Asheville Bele Cher and WZNN

Despite having lived most of my life in West Carolina, I've never gone to a Bele Cher. Which, I believe marks me as a true native.

My usual Saturday routine involves going to Franklin to do my laundry, wasting time at old bookstores, and using an hour or so of computer time at the Franklin Library to get on the Internet at a decent speed. From here on Chestnut Cove, I can barely maintain 21.6 Kilobaud due to bad phonelines.

This past Saturday I made, for me, a drastic change in routine. I hardly ever take trips that exceed 35 or 40 miles one way due to my perceived unreliability of my 1984 GMC truck. Apparently, my fears were unfounded. Bertha performed well, and I kept her at or under the speed limit, which made for interesting driving considering everyone else was doing an acceptable imitation of low-flying fighter jets.

I left the Cove just before 7 and arrived at my chosen, supersecret parking spot about 10 before 8am and arrived by foot at The Marble slab on Biltmore St during the news break. This allowed me to approach Bill Fishburne and Josh Wilkie off-air to introduce myself and shake hands, and retrieve a T-Shirt w/ the station i.d. upon it,.

You may listen to the station at http://www.supertalk1350.com by looking to the left sidebar and clicking on listen live. This is the station I listen to most of the time.

After meeting the morning talk jock and sometimes sidekick, I wandered the streets of Asheville and visited some used bookstores (Some routines I WON'T alter) and listened to the WZNN morning people. I was glad that the streets were blocked off, because I've found Asheville in the past to be a pedestrian unfriendly place...the drivers, not the layout.

Near noon, I wandered back to The Marble Slab WZNN HQ and purchased a coffee ice cream w/ strawberries mixed in by the staff in front of my very eyes. I lingered over the delight as I await the arrival of Ken Bagwell to start his usually weekday show, Heads Up America. I also saw, but didn't get to meet the station manager, Brian O'Brien (O'Brian ?) due to his One Armed Paper Hanger feat of Managing Things. He looked much as I had imagined, except his hair wasn't black. Bagwell, on the other hand, looked like a Real Estate Agent.

The Man on the Street was a success, and Ken wasn't jumped by the radicals of the liberal army that occupies Asheville. I followed along on the radio and in person, and shook Kens' hand before I left. I also met George, one of the other regular callers on the station, I thought he looked like Ken sounds, and Ken looks like he sounds.

I left at 20 before 2pm and arrived in Sylva to do my laundry around 2.30. My major regret was not getting to meet Bill Forstchen, The History Guy. I didn't know he would be roaming the streets until I was in Haywood County, to far to return due to my limited budgetary situation. I'll bet he and Josh had a hoot on the radio. I left radio reception range right at the top of the hour at 2pm.

I was sick yesterday, so I missed church. No race, so I attempted to sleep all day. I played "Scotty" when my grandparents Legacy Satellite receiver crapped out again. They probably have one of the oldest Dish Receivers in WNC. The "acquiring satellite signal" display was the only clue I had to work with as I checked everything. Eventually, either the signal came back on its own, or I worked magic.