Category Archives: Wendy Welch

The Shows go on – and on – –

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Jack gets over the line again – –

A very odd coincidence happened on Monday evening.

I’ve been producing and presenting a weekly Celtic music show on the NPR station in Johnson City Tennessee for nearly twenty years now (WETS.fm). It’s called ‘Celtic Clanjamphry’ and initially airs on their main FM and HD1 channel on Sunday evenings and then repeats on their HD2 channel on Mondays and Saturdays. It then goes out on WEHC.fm here in Virginia on the following Sunday. Because I record them ahead of time with the enormous help of my engineer Dirk, I’m never quite sure which episode is airing any particular week. I got a message on Monday morning from a listener and so I checked the Monday evening repeat to check which one was going out.

Wendy interviewing a turtle

But – –

A few months ago Wendy started working part-time for West Virginia Public Radio as a producer and presenter for their show called ‘Inside Appalachia’ which goes out there on Sunday mornings and is then re-broadcast on a whole host of other NPR stations from Ohio to Georgia, and Kentucky to North Carolina. One of the stations that takes it is – yes – WETS.fm in Johnson City!

Last week her first program came 2nd in Best Feature at the AP Virginias Broadcasting awards, out of more than 400 entries from all over Virginia and West Virginia which was very exciting! Her latest story is all about a 10 year search for the maker of hand thrown clay mugs. It’s quite a moving story!

On Monday past, at 8pm I went to the WETS website to check which of my programs was being broadcast on HD2. Lo and behold, to my surprise they were airing ‘Inside Appalachia’ on their fm/HD1 channel at exactly the same time, and it was Wendy’s mug story! So we were both on the same station at the same time!

So I went to Wendy and told her this and with a big grin on her face she said, “Hmm, which one shall we listen to?”

I’m a smart husband…..

School days then and now

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Jack gets over the line early again – –

I’m always fascinated by the ‘school run’ here in the morning and afternoon. So very different from my memories of going to school in Scotland.

Here the early run starts around 7.45 and continues in an orderly fashion until 8.00, when there’s a brief lull, then a mad rush between 8.05 and 8.15. The elementary school is just a block from us and the streets around it are reserved for drop off of the kids. Then from 2.30 until 3.00 the whole thing happens in reverse. I assume that the early morning run is parents who start work at 8.00 and the second one is probably stay at home Moms. Then there are the school buses as well and I imagine there will be many ‘latch key’ kids going home in them in the afternoon.

My memories are very different. Very few people had cars back then and most primary (elementary) schools were within walking distance. So my Grandad who lived with us walked me down in the morning and walked me back at the end of the school day. My older sister made her own way and I rarely saw her during the day as the school was divided into two sections – one for older kids and one for younger ones. The playground was also divided with a low wall between them. Back then all the teachers were single women and if they got married they were immediately required to resign. All the head teachers were men and they were expected to be married! Corporal punishment was how discipline was maintained and administered with a leather strap called a ‘tawse’ which were made in a nearby town and specially designed. I have distinct memories of receiving ‘six of the best’ on the palm of my hand on a number of occasions.

There was no system of ‘middle schools’ in Scotland and there still isn’t, so kids go straight from primary school to high school at age eleven – a very traumatic experience!

Despite all that I have mostly happy memories of those days – –