08/12/2025 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Joanna Romeo, Jeff Jenkins, MetroNews 40th Anniversary

Joanna Romeo on the upcoming Biscuits and Gravy competition at the Capitol Market.  Also, Jeff Jenkins talks about the 40th Anniversary of MetroNews.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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or WVRC Media. From the studios of WVRC Media. The country,
the United States of America, the state West Virginia, the
city Charleston. This is the Dave Allen Show on five

(00:40):
eighty Live, and your host.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
What we've got here is fail.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Milka's kind of a big deal.

Speaker 5 (00:49):
I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick
out a all autoblon.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Dave Allen and the Good Tuesday. Good morning to you,
and welcome to the show. Senior Producer Ryan Nicholson in
charge of things this morning, Big Lee Pickley Wiggly Hotline
three zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight,
Tony the Taylor Text three zero four nine three five
five zero zero. He would do the show from the
Jared Construction Studios right on time, right on Bunget visit

(01:17):
Jarish Natch Construction dot Com. Phone calls to the show
with service so Big Lee, Pickley, Wigglely, Spring Street, Charleston.
Taxting services provided by West Virginia's finance Men's store, Tony
the Taylor on Virginia Street. Tony Summer hours Mondays eleven
of three, Tuesday through Friday ten to five thirty, and
Saturday's My appointment only. Check out Best Master Taylor dot
com Tony's Facebook page for more information and if you're
a Mountaineer fan, Tony's got the stuff that you need

(01:39):
to get ready for the upcoming mouth in Hear football
season coming up. On the show, we had to move
some things around a little bit of riscently. We had
the superintendent of schools in Knawk County schedule on the
show today, but she had a sudden meeting she had
to get to completely understandable. So I think she's going
to be on the show tomorrow. I say I think
because I'm not going to be here tomorrow. Deal Cooper
will be doing the show for me on Wednesday, Thursday

(02:00):
and Friday. So we had to move the superintendent to
one of those shows. I think she's going to try
to get her on the show tomorrow to talk about
not only the first day of school for students in
Kanawk County, which is coming up later this week, but
also the cell phone band which was passed by the
Kenaw County Board of Education and put into place last night.
Coop and Superintendent Potter will talk about that a little

(02:22):
bit later on in the week on this show. Though today,
as you've been hearing if you've been listening to the
Morning News, today is the fortieth anniversary West Virginia Metro News.
Jeff Jenkins is going to join us a little bit
later on to talk about that. We get special things
going on throughout the day. Chris Lawrence in our news
department just put together an absolutely stunning piece of audio

(02:44):
going back to the beginning days and throughout the years
of Metro News. So we're going to listen in on that.
On the talk line, those guys are going to talk
about a Dale Miller is going to be on with
them today and on midday we're also going to talk
about it with, among other folks, George Manahan, who was
the original Capital He was the original Brad mclhanney. He
was the Capitol correspondent for Metro News. He's going to

(03:06):
join us on midday and as well. So got plenty
to get to, but always time for your calls and text.
Big Ley Pigli Wiggly hotline three zero four three four
five fifty eight fifty eight. Tony of the Taylor Text
three zero four nine three five five zero zero. Let's
talk about something I love talking about, and that's food.
We're gonna talk about a little biscuits and gravy right now.
I know it's a long way off because the event
we're going to tell you that's not tool. We're all

(03:28):
bundled up and fall. But now's the time that the
planning is going into this big biscuits and gravy competition
over at Capitol markt. Joanna Romeo joins us. Joanna, Welcome
to the show. Hi, good morning, and the great PG.
Paul Crik goes with us as well. How you doing?
Are you just one of those people that everybody knows,
like by their first name or initials. You just say PG,
and everybody knows who you are pretty much.

Speaker 6 (03:48):
It gets a little annoying too, because it's very hard
for me to remember everybody, but I hear I hear
PJPG constantly and it comes from like all directions.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah, and you're the for those who may not know you,
For the five people out there who may not know
who you are, explain what restaurants you're affiliated with here in.

Speaker 6 (04:09):
Charleston, Sam's Uptown Cafe, the Red Carpet Lounge, and Laporte Cafe.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Okay, and now how's Laporte going. That's that's a former
Tricky Fish location.

Speaker 6 (04:18):
Yes, doing great?

Speaker 4 (04:18):
Okay, Well, it was one of my favorite places before.
And of course all your places are great. I was
at the Red Carpet on Saturday for Kegs for k
Nines and it's and of course Sam's is killer as well.

Speaker 7 (04:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (04:30):
Sam's is celebrating her thirty year anniversary next week.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
I have been known to dine from time to time.
Of course, with the Metro News mid day show, I
don't get a whole lot of dining these days out
because I'm on the air from noon to three. But
I have been known to be in the company in
the presence of one Tony the Taylor there frequently, not
because I want to, but because he frequently buys but
as much money as I spend in his store than
he owes me. Right, absolutely, all right, let's talk his

(04:56):
biscuits and gravy. Let's talk about you had an event,
joy An. I'm gonna start with you, and we're gonna
give a little history about an event that started last year.
Tell us what we got going on.

Speaker 8 (05:04):
Yeah, So our Biscuit and Gravy is scheduled at the
Capital Market this year for November eighth.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Last year is a great hit.

Speaker 8 (05:09):
We had restaurants and individuals compete for it, and so
this year we're going to be doing experts versus wannabes
and then they can do biscuits and.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Gravy or we'll have the other category to be judging
too this.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
Year, all right, And I like that experts and wannabes. Yes, Yeah,
it was a great event last year, and I was
happy that our station's got to take part in it.
I was over there. Rob Real from assister station ninety
six one KWS was there and as somebody who is
a food person, PG talk about your involvement in this
and why is it the biscuits and gravy or so popular.

Speaker 6 (05:42):
Where I come from?

Speaker 4 (05:43):
It's not now where are you from upstate New York, Okay?

Speaker 6 (05:47):
And I was really surprised when I moved down here
and got into the food business down here. How popular
biscuits and gravy is down to the South.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
It's an apple Achian slash Southern thing. I mean, it's
very very popular here. And I know it's Sam's that
you do some pretty good biscuits and gravy there for
your brunch, right.

Speaker 6 (06:07):
We make biscuits and gravy a couple times a month
whenever we can. It is a very popular rite among
our brunch menu.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
And again, this event's not until November, but we're telling
people now to put it on your calendar. And because
in order to pull this thing off, you need some
sponsors and things of that nature. Tell us who you're
raising money.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
For, Joanna, Yes, so we're raising money for South Ridcht Church.
So we help out.

Speaker 8 (06:32):
We want to be the community that the church or
the church that the community can't live without.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
And we just do and give so much back.

Speaker 8 (06:38):
So we like help the UC football team for all
their home games, like part of this money will help
contribute toward that. We feed the players and their families
for every home game and make treat bags for away games.
We help Knaw County kids and families around Christmas about
one hundred and twenty five families for the whole month,
providing food for them for the holiday.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Now and again it is sponsored by the South Ridge Church,
but we I mean, you guys do great work out there,
but this goes well beyond a church. This is not
just things going back into the church. This is things
that are going help out to help these people in
the community, whether they go to the church or not.
That's what we're talking about.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yes, exactly.

Speaker 8 (07:12):
So, so if you want to get involved as a sponsor,
we have like the Morning Month sponsor, Breakfast sponsor to
get involved in COVID insurance is already in, and tutors
and Geno's or help sponsoring our event already too.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
Well, let's go back to last year. Was it as
a big a success last year as you thought it
would be, Because to me, when you and I first
talked about it and I had you on the show
and you reached out to me about it, I thought, well,
there's so many other things going on. Competitions, you know,
you've got to you know, there's chili competitions and wing
competitions and rib fests, and I thought, well, I don't

(07:45):
know how popular this is going to be. I was
sadly mistaken. It was very popular.

Speaker 8 (07:50):
Yes, so well, everybody was excited because you can go
with family, friends, kids, all ages can come and just
have a great time, enjoy the community and see others
while you're there too.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
And again it's a capital market, which is one of
the finer places to have it in Charleston. And the
turnout last year, Joanna was awesome and we had a
lot of people there.

Speaker 8 (08:06):
Yeah, we had almost three hundred and Jim Strawn was
our MC and DJ EJ and he'll be back again
this year, both of those guys to help us to
make the event more fun.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
Of course, our stations are going to be involved as well,
and we're looking forward to to checking it out. And
the thing about about biscuits and gravy is there are
I mean, seems so simple, but there are so many
different varieties and I had some big and I served
as a judge last year. I'm hoping I get a
call back this year. There are so many different ways

(08:36):
to make it and even the appearance of it doesn't
always look the same. I mean grandma's looked one way,
and then moms may look a little bit different. Restaurants
look a little bit. There's a lot of different ways
to make biscuits.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
And gravy there is, and sausage is a way to go.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, exactly what about you? I mean you said pg up.
Being from upstate New York, this was not really your
thing until you got down here. What makes good biscuits
and gravy in your opinion?

Speaker 6 (08:59):
Well, really good sausage for sure. I use a heavy cream,
a lot lot of pepper. Uh, you know it's it's
just kind of regional. I think you know mine is
very is not traditional. I don't think I wouldn't call
it traditional, but it definitely people that do like traditional

(09:20):
biscuits and gravy are very fond of it.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
Now you say it's not traditional. What makes it non
not traditional?

Speaker 6 (09:26):
It's very heavily seasoned with.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
Stuff stuff that I don't want to say, No, I
get it, but but that's what that's what makes it
is the is the secret saucer to speak absolutely this
you go in now, I like it. I like it
very very spicy. And I get to give a good
shout out to one of my good friends. Everybody knows her,
and everybody knows her gravy Patro patriv sale here and
Charleston who who does some of the best Hungarian gravy

(09:52):
and it will it's not for the faint of heart,
but it's but it's very good. And I saw and
I and I sampled some gravyes last year doing event
that were like that, but then also sampled some that
were just as mild as they can be. They don't
necessarily have to be spicy in my opinions, like chili
pg good chili does not have to be spicy. I
prefer it spicy, but good chili does not have to

(10:13):
be spicy. I make all my stuff spicy. Well that's
the way I like it. I mean, I always jokeing
in my house if you don't like spice, do you
won't like eating at mine? In my wife's house, because
everything we cook is spicy.

Speaker 6 (10:25):
Our our gravy recipe actually is kind of an offshoot
of Patriots because she used to make it for us
for brunch way back in the day.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Tex said, I had no clue that Sam's had biscuits
and gravy. Uh, I think they're getting Sam's uptown Cafe
mixed up with Sam's Club because that but do you
sell memberships in Sam's Uptown Cafe.

Speaker 6 (10:48):
I'll sell anything.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
We'll sell Joanna if we think they get something for
But no, this is not This is Sam's Uptown Cafe
that we're talking about, not Sam's Club, which is one
of the Sam's Uptown Cafe is one of the premiere
eating establishments here in Charleston. So again, the event will
be November the eighth. November the eighth, and where can
people learn more about it?

Speaker 8 (11:10):
So they can either reach out to me through my
phone number six O six four six five ten eighty eight,
or we're getting our Facebook updated, so our website, it's
going to be at https at src dot church center
dot com. Hashtags registrations slash event, slash three zero five

(11:32):
three four eight three.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
Okay, that's a lot of stuff, So I'll tell you
what we'll do. We'll we'll get it out there when
we get a little bit closer. The reason I wanted
to have you guys on here today was to talk
about the event.

Speaker 7 (11:41):
Again.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
It's not till November, and it's been one hundred and
eighty eight degrees in Charleston every day this summer, but
by the time this event rolls around will be well
past Halloween looking toward the holidays, will probably be bundled up.
We want to have some coffee to go along with
it as well. We'll be in the cool weather months
by that point and there's nothing that nothing will warm
you up quietly, little biscuits and gravy.

Speaker 8 (12:01):
Yeah, and the Capitol Market and our church. We're getting
our Facebook event ready to blast off this month too,
so it'll be on the Facebook.

Speaker 9 (12:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
As we get closer and you're looking for entries, you're
looking to is there a cutoff as far as like
the date goes when you have to let people know
that you're can And we'll have you on plenty of
times between now and now, but.

Speaker 8 (12:17):
You have a cut off date yet, I mean preferly
just to make sure we can do the logistics and day.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Of event lay out to go smooth. I mean by
the end of like September, mid October would.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Be great, okay, all right, and we'll get we'll have
you on then, you know, before then to talk about it.
And again we do want to remind you what's the entry.

Speaker 10 (12:32):
Fee to you?

Speaker 3 (12:33):
It's free, so we cover the cost.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
Okay, ye, all right, so keep it? And and how
how do people if they just want to come out
and samples some biscuits and gravy, how does the ticketing
work for that? How does the price gime?

Speaker 8 (12:42):
Yeah, we'll have wristbans again, so presell if you get
them early. It'll be fifteen for adult, five for children,
and then day of event it'll be twenty dollars adult
and ten for a child.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
And so are you just able to sample pretty much
all that you want to there? Or how does that work?

Speaker 11 (12:54):
You get?

Speaker 8 (12:54):
Yeah, so you'll have one to two out serving samplings
and so they'll get to visit each contender and if
they're not full, they can go back and do round
twos if they want. But it's gonna be a lot
of food this year. All right, date again November A
on Saturday, second Saturday.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
All right, second Saturday of the month. And this is
going to be an annual event here in Charleston. This
is the second one that we've done. It's over at
Capital Market and again we'll have you on plenty of time.
What we wanted to push today was sponsorship. So if
there's a company out there auto dealership, you know, anybody
that's law firm that wants to sponsor this thing because
it does go for a great cause. It is sponsored
by South Ridge Church. But again, we don't want people

(13:31):
to think that. I mean, there's nothing wrong with with
the work that churches do, but this is about more
than just church work, because this is the thing that
you do out in the community as well. And again,
final time, where can people reach out to you if
they're interested in being a sponsor?

Speaker 8 (13:43):
Yeah, so just they can call me at six oh
six four six five eighty eight or email me at
Jay Underscore mcnerlin at hotmail dot com.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
All right, we'll have you on between now and the PG.
It's always a pleasure to have you on the show.
It's good to see you. All right, we'll take a break.
It's nine twenty one. You guys are here on a
special day because we're celebrating Metro. This is fortieth anniversary today.
Forty years ago today, this thing launched and we're spending
a lot of time talking about it. You probably don't
remember forty years ago, PG, And I remember forty years ago,
although I was getting ready to go into the tenth

(14:13):
grade at that time, but I certainly remember know what
a big part Metro News was, so you know, you
maybe could have brought us some biscuits and gravy to celebrate,
just saying next time, next time. All right, we can
hold you to that. All right. I appreciate you guys
being here hanging out with me. Just one second of
a day violand show on five any I brought to
you part by Live Healthy West Virginia presented by WVU Medison.
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(14:35):
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Big Ley Pigley Wiggly Hotline three zero four three four
five fifty eight fifty eight. Tony the Taylor Text three
zero four nine three five five zero zero. We'll take
a break. We're gonna talk about the fortieth anniversary of
Metro News with Jeff Jenkins when we come back. Also,

(14:55):
we're gonna roll a little special audio presentation that Chris
Lawrence put together that's definitely gonna bring back some memories
for you. We'll get to all that when we come back.
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Speaker 4 (17:07):
Welcome back to the show. It's nine twenty four Big
Lea Pigley Wiggly Hotline three zero four three four five
fifty eight fifty eight. Tony the Taylor Text three zero
four nine three five five zero zero. Ave Dave Island
Show on five eighty Live is brought to you part
by your hometown baseball team, the Charleston Dirty Birds. Birds
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facing High Point Tonight. It's African American Heritage Night plus

(17:27):
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visit dirty Birds Baseball dot com. Jeff Jenkins joins this
right now, Jeff, Good Morning Show.

Speaker 14 (17:40):
Good morning, How you doing.

Speaker 4 (17:41):
I am doing good. Happy fortieth Okay, happy fortieth fortieth
for Metro News.

Speaker 9 (17:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah, this is a pretty big deal, pretty and we're
gonna get We're be talking about this throughout the day.

Speaker 15 (17:53):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
I was talking to Dave Wilson in the break there. Uh,
a co host of a talk line. They're gonna bring
back Kay Murray on the show today. K Kris the
original the original talk line and I remember this well
was only on Wednesdays and it was hosted by Hobby
Kirchill and k Murray. Kay Murray is going to join
Wilson Meadows on on talkline. I think Dale Miller is

(18:14):
going to be on the show next hour and we're
going to have on Metro News Midday George Manahan, who was,
as I called him, the original Brad. He was the
original Capital Course, Capital Course, so he's going to join
us as well. Let's go back to the beginning of
Metro News. Where were you forty years ago?

Speaker 14 (18:29):
I was actually just about when Metro News went on
the air forty years ago today. It was just a
couple of months before I started an internship there. So
I was in the WU School of Journalism and was
working with the football team as a student equipment manager.

(18:50):
And that's where I met Tony and Hoppey and Uh.
So I when my first when I first came to
the station, I remember that Metro News had in on
the air for just a couple of months, so it's
very much in its infancy. Uh but yeah, so it's
uh it was. What was so new about it was

(19:11):
it was satellite distributed and Dell Miller and John Racy,
the owner of the company, uh discussed this idea with
Hoppy too, right, and they came up with a proposal
to offer this to affiliates other stations across the state.

(19:32):
At that time, we only owned two stations, the station,
the two stations in Morgantown, w A j R.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
And w v A Q UH and UH.

Speaker 14 (19:42):
And so they offered Metro News would be operated out
of there, and they they would offer it to certain,
you know, certain stations across the state. And the deal
would be is that we would put a satellite dish
UH so you could receive the signal. We would put
the bill for that and put the satellite dish at
your station. And so that's what we did for I
think it was thirty nine affiliates. Originally thirty nine stations

(20:04):
were the original affiliates.

Speaker 4 (20:05):
And to me, let me just jump in here. And
of course, you know, the company and out of Morgantown
was very well respected, but just right out of the
gate to be able to have thirty nine affiliates to
go with them with this idea that we want to
do a statewide radio network. Was the fact that you
were able to be able to get thirty nine radio

(20:27):
stations from day one to say yeah, we want to
be a part of this. I think that's pretty special
in and of itself. Yeah, it really was.

Speaker 14 (20:32):
And it speaks to Dale and John and Hoppy and
the product you know that was coming out of there
and Tony was also part of the original He was
there when it started, Tony Creedy, and you know, there's
there's a lot that's still the same day. You know,
there's still newscasts seven days a week like there were

(20:53):
forty years ago, and they start on the weekdays. They
started five fifty five am, and they play three times
an hour for the affiliates to play them when you know,
when it's most convenient for them. They go from six
basically it's at five fifty five am to six thirty pm.
That's that's the run of them.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
So it's every day with the exception.

Speaker 14 (21:17):
The only day we don't have news is Christmas Day,
and every other day we have news and we do newscasts,
and we've had a lot over the years. You mentioned
talk Line, obviously, sports Line and the morning news has
been around for more than twenty years, and in the
other special program Game Night and just the other special
programs that we have. But it's West Virginia is a

(21:38):
great state to be able to do this in. I
think Hoppy says that in the piece that's going to
play here is that just because you know it wasn't
it's interesting to hear him talk about it because it
really wasn't as easy you talk about the thirty nine afilies.
But they had to sell it to them. I mean,
they had to say, hey, listen, we think this would
be good because you know, back then in the mid eighties,
radio was just kind of starting to change a little

(22:00):
bit because all these local stations had their own news people, right,
but they were starting they were starting to you know,
that was being that was starting to be a big
commitment for station to be able to keep the local newspeaple.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
Right, and even the smaller communities like you know, I was.
I was about to go into tenth grade when Metro
News launched. But in Logan, we had two radio stations
at the time, WVW and WLOG. I worked at both
of them. I started WLG, went away to college and
came back and worked a WVW, but both I mean,
and even a town of small as Logan, there were
two full time radio stations, two sports teams that covered

(22:36):
the Logan basketball team, two news departments, and for younger
people that maybe and their stories like that all over
the state. That wasn't exclusive of the Logan So as
you said to go to them and say, well, why
should you know I'm a radio station in Mercer County.
Why should I care what's going on in Wetzel County.

Speaker 14 (22:52):
Right, you got to try to sell that, right, Yeah,
And they were able to do so, and and and
I think over the years, what's happened. I think it's
been the benefit to West Virginia because you know, what's
happened in our state, I mean, and what evens what's
happened in the industry. Radio companies were not able to
continue to staff their stations like they did in the past,

(23:14):
and so Metro News has actually provided a really good
service of daily news covering the state of West Virginia.
Of course, we added a website probably twenty years ago,
maybe I forget. I don't know our exact launch day
at wv metronews dot com, but you know, everything's on
the web now. All of our stories are there and
posting there seven days a week in different things. But
it's when you talk about I mean, there are radio

(23:37):
stations in this state have been around a lot longer
than forty years. Individual stations, as we know that, but
to have a network that's that's still being able to
be around forty years and it's a lot of people
it's not just the people you here on the air,
it's our folks. Larry Post is leading that effort right now,
and our sales folks upstairs that sell Metro News and
just do a great job and selling our product. And

(23:59):
so we're very thankful to.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Folks set on the other side of the glass, you know,
uh and Anthony Harmon, Ryan Nicholson who you hear from
time to time on the air. And you know that
those those folks, Matt Murphy uh are are a big,
big buz. Without those guys, none of it happens when
it went out the engineering team, none of it happened.

Speaker 14 (24:17):
Right right and just and just the talent, you know
when you think of Chris Lawrence and Fred Pursinger and
obviously Tony and Hoppy all those years and uh and
and now we're into new programming, which is exciting, you
know that that you're part of. And so it's been
it's really has been great. And you know, we we're

(24:37):
a member of an organization of state networks, you know,
and uh and to be able to to uh, we
we've we've been able to do some things that other
states have had difficulty doing, just other network other statewide
networks have had difficulty of doing but we've been able
to do it, and so just very thankful for that.
And yeah, forty years passed pretty quickly.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
And it's changed. I mean, as you said, that's the
end of saved to the year to talk about how
it's it's changed so much because you had to you know,
you had to provide the stations with the satellite programming
and now everything I've you know, we got computers and
people are just down. And in this the phone I
was about I thought I was on Metro News TV.
I was going to hold up my phone, right, people,
this is a great number of people, not the majority

(25:18):
of people. This is where they listen to it. Sure,
you know it's not necessarily in the cart home radio.

Speaker 14 (25:22):
So you know at the beginning it would feed, you know,
three times an hour on the satellite, and so a
station would either take it live when it fed the
individual newscast once an hour, or you would record it
and play it back. You can do that, but now
you don't get so much inside baseball here. But now
it still feeds like it always has. But there are

(25:42):
other ways that you can we posted in other ways.
You have a or affiliates have a have a if
I can describe it correctly, they have capabilities of grabbing it,
you know what they want. Yeah, they don't have to
sit there and wait for it. I mean they can
you know, once it's up, they can go grab And
that's a lot with a lot of our program they
can program it. You know, Ashley Upstairs does a great

(26:06):
job with you know, with kind of you know, doing
the programming and the continuity and those type of things.
So you know there's a lot behind it. But you know,
we had the news operation was in Morgantown for the
first fifteen years, and then we moved the news operation
here in two thousand into Charleston, and so we've been
the news operation has been based in Charleston for twenty

(26:28):
five years.

Speaker 16 (26:29):
This month.

Speaker 14 (26:30):
We came in August of two thousand. I knew George
Manahan's going to be on later today. And George was
our first Capital correspondent, and we had a lot of
people because we were based in Morgantown and so we
had someone in this before we owned any stations in Charleston.
But he was actually literally at the Capitol reporting and
other guys. There's a guy named John Thompson, who did

(26:51):
a great job, who was a reporter from the Capitol,
did a great job covering stuff, and several other reporters,
lots of reporters over the years that we've had talk
about some of.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Those names that have gone on between the sports team
and the news team that have gone the bigger things.
I mean, I have one name that sticks out to
me because it's an interesting name is Sager mcgoani. Ya
mcganni was part of Metro News. And if you're up
early like I am, and you listen to American in
the Morning that airs prior to the Morning News, you'll
hear a report from Sacer mcgoanni every morning on the

(27:22):
morning News.

Speaker 14 (27:23):
Yes, Sager started with us in Morgantown sometime in the nineties,
and yeah, he's had a great He works for AP
Radio in Washington, d C. Covers the State Department and
a lot of times you'll he'll be covering the President.
And he was just actually just named to the new
House Hall of Fame at the University of Syracuse. Yeah,
Broadcasting Hall of Fame at the new House School, which

(27:44):
is you know Tony. Tony was named that a couple
of years ago and now Sager is going in.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
So it's one of the I mean that for those
who don't know, that's one of the two or three
probably premier broadcasting universities in the CATEA Western. It really
is early is so.

Speaker 12 (27:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (27:59):
The original crew was Hoppy, a guy named Brian Dick,
and a guy named Jim Cress. Those were the three anchors,
and the capital correspondent was was George Manahan uh and
Tony did sports. Also a guy named George von Binko
he may remember. Some may remember that name. George did

(28:20):
sports too, and that was kind of the original. That
was kind of the original crew. But there have been
a lot of people over the years. Dave another one,
Dave Pass who does Who's Who does baseball for the
Nationals and has for years. He he he started with us.
Uh what no, I'm talking that's Dave Jaigler. Dave Jaigler

(28:41):
does the national does the Arizona Cardinals, he does NBA.
So he yeah, he started with us.

Speaker 9 (28:49):
Uh.

Speaker 14 (28:49):
Of course, I can't forget Kyle Wiggs, who's been on
almost almost from the beginning. I mean he came about
the same time.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
The second generation of Wigs.

Speaker 12 (28:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (28:58):
Now, yeah, yeah, so we had We had a lot
of day's guy named Dave Ryan. It's always been a
thing with this, but we had a guy named Dave Ryan,
and Dave has done a lot over the years in
sports on UH. He was on he was on like
the CBS network for a long time. We had a
guy named Charlie Palillo who was that name who left
us and went and UH and and went to Houston

(29:22):
UH and was on the in on the radio in
Houston for years. Charlie was UH more more UH made familiar.
And Bill Nevin and Bill is the is the voice
of of the stadium and of the coliseum for Mountaineers,
and Bills does great work for the w W Foundation.
We did news for us for a long time. To

(29:43):
Dave Jacklin who's on with Fred on Friday nights, uh
is you know, still does the still does football Corse,
Travis Jones who's still with us, and so yeah, just
a lot of names over that. Jackie Bashera, who's who
is a Charleston native who worked for US for a
while and also worked for AP Radio. There was a
Capital or one of our Capital correspondents named Melissa Rocker

(30:06):
who was based here in Charleston. She she did a
good job. Tom Gavin kind of another guy.

Speaker 4 (30:12):
These names because you know, I worked for so long
at their station in Logan and our first news every
morning was Chris Lawrence usually at five fifty five. I
would go on at five thirty and we you know
what we call back time into Chris Lawrence five fifty five.
And these names. A lot of these people I never met,
but hearing these names brings back a lot of memories
for me.

Speaker 14 (30:31):
And then the morning news anchors have been like Jennifer Smith,
she was the first morning news anchor with Chris when
the morning news started. Then Shanna Johnson, and then Carrie
Hoodisak and so and there's just been a lot of
you know, just a lot of great people who have
worked here, and a lot have gotten their start here
and have gone on, you know, to to stay in

(30:52):
the business or do other things to kind of related
to to journalism or in communication. So we've had a
lot of good employees, a ton of good employees.

Speaker 4 (31:02):
We're going to continue this conversation. I know Jeff that
in the midst of all the celebrating that you had
a job to do, so Elective will let you out
of here.

Speaker 14 (31:10):
So I appreciate that.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
Jeff Jenkins again for the news team, thank you so much,
and again we are going to continue talking about this.
I'm going to roll after the break. I've got a
great piece of audio that Chris Lawrence put together on
talk Line. Now the entire show is not going to
be made up of this. On talk Line, They've got
several guests on the show today, but they are going
to have Dale Miller on the show today. Kay Murray
is going to return, one of the original host of
talk Line along with Hoppey Kirchbell. On Metro News Midday

(31:34):
to Day, We're going to talk to Larry Speedy Bevans,
who was one of the early affiliates, not from day one,
but they got on a couple of years later, about
what it was like to be a Metro News affiliate
back in the early days. And also the aforementioned George
Manahan is going to join us during that segment as well.
Twenty two minutes away from ten to Dave Island Show
in five eighty Live is presented in part by Generation's

(31:54):
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Voice to Charleston WCCHS.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
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Speaker 4 (32:53):
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Speaker 18 (32:55):
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Speaker 19 (33:15):
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Jarrett Construction completely renovated and help redesign Dutch Miller Kia
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It's get shock show.

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Speaker 4 (34:19):
Welcome back to the show nineteen, but it's away from
ten o'clock. Big Leipigley Wiggly Hotline three zero four three
four five fifty eight fifty eight Tony the Taylor Text
three zero four nine three five five zero zero Wave.
Dave Allen Show on five to eighty Live is brought
to you partly by Meeks Rentals and Leasing. If you're
a landlord looking for reliable property management services or a
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(34:40):
can help. Check out meeks rentals dot com. We're spending
some time talking about the fortieth anniversary of Metro News,
which is today. Set back and give this a listen.
The Metro News radio network was the evolution of an idea,
a new concept in nineteen eighty five which could adapt
to new technology to radio across the Mountain State. The architect,

(35:01):
now retired President and General manager Dale Miller. After pitching
the idea owner John Racy about the new possibilities of
satellite uplinks, they visited Clyde lear in Missouri, the father
of satellite radio delivery and the creator of Learfield Communication,
and soon afterwards the concept of Metro News was born.

Speaker 12 (35:19):
We put a satellite edition in every one of thirty
seven original affiliates, and that was half off at Chris
because you know, a lot of these guys didn't have
much property, or we're on top of a roof for
trying to go on a telephone pool. But basically we
got the infrastructure done and then pull the trigger on

(35:40):
the network.

Speaker 22 (35:41):
On August twelfth, August twelfth, nineteen eighty five, day number one,
newscast number one the Metro News Radio network. At the
Metro News anchored ass that morning, Hoppy Kurgiable.

Speaker 16 (35:51):
It was an anxious day and anxious morning. Engineers were
still working to ensure or that this satellite delivered network
could be on the air. At five thirty in the
morning when we sent out the first news call of
newscuts and then five point fifty five the first newscast.

(36:12):
So I had written and cut the first newscast but
an engineer, Chuck Natalie was literally doing the technical technical
punch block we call it, to ensure that we could
be on the air, you know, the first morning. Obviously,
I just wanted it to work right, you know, and
make sure all the affiliates were right. So yeah, you

(36:35):
know it was it was a little bit of Harry,
but you know, it was well worth it.

Speaker 22 (36:39):
It was a stressful day, so stressful that nobody thought
to record that first newscast for posterity. But over time,
Metro News began to grow in stature.

Speaker 16 (36:50):
This once Virginia Metro News sign Jim Krass, Ohio Gounty
Surga Judge Greg Bronwater listened to arguments today for the
rights of more than sixty men.

Speaker 22 (37:00):
The concept of a state news network was relatively new
and may not have fit everywhere, but Kerchibal said they
were able to help radio affiliate stations at the time
understand what they were building.

Speaker 16 (37:12):
They had to be convinced, and I'd say one of
the biggest obstacles was you'd go to a local radio
station and we'd say we want to do a statewide network,
and response was, well, I'm in this town, what do
I care about? What's happening in another part of the state,
and we had to overcome that by making the argument
that even though this state is very very different sections,

(37:35):
that there still was a commonality. We're all West Virginians.
Many times, often what happens in this state news was
affects everybody. So there was some convincing to do with
these local radio stations.

Speaker 12 (37:47):
One of the biggest selling points for Metro News is
that I gave all of the radio stations a fax
machine so we can send a Matha Davids let up.
But to that point, a lot of the little stations
didn't have that. Not only did we give every one
of these radio stations satellite digits, but I cut a
deal with ABC and was able to also give them

(38:07):
top of the hour network news, which a lot of
them didn't have at the time.

Speaker 22 (38:12):
Miller admitted the infrastructure was one thing, Programming was another,
But then there was the talent.

Speaker 12 (38:17):
Had a young, very young sports guy who had only
been with me a year, Tony Kreedy.

Speaker 23 (38:22):
All set to go here with the Jerry West Lounge
as Major Harris, wearing a rather dapper suit, is joined
by head coach Don Neel and they're coming down from
the staircase and joining the basketball players lounge as the
media begins to turn on their cameras and all the
whites are focused on West Virginia's Major Harris and obviously Hoppy.

Speaker 12 (38:42):
And you know when Hoppy's show first started, it was
only on Wednesday morning, and then I came to him
one day and said, we need to take this thing
every day. You need to beat here. At first, I
doing crazy about that because he was still doing news
and he was still doing all of the other things
that he had to do as news director.

Speaker 16 (38:59):
It was Dale Miller's vision, and I didn't want to
do it. I was thought I was a news director
of local news at waj R at the time, and
all I could think of was this is going to
be a lot of work. And I initially I didn't
want to do it, but but I came around, and
obviously I'm glad I did.

Speaker 20 (39:18):
This is talk Line on Metro News. To be on
the show this morning, call one eight hundred seven sixty
five talk Or in Morgantown two nine six zero zero
four one.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
Your hosts are Kay Murray and Hoppy Kerchieval.

Speaker 24 (39:29):
Nine thirteen on a Wednesday morning, I'm Hoppy Kerchival with
ke Good morning, came.

Speaker 4 (39:33):
Ray Good Morning, and we've had a problem here getting
Lisa on the show.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
But finally the time has come and she stranded in
Ohio with.

Speaker 24 (39:39):
This Columbus Ohio. Two weeks ago, we had Lisa Bittinger,
Miss West Virginia scheduled and frankly canceled her that morning
because it came on the same morning as the invasion
of Panama and we certainly felt compelled to delve into
that issue and did so. So we rescheduled Miss Bittinger
for this morning and she joined us from Columbus, Ohio.
We're going to bring her online in.

Speaker 16 (39:57):
Just a minute. But like anything that's new, Chris, it
was really difficult because we hadn't done it before, so
there was just a lot of unknowns, a lot of
problems to work through. We weren't quite ready when we
when we actually signed on. So I remember thinking, and
this is me that okay, we've just started, but boy,
there's a lot that has to be done to ensure

(40:20):
that we can pull this off.

Speaker 22 (40:21):
But that work was done and the results over time
were noticeable.

Speaker 12 (40:25):
You know, I knew there was a niche for it.
I knew there was a need for it, and I
mean it was very quickly. I could see, you know,
within four or five months after launching it. You know,
we were getting really good reviews from our affiliates. They
were very happy.

Speaker 9 (40:40):
You know.

Speaker 12 (40:41):
They loved the fact that they had they could get
network news now. They loved the fact they were getting
local news. The quality was studio perfect, which was you
know that it was a huge change.

Speaker 20 (40:51):
Over one hundred and thirty pieces of legislation passed during
the late hours of this year's legislative session in Charleston.

Speaker 12 (40:57):
I'm George Manahan for Metro New.

Speaker 24 (40:59):
You've got to be disappointed and probably still shocked over
what happened, are you.

Speaker 15 (41:03):
Oh yeah, telling him, you know, terribly disappointed. And it's
not that I'm a thumbsucker or a powder or anything
like that. You know, I've been coaching twenty years and
in that span of time, I've lost my share of games.
But to me, there's a difference between losing and giving
it away. And I felt on Saturday we gave it away.

Speaker 22 (41:21):
So Bobby Huggins in this case, has left Kansas State
and is returning to Morgantown to coach the Mountaineers.

Speaker 7 (41:28):
A tremendous individual honor for WVU freshman second baseman Jed Jerko.
Jerko has taken the lead by storm in his first
season in a Mountaineer uniform. He was named the Conference
Rookie of the Year. Jerko is currently hitting four eleven
on the season heading into postseason play.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
They get it into CJ.

Speaker 24 (41:46):
Burks three seconds, two seconds, one second.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
He launches it.

Speaker 16 (41:50):
Good if it goes no.

Speaker 22 (41:51):
I'm the hucking Redscans have upset the number three seed
Hedgesville Eagles.

Speaker 14 (41:57):
Breaking story concerning a mine explosion in southern West Virginia.
It happened at about three thirty this afternoon at a
Massy owned coal mine, is Performance Coal Company's Upper Branch
mine on the Raleigh Boom County line near Whitesville and
Monck Coal We have confirmed that six miners have died
in this explosion and twenty one miners remain unaccounted.

Speaker 22 (42:19):
For West Virginia Metro News, I'm Chris Lawrence. Two of
the biggest stories in West Virginia history this morning, one
of euphoria, one of anguish. The vigil continues this hour
in the Upshire County community of Tollmansville as desperate relative
as a wait word on the fate of thirteen coal
miners trapped in the Sego mine. It's been twenty four
hours since an explosion rocked the shaft of that drift

(42:41):
mine operated by International Coal Group.

Speaker 12 (42:44):
I am very very hopeful.

Speaker 25 (42:45):
I know we have the best teams, we have the
best equipment. These are the same people that help those
in Pennsylvanian. I have very much hold These are strong miners.
They're family down there, and they're going to take care
of each other.

Speaker 22 (43:00):
And I have a lot of hole that is amber helms.
Her father is one of those trapped inside. Rescue crews
that managed to get ninety two hundred feet into the
mine and are drilling on a hole to reach the
area where the miners are believed to be trapped. Now
onto the other top story of the morning. The West
Virginia Mountaineers broke through last night in Atlanta, defeating the

(43:20):
Georgia Bulldogs and the Sugar Bowl thirty eight to thirty five.

Speaker 26 (43:23):
The Mountaineers go into victory formation. Rich Rodrigez has just
been given a Gatorade back. Play clock is down to
eight game clock inside of forty. Pat White under center
takes the snap takes a knee and Georgia is defenseless.

Speaker 22 (43:40):
Tonicaridi with a final call early this morning on the
Mountaineer Sports Network again the final score of West Virginia
thirty eight Georgia thirty five. You're listening to Metro News
for twenty years, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 16 (43:53):
One of the biggest reasons that I believe that Metro
News has been successful over forty years is not only
the quality of the salespeople and the marketing people, but
of the news and sports people. And the news and
sports people yourself included, Jeff, everybody else have shown up
every day saying we're going to be good today and
as we were yesterday and as we will be tomorrow.

(44:15):
So there's been a quality consistency over the years that
I think has been integral to the network's success.

Speaker 12 (44:21):
You know what really made metrin is I think what
it is is just the absolute incredible quality of the
staff and the longevity of the staff. There are very
few radio companies that have ever existed that have had
some of the incredible longevity in people that we have,
Like you've been there for thirty five years, Chris, the

(44:42):
Jeff Jenkins has been there, you know, the same length.
And Tony Kreedy's been over forty years, the Hoppy Kerchival
almost fifty years. It's amazing, It is honestly amazing just
the kind of people that were involved in this, to
Kyle Wigg, to Travis Joeses, all of the newspeople. It's

(45:03):
been a you know, it's just been a beautiful group
of people that have stayed together. And I think that's
what's made it really special.

Speaker 11 (45:11):
By your satellite, this is the Metro News Radio Network.

Speaker 22 (45:15):
I'm Chris Lawrence. I'm Metro News for forty years, the
voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
I'll tell you what as somebody who's been employed here
for the last five years, though, that brings back a
lot of memories, a lot of those voices, a lot
of those sounds. It's nine to fifty two. But Dave
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Football season is right around the corner. Get ready for
high school and WV football by downloading the Metro News
television app. Watch Metro News all day including talk Line,
sports Line, Free Guys before the Game, Metro News Middays
and Hotline. Yet The Metro News television app from the
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(47:36):
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Speaker 4 (48:00):
Welcome back to the show. About five minutes away from
ten But Dave Island show on five Etieline is brought
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Com text says, Dave just tuned in. So it was
Hobby the first voice heard on the station. No, I

(48:22):
don't think so. I think it was a news Well,
maybe it was. I'm not sure it was. TJ tells
me it was. It was a newscast. Was the very
first thing five point fifty five a m on this
date back in nineteen eighty five, So yes, Hoppy was
doing straight news at the time. Hoppy was the first voice.
I wasn't quite sure about that, but mister Meadows, who
wasn't even born man tells me that he was the

(48:45):
first voice. Tex says, I'm curious as to what three
stories for the last forty years that the long term
Metro News employee's rank as most memorable. Jeff obviously had
to tag out to go back upstairs to do his
his regular jobs. So here's what we'll do on Meta
Ture News Midday today. Jeff of course joins us Amanda
Baron and I to start the show. I will pose

(49:06):
that question to him on Metro News Midday and we'll
get an answer for you. I have a feeling I
could probably rank them myself. I mean, I haven't been
here that long, but I mean just as a listener,
and then later somebody who put the station on the
air at the different stations where I work, I'd probably
take a guess at that what those answers will be.
But I will let mister Jenkins answer that first thing. Ryan,

(49:26):
try to remind me of that if you want, I'll
ask Jeff that first thing when we do Metro News
Midday today. Speaking of which, the show's coming up later
today with thirteen News and Tonight Live anchor Manda Baron
and me State Democratic Party Chairing Delegate Mike Pushkin will
join us. Will continue to celebrate our fortieth anniversary by
talking with some of the people that have been a
huge success over the years of this company. George Manahan,

(49:48):
the original Capital Correspondent's going to join us on the
show today. Tony Caredi is also going to be on
the show. Secretary of State Chris Warner is going to
be stopping by. The new cell phone ban is in
place for Kanawh County Schools, approved last night at the
kanaw County Board meeting. We'll talk to Board President of
Kadan County, Rick Cavnar about that. John Ellison will stop
by and more. Metro News Midday with thirteen News and
Tonight Live anchor Amanda Baron and me at noon today.

(50:11):
Now for forty years the Voice of West Virginia. Course,
the show is brought to you by a Selango Law
but Dave Allen showing five eighty live is brought to
you part by Bridge Valley offering custom tailored trainings to
supply us gool and graduates and apprenticeships for your company.
Visit Bridge Valley. Dot E du TJ. Meadows joins us
right now, You doing man, got to turn it on there? Yeah,

(50:32):
I'm good.

Speaker 22 (50:32):
How are you?

Speaker 4 (50:33):
I'm doing fine? Happy fortieth, Happy fortieth for those that celebrate.
Neither one of us were here, but forty years ago,
I was about to enter my sophomore year at Logan
High School. Forty years ago, I was four. Thanks t
Jans appreciate that I was four years I do want
to mention again. Programming note, I will not be here
the next three days. Dale Cooper will be hosting the

(50:53):
show the Local Show Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the network
show Metro New Midday. Jeff Jenkins will be taking my
place on Wednesday and Thursday, and then you, mister Meadows,
will be in the host chair with Amanda on Friday.
Really went downhill.

Speaker 28 (51:11):
You know, you grow up listening to Metro News, and
if you've got a passion for this business and there's
something inside you that says I may want to do
this for a living, you grew up admiring everything that
you heard from Metro News. I knew who Dale Miller
and Happy Kerchieval and Jeff Jenkins and Chris Lawrence and
all these people were before I ever met them, long

(51:33):
before I ever met them. And you know that extended
into WVU football as well. You know, Dale Miller created
MSN and you know heard his name and the credits,
and then you get to meet these people, and you
see how extraordinary the product that they built truly is.
You know, most people in most instances that do something

(51:53):
like this day, let's be honest, they fail.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
They fail.

Speaker 28 (51:57):
It doesn't work out long term. And to be able
to be forty years old and not only have that
kind of longevity, but be adaptable to be able to
move to today's march change my goodness.

Speaker 4 (52:11):
I mean from adding the website that was metronews dot
com was revolutionary years ago and now within the last
couple of years Metro News TV. It's a great business story,
great personal story. It is with Dave Aland showing five
Adye Live Brown Too, part by Morgadive Morgan. If you're
injured high Mortgative Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, Give
me twenty. What's coming up on the show today? So
coming up, we've got Dale Miller. We'll talk with him

(52:31):
about the network.

Speaker 28 (52:33):
We're going to get into nil in the state of
West Virginia high schoolers can do that.

Speaker 4 (52:37):
Now we start off with Wayne Ryan at ten o six.
All right, and I'll be back later today with Metro
News Midday. Now our Adviy Selango Law with thirteen News
in Tonight Live anchor Amanda Baron and me coming up
at twelve noon today, See you then till then, have
fun and love somebody and happy fortieth.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yeah, I mean we WHSA and nine six point five
F M. Charleston at one oh four point five Cross Lanes,
w v RC Media Station. We are proud to live
here too,