Inside Appalachia

Series produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting

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Inside Appalachia is our weekly radio and podcast, hosted by Mason Adams. The show highlights West Virginia’s cultural heritage and brings those stories to a broader audience.

Inside Appalachia is currently heard on 33 stations in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
The show highlights West Virginia’s cultural heritage and brings those stories to a broader audience. We strive to tell real stories about what it’s like to live here, and feature Appalachians who are finding unique solutions.
The program gives voice to and provides a platform for the underserved, overlooked, and often dismissed residents of Appalachia.
We’ve recently expanded the show to tell more stories about our region’s diverse arts and culture, through our grant-funded Folkways Project.


188 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Many of us are dreaming about the things we want to do when this pandemic is over — like traveling someplace far away. If you have wanderlust, or t...

  • Added: Nov 03, 2020
  • Length: 54:00
Caption: Gary Bentley is a former coal miner who grew up in eastern Kentucky., Credit: Courtesy Gary Bentley
Four years ago, 95 percent of Appalachian counties voted for Donald Trump. National journalists parachuted in to try to understand why. But, what d...

  • Added: Oct 27, 2020
  • Length: 54:00
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This episode is all about one of Appalachia’s most critical natural resources — fierce women. We hear what happens when Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei...

  • Added: Oct 20, 2020
  • Length: 54:00
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Here in Appalachia, we’re all too familiar with black lung disease, and how it takes the breath away from our coal miners. For a time it seemed bla...

  • Added: Oct 13, 2020
  • Length: 54:00
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Here in Appalachia, we have this extraordinary fruit called pawpaws. The pawpaw was important enough to the Shawnee people’s way of life that they ...

  • Added: Oct 06, 2020
  • Length: 54:00
Caption: BARB SARGENT, Credit: COURTESY WV DNR
In this day and age, kids spend so much time looking at screens. This week on Inside Appalachia, we’ll meet a storyteller and songwriter who inspir...

  • Added: Oct 05, 2020
  • Length: 54:00
Caption: Robert Villamagna, a professional artist in Wheeling, W.Va., outside his studio in summer 2019. Robert tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of July 2020, and he is still in recovery., Credit: Caitlin Tan/ WVPB
In this episode, we check in with potters, painters, writers, and action figure makers, to see how they’re faring during—and in spite of—the corona...

  • Added: Sep 22, 2020
  • Length: 54:00
Caption: Taffy Nivert and John Denver playing “Country Roads” at the Cellar Door in December 1970, one of the first times the song was performed in public. Bill Danoff’s guitar is to the left. , Credit:  Courtesy Bill Danoff
The coronavirus pandemic has increased a desire to return home for some people; we’ll hear from several people who recently moved to Appalachia. So...

  • Added: Sep 16, 2020
  • Length: 54:00