.

12/03/12 The Saturday sports story was a story of misssed opportunities for both Swain County High School and Murphy High School in their quest to repeat as state champions in the 1-AA and 1-A divisions.  The eastern division teams were strong up front and quick in the backfield on both offense and defense. However both mountain teams were still very much in the game until the closing seconds. What some say was a blown call closed down the Murphy Bulldog’s chances late, and SouthWest Onslow took advantage of an onside kick attempt by the Maroon Devils with just over a minute left to play and returned the loose football for a score to put their lead back to ten with little time left. Had the Maroon Devils capitalized on the onside kick attempt the outcome could have been much different because they had held the Stallions offense in the fourth quarter. Both the Murphy Bulldogs and Swain High School Maroon Devils will be returning a good number of starters for the 2013 season,  and should be in the thick of the high school playoff picture again next year.

The WCU Men’s basketball team traveled to the state of Kentucky to take on the undefeated at home Eastern Kentucky Colonials. The Catamounts matched the Colonials till 2.8 seconds. The Cats final shot to tie fell short However the Lady Cats opened their Southern Conference schedule with a 47 to 44 win over UNC Greensboro. The Lady Cats are now 3-3 and 1-0 in the conference.  The Men’s basketball team also win their opening Southern Conference match last week against Furman.  The Men’s team will be on the road Tuesday to take on Illinios in a game that will be broadcast on 540 a-m WRGC.  the Women will be in action today at noon Monday (today) at the Ramsey Center against Elon. Over 800 area school children are expected to be at the Ramsey Center today. This game will not be broadcast over WRGC.

The Smoky Mountain Mustangs will be at home against Madison on Tuesday for their Endowment game.  The Mustangs Varsity handled Enka with relative ease on Friday night with a 73 to 46 win at Smoky Mountain high School.  The Lady Mustangs were not successful against the taller and more experienced Enka Jets.

540-a-m WRGC will be broadcasting the WCU Basketball Game at Illinois on Tuesday.

540 a.m. WRGC is working in collaboration with the Maroon Devils Network for the broadcast of today’s High School Championship Football Game. The audio stream will be available from the maroondevilsnetwork.com.

If you are driving toward Cullowhee from Sylva, there will be traffic delays due to an accident located near the intersection of South River Road.

Once again, FedEx is excited and ready to roll and so are we! North Carolina has committed to donate 1,350 trees to our service families in the following places:
Fort Pol, LA, Fort Benning GA, Marine Corps Air Station New River, Jacksonville, NC

This year our trees for troops coordinator is Henry Fowler. Henry has a site set-up for you to drop off your trees anytime on Fowler Rd in the Big Ridge area. Simply drop off your trees and fill out the information sheet with your name and # of trees. This info is needed for ease when reloading onto bigger Fed Ex trucks to the different Fort/Base locations. If you have any questions contact Henry Fowler at 828 226 9327.

Deadline: Folks have until 12:00 p.m. on Dec 3rd to drop off your trees. These will then be brought to the Linville River Nursery in Newland for reloading onto Fed Ex trucks.  Trees can be any species but should be of retail height of a good 6 ft or small 7 ft tree size and quality. For easier loading trees should be baled, netted or tied.

Music students from Western Carolina University will perform jazz concerts in the recital hall of the Coulter Building  Thursday, Nov. 29. at 7:30 p.m.. Admission is free and the concerts are open to the public.

Jacob Duncan will perform on saxophone with the WCU Jazz Ensemble at a Nov. 29 concert.

The Nov. 29 concert will feature the Jazz Ensemble with guest artist saxophonist Jacob Duncan. The Jazz Ensemble comprises five saxophones, four trombones, four trumpets and full rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass and drums). The performers develop knowledge of various jazz big band styles, including the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Herbie Hancock and Bob Mintzer as well as music of modern jazz arrangers of the 1990s.

Duncan, also a band leader, composer and arranger, began on alto sax at 11. He graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy and won a music scholarship to the University of North Texas, where he was a member of the One O’Clock Lab Band. After graduation, he played on the streets and in the jazz clubs of Europe, based himself for a time in New York and worked on a cruise ship before returning to his hometown of Louisville, Ky.

For more information about these performances, call the WCU School of Music at 828-227-7242 or go online to music.wcu.edu.

Alumni of Smoky Mountain High School and Franklin High School will once again have the opportunity to suit up and play some football on December 8th at 7:00 at Franklin High School.  This Alumni Football games are coordinated by Alumni Football USA which conducts hundreds of these games across the country each year. While Smoky Mountain High School and Franklin High School are playing for the King of Cowee Mountain Alumni Football, Andrews and Murphy will also be battling for the title of the King of the Valley on the same night. Earlier this year Enka High School raised over $21,000 for their school in their alumni game with Erwin.  The home team gets the proceeds from the concession stand while both teams are able to make their money from advance ticket sales. Gate ticket sales go the Alumni Football USA. Tickets are available from Alumni Players, Franklin and Smoky Mountain High Schools, are some area businesses. For more information to to alumnifootballusa.com.

11/26/12 Swain topped Monroe 28-21. East Lincoln ended  Madison’s dream season 31-14, Concord topped Freedom 27-20 and Murphy slipped by Albamarle again 24-21.

There will be a several of options for listening to the Swain and Murphy games on Saturday from Raleigh.

One of those is WRGC is working on a deal to broadcast the game on 540 a-m. If the details can be worked out listeners can join in at 2:30 for a pre-game show followed by the Play By Play by a broadcast crew WRGC listeners are familiar with.  Check back in for details as they unfold.