Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
iHeartMedia Asheville news/talk station 570 WWNC has served as a critical lifeline for western North Carolina residents since Hurricane Helene slammed the region. On Thursday, the station’s efforts were profiled by the CBS Evening News.
CBS News correspondent Skyler Henry went to Asheville to detail how the radio station has served the community in the wake of the devastating damage Helene levied on the area. The report showcased how a pair of brothers — dubbing themselves “The Chainsaw Brothers” — have been dispatched around the region to help clear downed trees for citizens by listening to 570 WWNC.
Which led station Program Director and morning show host Mark Starling to note that the AM radio station has essentially been the only form of communication available to those in the area.
“We’ve had no connection to the outside world except our radio stations, and we were the only two here,” Starling said of him and his producer, Tank Spencer. “We’ve kinda had this mission of ‘Ok, we gotta walk these people through this storm.”
“The phone calls got progressively scarier and scarier … we got the call that a guy was on the second floor of his house. When we hung up, everything was going to be fine. Everything wasn’t fine,” Starling said as he fought back tears, before the CBS Evening News reporter revealed that the caller, his wife, and their seven-year-old grandson were all swept away by the flooding. “That was a hard one. It’s still a hard one. I can hear his phone call in my head.”
“This is the realest radio has ever been,” Spencer said. “We’re connecting with people in a way that most people don’t ever get to connect with their audience because this is our family.”
