Inner Journey with Greg Friedman welcomes Asheville DJ Jordan Coppinger

Hurrican Helen, Asheville and the aftermath
Join us tonight as Inner Journey with Greg Friedman welcomes, Jordan Coppinger of the Asheville Media Group as she shares her stories of triumphs, tribulatations, celebrations and strife.  The reincarnation of Asheville has just begun and there is much help needed. Below you will find a few different options as to how you may support different charities in Asheville:  

https://homewardboundwnc.org


https://www.mannafoodbank.org/how-you-can-help/donate/donate-food/#:~:text=At%20MANNA%20FoodBank%2C%20people%20experiencing,both%20nourishing%20and%20culturally%20responsive.

https://shopecreekwilderness.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi, this is Greg Bradon, Jack Can'tfield, Marian Williamson, James
Van Praud.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi, everyone, this is Neil Donald Walsh and I'm happy
to tell you that you're listening to Inner Journey with
Greg Friedman. Stick around. Your life will change any minute.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Social media is in a journey with Greg Freedman. In
the website is Greg Friedman dot com. You all know
the gig, sex relationships, dream interpretation. We talk about it all.
We don't tell you what to do and we don't
tell you how to do it, and there's a very
good reason for that. It's not our bringing live. It's

(01:08):
your life. It's your choice, it's your happiness, it's your divinity.
Choose for yourself. Your happiness is not your fault, but
it is your responsibility. Are you willing to create the

(01:30):
life of your choosing? All we do here is introduce
you to pathways and possibilities. What you do with that
is entirely up to you. We have a very very
simple mission statement. Help you understand you are the magic,

(01:52):
and we just get to help you realize it. And
we'll be back with more Inner Journey and of very
special guest from Asheville, North Carolina, Jordan Coppinger, Johnny's in.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
The baseman, mixing up the medicine. I'm on a paved
man thinking about the government. The man in the French
coat match I've made off the Jasey.

Speaker 5 (02:21):
Got a back off horse getting paid off.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
The guy did something you did gotten nor Quinn. But
if you ain't in again, you made to dump it
down out of the way. Let me throw a new grim.

Speaker 6 (02:31):
The man in the pennskin.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
Camp in a big man on eleven dollar bills?

Speaker 7 (02:35):
Do you only got tick?

Speaker 8 (02:42):
Maggie costs to be book.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
This to the black suit, topping at the heat. Good
plants in a bitch, But most time then anyway, Maggie says.
A man to stay the bus passing any us come
to details.

Speaker 8 (02:53):
I got kids, don't matter what you did, walk on
the tip toes, don't time.

Speaker 6 (02:58):
No, most betas still women, though.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
Appear around Bil for a clean.

Speaker 6 (03:02):
And possible coach.

Speaker 9 (03:04):
You don't need a where the man?

Speaker 8 (03:05):
You know it's here the window. Oh get sick, getting well?

Speaker 6 (03:13):
Hang around a gig.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Well, I ain't well hord to tell him anything.

Speaker 10 (03:17):
He's gonna sell.

Speaker 6 (03:18):
Get Foster getting back around rail Get Jim Joe man.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
If Johnny Honey and the pill.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
The guy kids, you're on his hip, but lilisas cheats.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
Six times uses this thing around. The leaders drilled by
the whirl, was looking for loose, was gonna file leaders.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Watch apart from you, Oh.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
Getting marked.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
He bought your hand through mask.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
To learn the dance, get dressed, getting left the time,
he's success.

Speaker 11 (03:48):
Jesus Besh five gets don't steal, don't if twenty years
of schooling and it put your home today.

Speaker 6 (03:54):
Ship the guy out here think you better our hit?

Speaker 5 (03:57):
Let it jump down the man hold, I just have
the TA.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
Moneyma, you got.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Welcome back. You are listening to Inner Journey with Greg Friedman,
broadcast from Laguna Beach for Laguna Beach and throughout the
entire world. All Right, y'all, you know, in a little bit,
I'm going to have somebody from Ashville Media on this program,
and I'm going to have her on because it is

(04:36):
so easy in this world that has everything going right
here right now, instant gratification. It's hit it and quit it.
It's here, it's gone, it's social media, it's ourselves, it's
short attention span theater. And I'm having her on because Asheville,

(04:57):
North Carolina was hit by her and Helene and it
was devastated, I mean absolutely devastated, and people tend to
look at that. In the middle of it, it becomes
a great news story because there's phenomenal visuals, and then
it's forgotten. Then it's gone.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
How are.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
We going to rebuild? How are we going to take care?
How are we going to reincarnate? If we refuse to
acknowledge the process. Life is not just a series of
a bunch of dramatic headlines. Instead, it's moments that we

(05:45):
put together and we put one foot in front of
the other. And these people in Ashville are still without
potable water, There are still without electricity in a lot
of places. There are bodies that have not been dug
out of the mud. There are people that are still
lost and have no idea if there's anybody out there

(06:08):
helping them. And it can be scary, and we could
definitely go into that fear place. And even though mister
Rogers sort of weirded me out a little bit, man,
his book was amazing. And one of the things that
I remember from his book was a conversation that he

(06:29):
had with his mother and he said and he talked
about it, and he said when he was a boy,
and he'd say, and he'd see scary things in the news,
he'd looked to his mom.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
And his mom.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Very calmly said, look for the helpers. You will always
find people who are helping. And that's the thing. There
are those people that will run towards the burning building
and they'll always be there. And it's vital that you
recognize that in these times, more often than not, we

(07:08):
will find the best of humanity. We will find those
lives and those people that live and for love and
through love, even if it's just for that moment, If
it's that, what a beautiful moment, though, And here's the thing,
whatever we do beyond that is up to us. In

(07:30):
other words, we could carry love throughout or we could
revert back to pattern. Everything in this world is a choice.
And you see it over and over and over. People
that have beautiful lives, beautiful souls, beautiful beautiful spirits in
times that are dire, will sometimes go back to punching

(07:57):
the same neighbor in the schnas that they just pulled
out of the river. It's like, you know, I've said
this every once in a while three great philosophers in
my life, Popeye, Mick Jagger, and Rodney King. Popeye is,

(08:18):
I am what I am, and it's like, can we
just be ourselves? Mick Jagger is, you don't always get
what you want, but you get what you need. And
Rodney King is, can't we all just get along? If
we could find that peace within ourselves, not only when
it's time, that's other times that are filled with chaos

(08:43):
and turmoil. But if we could find that piece in
the mundane within ourselves, then we could extend that out
into our world. We can choose to recognize and be
a beacon for that piece.

Speaker 12 (08:59):
Who are we.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
To be phenomenal, to be great, to be powerful? Who
are we not to When we let our own light shine,
we give permission to others to do the same. And
I butchered that like nobody's business. And frankly, I don't

(09:22):
care because I made my point. Just love one another.
And in order to do that, please do your best
to learn to love yourself.

Speaker 7 (10:02):
When you keep finding lane, you catch it through a
cloudy day, when must start saying, shiny brown feels like
you love show away.

Speaker 6 (10:17):
We're in the can to last.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
The farm.

Speaker 6 (10:21):
Burns sul very far away, or you got.

Speaker 13 (10:26):
To me so shin just slag.

Speaker 7 (10:29):
My dad used to see, used to see a soul shining.
Boy's been an insulting shinning been a than lord sh
damn show ben av People told man, we all fear

(10:51):
this way. Sometimes got telling your soul shine shine till
the break of day.

Speaker 13 (11:03):
I couldn't thinking I hadn't made from making on my own.

Speaker 7 (11:11):
Life can take the strongest man, make him feel so lone.
And now sometimes I feel a cold wind going through
my aching bones.

Speaker 6 (11:27):
I think back to what Matadis said.

Speaker 7 (11:30):
He said, boy in this darkness befly the don't that
your so shine more spinner than sunshine, better than the launch.

Speaker 6 (11:42):
Shin damn shoe, better than ray. People told me.

Speaker 13 (11:52):
We all feel this way.

Speaker 7 (11:54):
Sometimes got tell into show shine shin till the break
of day. Soon times a man can feel who the
symbject is, like a warm up described him of his fair.

Speaker 13 (12:16):
Sho want to condole.

Speaker 12 (12:23):
She can feel like is.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Where when yon in the world.

Speaker 7 (12:29):
Seems go He got to lenchosphere retaking troup talking about
soul shine, or it's better than sudden shine, it's better
then lunshi.

Speaker 12 (12:44):
This damn show.

Speaker 13 (12:45):
Better than me. Yeah, the people don't mind.

Speaker 10 (12:51):
Boy, you know, I feel this way sometimes, got to
Lenco sun Shine shot on and on and on.

Speaker 7 (13:03):
Well, it's been a bad son of the shirt. It's
been a thin moon shine. This damn shugar is hoarray.

Speaker 10 (13:15):
People told man, we'll feel this way sometimes got two inches,
so shine.

Speaker 6 (13:31):
Yeah, shine on and on and on and on and
on to the break of day.

Speaker 13 (13:46):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
Tonight we have Jordan Coppinger joining us on Inner Journey.

Speaker 12 (14:10):
Jordan is the.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
Sound of Ashville Radio. And the reason I asked Jordan
on is because of a few things. This world is
subjected to short attention, spam theater, in the world of
social media and commercials and TV, and inundation with all

(14:34):
kinds of different stimuli, we tend to forget things very
very quickly. And I don't want Ashville to be forgotten.
That I had friends, I have friends that have been
through ordeals there. I have all kinds of experiences and
stories I've heard from people I know over there, and
there's still so so much more to do. And this

(14:57):
may sound a little bit pokey. I remember a story
that was about mister Rogers, and they were talking about
disasters in times of trauma and times that are scary,
and he said something he said, every time you see

(15:18):
some disaster or something traumatic, looked for the helpers, because
there's always people offering.

Speaker 12 (15:27):
To help, going to be of service.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
And to me, that's the heroic actions of people like Jordan.
And Jordan, instead of running away from the fire, she
got in there and she organized things.

Speaker 12 (15:42):
She let people know what.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Was available, where it was available, and how they could help.
And Jordan, I am incredibly grateful for you and doing
that not only on a global scale, but on a
personal scale, because I know that your voice, your intention,
your integrity helped a lot of people that I know
and love that are out there.

Speaker 12 (16:04):
Thank you, and welcome to Inner Journey.

Speaker 6 (16:07):
Thank you, Greg.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
I really appreciate this opportunity and in all the kind
words you just said, but I feel like I was
just doing my job as a radio personality. That's not
why I got into radio. I thought it was fun
to play, you know, music, stay my favorite artists and bands.

(16:31):
But in times of disaster it's become very essential. Especially
through Hurricane Heleen that ripped through western North Carolina. We
weren't sure what was coming our way and that Friday
morning when we lost.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Oh wait, wait, wait wait, I'm not going to even
have you jump into it yet. Give us a little
bit of time to get to it for a second.
First of all, do you know everybody amazing and heroic
says that same exact sentence, I was just doing my job. However,
it's more than that, because there are plenty of people,
I guarantee, even in.

Speaker 12 (17:13):
Your own radio station.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
And this is not to put anybody down, but there
are people that were too preoccupied with what was going
on in their microcosm, in their world in order to
come in and be of service and to do that
job that you did. You had plenty going on, and
still you were not only able to help with the airwaves,
you were able to help in so many different ways

(17:34):
that seem insignificant until it's gone, things like water. So
I'm going to jump in and start this with my
very first question that I ask every guest, because I
have a feeling that there's an overlap here and I
don't know where yet, and I'm curious to find out.
We have had everybody on this program. We've had authors

(17:57):
and artists and shaman, We've had people like Jack Hanfield,
who wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul, James Redfield cele esteem, prophecies,
Don Miguel Ruiz, the Four Agreements, so many other people
that are of service, that are here to share their wisdom,
and every single one of them has had an event

(18:20):
or a catalyst that thrust them onto a significant aspect.

Speaker 12 (18:24):
Of their journey.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
Now, I know you've got a lot of things that
led you to being at this place at this time.
Is there anything that stands out that you want to
share with our listeners this evening.

Speaker 6 (18:40):
That well, I guess that we're just part of this.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Larger you know, we get so involved in our day
to day and what's important to us, but really like
everything just comes down to.

Speaker 6 (18:58):
Survival.

Speaker 7 (18:59):
You know.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Well, what got you into radio and what got you
to Ashville?

Speaker 1 (19:05):
So a cross country road trip got me to Asheville
when I graduated college. I'm originally from Connecticut. I wanted
to see the country.

Speaker 6 (19:17):
Actually, my favorite movie was Easy Rider.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Really wanted to I wanted to have on a motorcycle
and go cross country, and then I was like that
might be a little too dangerous. So I waited until
I graduated college and my best friend and I. We
we rented a car and we went nine thousand miles
cross country and back, yeah, in three weeks. And we

(19:45):
actually went up the coast to California.

Speaker 6 (19:47):
When we went, I have an uncle in San Diego.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
So we you know, when we got to the West coast,
went from San Diego all the way up the coast
to Portland, Oregon.

Speaker 6 (19:58):
And along of all the cities and states that we saw,
it was Asheville that I fall in love with.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
Really mhm, what was there anything about it that you
could articulate?

Speaker 6 (20:15):
So there was a Sorry, Greg, I thought I was
done crying about this, but it just takes me back
to ten fifteen years ago.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
This was two thousand and nine when I first visited
Asheville and there was a.

Speaker 6 (20:36):
Asheville is so much about the arts, and so there
was a a festival called the Lexington Avenue Arts and
Fun Festival, and it was in downtown and the amount of.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Vendors and artists and people dressed up in crazy costumes
that they had made, and like.

Speaker 14 (21:01):
The vibrant city. It was just nothing like I had
ever experienced. And I immediately fell in love with downtown,
the arts, and.

Speaker 6 (21:12):
Then you know, driving on the Blue Rich Parkway.

Speaker 14 (21:15):
It was.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
Absolutely stunning seeing the mountains, and I was like, this
is where I want to live, Like, this is the
city and the community that I want to be a
part of.

Speaker 6 (21:31):
Like I there was no judgment, there was love. And
that is why, for the first time in my life,
when I moved out of Connecticut, moving out of New.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
England, I was like, this is where I want to
spend the next however long couple decades.

Speaker 6 (21:53):
Or this is like, this is where I want to be.
So that is what initially drew me to Rashville.

Speaker 12 (22:00):
Okay, so take a breath and thank you for sharing.
And I know why you're crying.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
When you're ready, will you share with our listeners and
let them know why you're crying right now?

Speaker 12 (22:13):
Please.

Speaker 6 (22:22):
It's been a roller coaster of emotions some things. Some moments,
I'm strong and I know I have to be strong
for my community.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
But just thinking about the devastation that's happened and how
these artists have lost their livelihood, how these musicians are
now wondering.

Speaker 6 (22:47):
Where they're going to get their next meal.

Speaker 15 (22:51):
It's all very heavy and where I through.

Speaker 6 (22:57):
You know, a pandemic and what have been considered an
essential worker. So much of the.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
City too is hospitality and going out to eat, and
so servers and cooks and chefs, you know, for the
past three weeks.

Speaker 6 (23:19):
They've been completely out of a job. And so it's
just thinking about.

Speaker 16 (23:25):
My community and the people who I fell in love
with upon first sight that are struggling so much right now,
and we do.

Speaker 6 (23:39):
The water was a major.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Issue when this all happened, and just within the past
few days.

Speaker 6 (23:51):
Has water almost fully been restored to the area. So
we've been over twenty days without water.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
To the city of Asheville and a lot of the
surrounding areas because part of what happened, the main water line.

Speaker 6 (24:16):
That distributes eighty percent of water to the city was
washed away. And not only was the water line washed away,
but the access road. I mean, the landslides that.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Have happened around here, swept away neighborhoods, businesses, lives.

Speaker 6 (24:41):
They're still looking for people, and like geographically, this place
is also never going to be the same. They've said
that they've.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Never seen landslides in this area quite like what has happened.

Speaker 17 (25:00):
And so just hearing those stories, seeing the pictures, seeing
the trenches, what was a small creek turned into a
raging river.

Speaker 6 (25:12):
In some areas and created these landslides. It's just been
even the experts haven't seen.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Things like this happened before in this area, So just
trying to grasp the reality of what is happening, it's
just been surreal.

Speaker 6 (25:37):
So trying to help people when.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
You don't even know the severity of what has been
of what has happened necessarily is another obstacle that we're
all trying to get through together. So, I mean, at
the beginning, it was just getting making sure your name
was okay, and then it turned into.

Speaker 6 (26:04):
Where you can find food and water for people.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
There are still water distribution sites because although we have
most of the water restored now after three weeks, you
still can't drink it from the tap so people are
able to flush, so there's a boil water advisory still

(26:29):
pretty much across the county. But just getting fresh water
is still something people are having to do. They're having
to still go to these water distribution sites and get
fresh water until we know that the tap water is

(26:49):
going to be safe to drink.

Speaker 6 (26:51):
And again it's because of.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
What happens at this reservoir that feeds the water.

Speaker 6 (26:59):
Into this, it got flipped upside down.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah, literally, so all the sediment, all the clay, everything
was then floating on top of this beautiful, pristine lake.
I mean it's it, you know, a mountain streamwater fed
lake that was just gorgeous and luckily around that reservoir

(27:29):
it's about it's untouched, it's protected forest, so it's it's
beautiful water when it's not flipped upside down.

Speaker 6 (27:43):
So they're having to now treat the water to get
all the sediment to stop moving. Basically, it was all
polarized after this happened. So it has just been the
people who have been working being on this. I mean
it is incredible.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Engineers and inspectors and scientists from around the country have
been working on the water situation just so we can
get our basic needs met, let alone all the cleanup
and the rebuilding.

Speaker 6 (28:18):
That is still ahead for months like that.

Speaker 18 (28:20):
Is and again thank you for bringing attention to this
is not just okay, we've had three weeks of sunshine.

Speaker 19 (28:32):
Since the hurricane, but there's still so much devastation.

Speaker 20 (28:38):
God is going to take a very long time to
get back to some sort of normalcy or economically where
people can thrive again.

Speaker 6 (28:49):
Because there were certain areas. A huge area of the
River Arts District, which took years to build up, has
been completely destroyed.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
People's studios. You know, all these artists that I talk about,
all their studios were in the River Arts District. We
had an awesome venue called Salvage Station that they were
literally built up from a salvage yard and that is
completely gone. The stage has gone, everything is gone from

(29:28):
the River Arts District.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
And so.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Getting these artists back to you know where they are
thriving again is going to be a long time. And again,
that is one of the draws to Asheville is the art,
the music, the food.

Speaker 6 (29:48):
So although we.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Are getting out of an emergency situation, there's still a lot,
a lot to be done and a lot of people
are still suffering.

Speaker 12 (30:03):
Jordan, do you.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
Need a second to take a breath and we could
take a break, or do you want to go.

Speaker 12 (30:09):
On for it?

Speaker 6 (30:12):
As long as I'm audible, it might be like this
the entire time.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
I'm fine, I just want to check on you. Let's
take a quick break and we're here with Jordan Coppinger.
She is a DJ at Ashville Media. Give a plug
to your station and yourself real quick, please.

Speaker 6 (30:37):
So my station is ninety eight with a River.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
We play fantastic, fun, uplifting music, healing music.

Speaker 6 (30:49):
I play a lot of music for local bands too, which.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Is part of the job, part of the reason I
love my job so much, supporting local musicians, giving.

Speaker 6 (31:00):
Them time in the spotlight.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
We have seven radio stations in my building, so when
this all happened too, we were simulcasting across all of
our stations to try and get as much information to
as many people as we could out. We also have

(31:24):
a Spanish Spanish station, and a large population in western
North Carolina.

Speaker 6 (31:36):
Is Hispanic and so.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Getting information out to the non English speaking community was
also a vital part in what we were doing. And
translating the local press briefings from the government into Spanish
for our Hispanic community with something vital to the area

(32:05):
as well. So I'm very proud of Asheville Meteor group.

Speaker 12 (32:12):
Jordan, you're a rock star. We are going to take
a short break.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
You are listening to Inner Journey with Greg Friedman and
we'll be back with more Journey.

Speaker 12 (32:21):
Jordan. Right after we spotted the Oshun.

Speaker 13 (32:27):
Head on the trap.

Speaker 6 (32:31):
Where going.

Speaker 13 (32:35):
Song Bolly.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
Somebody song.

Speaker 13 (32:43):
This is this grab the thing's better. Everything said, welcome
your shut.

Speaker 9 (33:00):
Storm, flesh become food, become half an hour letter packed
up on the sand with sad letters, don lost little thing?

Speaker 4 (33:26):
Who will religon?

Speaker 13 (33:30):
They smiled, just the sad. See him that gotten.

Speaker 6 (33:38):
We can.

Speaker 13 (33:42):
Walk up your shot, step on the stone that's become fo.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Walk on your shot.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
Welcome back. You are listening to Interjourney with Greg Friedman
on k XFM broadcast from Laguna Beach, California, for Laguna
Beach and for the entire world. And if you did
not listen to our first segment, please please go back
and listen. We're here tonight with Jordan Coppinger, and she

(34:36):
is from Ashville Media and Asheville, North Carolina, and she
is one of those people that pitched in in a
thousand different ways and is incredibly humble and will say
to you, I was just doing what I needed to
do like everybody else. May or may not be true,

(34:57):
but what is true is what she did was extraor
ordinary and beautiful and she's still doing it and she's
showing up day after day after day because she loves Asheville,
she loves the people there, and we're doing this show
tonight because I want you guys to know about what
happened there and as importantly, what's happening now.

Speaker 12 (35:22):
Because we cannot forget.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
Just because a hurricane has come and gone, that doesn't
mean that the devastation, the remnants, the rebuild isn't an
incredibly palpable and poignant aspect of what we need to
stay in our minds, in our hearts, in our actions

(35:47):
right here, right now, Jordan, welcome back to Inner Journey.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
Thank you, Greg. I appreciate you dealing with my roller
coaster of emotions or accepting them right.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
So, I want to back up because we're talking about
some of the rebuilding. We'll get back into that in
a little bit. Before we do that, What was it
like being there when see when you knew Helene was coming,
you knew the hurricane was coming in what was that experience?

(36:30):
I have no point of reference for that, and most
of our listeners don't either.

Speaker 6 (36:38):
So we've had some.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Bad thunderstorms, you know, and when hurricanes have come.

Speaker 6 (36:44):
Through, they're not as severe.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
There's been flooding here before, but not this extreme. About
twenty years ago, in two thousand and four, there was
major flooding.

Speaker 6 (37:02):
But nothing like this.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
People have been using the term biblical because that is
the best way to describe it, because it's been indescribable.

Speaker 6 (37:20):
The rivers, some of them rose twenty seven feet wow,
and buildings washed away.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
There was a video and pictures of Biltmore Village, which
is right outside the Biltmore Estate, which is the largest
home in America that's still standing, which.

Speaker 6 (37:45):
You know, for over one hundred year old construction, that's
pretty good.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
But outside of that estate is this village where there's
so many businesses and hotel and.

Speaker 6 (38:02):
That was completely underwater.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
And it started Wednesday, really before the hurricane even hit.
It started the Wednesday before and in Builtmore Village there
was water starting to accumulate like maybe six inches to
a foot on Wednesday night and.

Speaker 6 (38:26):
Then they just didn't stop.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
So all day Thursday there was light rain, and then
it was really that Thursday, late Thursday night into Friday
morning when.

Speaker 6 (38:43):
It all started to really accumulate.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
All that water started to accumulate and come down from
the mountains and.

Speaker 6 (38:52):
The forces of the river.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
They're comparing to there are two well there's a few
major rivers, but the French Broad River, the Pigeon River,
and also the Swannanoa River are what all took out
all these businesses and all these homes.

Speaker 6 (39:17):
And created these landslides. But just the French Broad and.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
The Pigeon River combined, they were saying that force of
the two of them combined.

Speaker 6 (39:29):
Was as strong as Niagara Falls.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
And you see these videos of shipping containers, metal shipping
containers just.

Speaker 6 (39:43):
Being washed away, and.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
You know, these buildings hitting a telephone pole that were floating,
and just the just being ripped through. And again, you know,
we've had flooding in the past. There's been low lying
river front parks that have been you know, have seen

(40:08):
maybe two feet of water in the past. This again
was up over twenty feet in some areas, so the waterline.

Speaker 6 (40:21):
Went up to eaves of houses, went up to the rooftops.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
People were on their roofs waiting to get rescued Friday morning, and.

Speaker 6 (40:36):
Some were rescued.

Speaker 19 (40:38):
Others weren't so fortunate if their roofs collapsed.

Speaker 6 (40:45):
And they were swept away in the flood.

Speaker 19 (40:47):
Some of these landslides, they're finding people ten miles away
from their home because they were swept.

Speaker 6 (40:56):
Away to landslide. And that is the like the fact
that they're still searching for people. Is why I can't
stop crying that we're almost like next week will be
a month that this has happened, and people are still

(41:18):
wondering where their loved ones are and so not being
able to fully grieve.

Speaker 16 (41:28):
I think is what is exhausting a lot of the community.

Speaker 5 (41:35):
The fact that we you know, there might be a
candlelight vigil next week, but we don't know.

Speaker 15 (41:48):
The extent of how many people we've fully lost.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
And I think those people who are still looking for
their loved ones, not having that closure or.

Speaker 6 (42:05):
Being able to.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Fully grieve is what is still a strain on the community.
Like things, things, who cares yet, art work and everything,
people's livelihoods, but the lives.

Speaker 20 (42:24):
It's the lives that we've lost and don't know where
they are.

Speaker 6 (42:31):
Is the hardest part.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
Of all of this.

Speaker 12 (42:37):
And where were you during all of this?

Speaker 10 (42:41):
I live in.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Haywood County, which was also affected, not as maybe severely
as Buncome County, which is where Asheville is, So I
was about thirty.

Speaker 6 (42:57):
Miles west of Asheville, so I was home when all
this happened. I was able to get into the station.

Speaker 13 (43:11):
The day after.

Speaker 12 (43:15):
What was what was driving? Like, what was driving into
the station?

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Like?

Speaker 12 (43:21):
What did you see?

Speaker 1 (43:22):
What was it?

Speaker 12 (43:23):
Was it?

Speaker 3 (43:24):
Because until then you had essentially been sequestered in your
home and you get out, probably for the first time,
and you're driving thirty miles more or less?

Speaker 1 (43:35):
What was that?

Speaker 12 (43:36):
What was that journey?

Speaker 7 (43:37):
Like?

Speaker 1 (43:40):
I felt like I was in a war torn country
and that's what kept going through my mind.

Speaker 6 (43:48):
That like people like in Ukraine, like what they're going through.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
You know, I just kept I just kept thinking, Oh
my gosh, it is like a bomb went off here.

Speaker 21 (44:02):
The amount of trees and power lines that were down,
you know, it was it was no wonder people were
out of power for over two weeks.

Speaker 6 (44:15):
Because the amount of destruction.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
And at the road I was traveling wasn't washed away,
but seeing pictures of other roads that washed down the mountain,
I just it's it's unlike anything I've ever seen growing

(44:42):
up in New England.

Speaker 6 (44:44):
I've seen plenty of snowstorms. That doesn't I mean that
it doesn't snow. Snow can't do.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
What this force of water did and the high winds afterwards,
and all these huge trees that you would think would
be standing forever were pushed over like matchsticks.

Speaker 6 (45:09):
So the amount of trees I think.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
On the sides of the roads or on the roads,
it just it was like, no wonder people can't leave
their homes or get out because of the amount of
destruction to the roads or the trees on the roads.

(45:36):
I knew we were in a lot of trouble, that
this is going to be a long road to recovery.
With just the amount of trees that were down and
power lines that were down.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
It must have been just incredible for you as you're
driving and you're seeing more and more and more, it
must have been, you know, amplifying how affecting it was
for you and how impactful it.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Was for you.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
It was I never I'm not a huge fan of
scary movies or like apocalypse movies because.

Speaker 6 (46:19):
I'm like, I never want to live that, and so
it felt like I was in one of those movies.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
I thought, no cars on the road either, because you know,
if you weren't an essential worker, if you didn't have
to leave your hope, you shouldn't because of the emergency
vehicles that were needing to be on the roads rescuing people,
because of the utility crews on the roads trying to

(46:46):
move trees and restore power. So the lack of traffic,
no traffic, and the amount of destruction, it felt like
I was in acalyptic movie and that was a very scary,
very scary feeling. And then a few days later would

(47:09):
also kind of hit that home was the gas shortage
and the food in the grocery stores because of the
landslides on the major interstates in East Tennessee, or on
twenty six or two major interstates I forty and I

(47:32):
twenty six that come into Asheville, there were major month slides.

Speaker 6 (47:38):
I mean I forty is still closed. It's going to
be for a few months.

Speaker 12 (47:42):
Well, I was out there a year ago and I
was driving down I forty.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Tell people, because I don't think people really comprehend, tell
people what I forty was before and during and after,
if you would please.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
So it basically cuts through a mountain. I forty cuts
through a mountain to go to Tennessee.

Speaker 6 (48:07):
And it is kirby.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
If you get carsick, then annorable day, on a normle day,
it's not fun to drive through. There's also a road
called the Dragon's Tail because of how kirby it is, and.

Speaker 6 (48:25):
It on a rainy night. It's scary to drive through
just because of how narrow and kirby it is. Well,
because it's cut through a mountain.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
It it created this, all this rain created this landslide,
and so the river that runs alongside of it.

Speaker 6 (48:54):
Just took out chunks of the high of the interstate.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
So even though they I'm looking at the pictures of
how they're going to repair this, I'm like, you can't.

Speaker 6 (49:06):
Move the river back?

Speaker 1 (49:09):
How are they going to repair this because the river
has cut into like, it has made itself wider, so
it's cut into the interstate. So how is that even
going to get repaired unless they move and cut more
out of the other side of the mountain.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Well, I forty became a river during it. The pictures
are just I don't even have words for it. It
was the difference is this beautiful highway beforehand, even if
it was windy, and then literally just a raging river.

Speaker 12 (49:48):
And right now what does it look like?

Speaker 6 (49:54):
Well, right now you.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
Can see you can see the road again, but you
see where the mass destruction is and how much cleanup
they're going to.

Speaker 6 (50:05):
Do have to do. And again, how.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Thank goodness for engineers because how they can figure out
how to repair it.

Speaker 6 (50:19):
That that's over my head. So it looks like it
looks like there was almost.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Never a highway there because them because the flooding took
out so much of.

Speaker 6 (50:32):
The infrastructure.

Speaker 12 (50:35):
It's go ahead, please, oh, I just I.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
It's just going to be amazing how they will be
able to repair it.

Speaker 6 (50:48):
But going back to that's why there was food shortage
for a few days and gas shortage. That was the
other kind of scary part that I've never experienced in
anything in a disaster situation. So you know that even
the next week, as I'm driving to.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
The radio station, there's lines, lines of cars.

Speaker 6 (51:17):
Getting trying to get into a gas station.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Some of my colleagues had to wait forty five minutes
to two hours just to get a twenty dollars minimum
of gas because there was so little coming into the
area those the following five days or so, so people

(51:43):
were having to conserve.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
Gas and.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
If you could find And that was what we were
doing on our stations the first few days after is.

Speaker 6 (51:57):
Asking, uh, asking.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Our people on the ground, our listeners basically, hey, where
are you? Is there a gas station open where you are?

Speaker 6 (52:10):
Is it cash or credit? Because with all of the
systems down.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
There's still charters still trying to restore full internet service
in the area because of the optic lines that were cut.
So we're asking people, you know, what ATMs at banks are.

Speaker 6 (52:29):
Open because this day and age, who has cash?

Speaker 1 (52:34):
If it's like, you know, if there was a twenty
dollars cash limit on gas, where are you going to
find that twenty dollars? If all your money is in
the bank right now, How can you get gas if.

Speaker 6 (52:46):
You can't not an ATM.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
So it was just this.

Speaker 6 (52:50):
Incredible ripple effect of things.

Speaker 22 (52:53):
You can't get gased because you can't get cash, you
can't get cash.

Speaker 6 (52:57):
Because there's no internet or power to the ATMs.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
What do you do?

Speaker 1 (53:04):
And that's where the community, like your neighbor became your ATM, like, hey,
maybe I can trade you that. It was almost like
a barter system for some people. You know, I have
some water, some fresh drinking water. Can I borrow twenty dollars.

Speaker 6 (53:22):
So I can get gas, so I can go to
the grocery store.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
They were having a limit on how many people can
go into the grocery store at a time. There were
lines three hours long just to get into the grocery store.

Speaker 6 (53:37):
Where half of the half of the food was already
gone because we couldn't there was still no trucks coming into.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
The area to deliver more food to the grocery stores,
and that was one of them.

Speaker 6 (53:54):
Besides the destruction.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
That was a huge eye opening for me that I
have never ever experienced, going into a grocery store where
most of the time there's more than enough food and
just seeing maybe a few apples left in the produce section,
otherwise everything was wiped out.

Speaker 6 (54:21):
And that's where I was.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
I said to myself, Okay, don't panic. Panicking is not
going to help the situation.

Speaker 6 (54:29):
Just get what you need. Don't hoard things. Just get
what you need to get you into the you know,
for a week or so.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
Just get what you need for a week, and then
get out of here and let people you know do
their ow come in hopefully after.

Speaker 6 (54:49):
You, you know, and do the same thing. Just get
what you need. But that, to me was the most
frightening is.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
Being in a country where you know, grocery stores are
abundant and there's food waste, to oh my gosh, there's
no food in this grocery store.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Jordan, we have blown through our first hour. I am
incredibly grateful to you. I'm incredibly grateful to Ashville Media.
Will you please tell our listeners about Ashville Media about
how they can get a hold of you and also
how they can participate so we could come back in

(55:37):
the second hour and explore more of this.

Speaker 12 (55:39):
Please.

Speaker 6 (55:42):
So Ashville Media Group is a sorry, let me let me.

Speaker 14 (55:51):
Try that again.

Speaker 12 (55:57):
This is when you're dealing with the DJ. She was like,
I didn't like the way I played that one out.
Let's replay.

Speaker 6 (56:06):
I mean, you don't care that we're a part of
a larger Saga Communications.

Speaker 3 (56:12):
I want you to share whatever's impertinent.

Speaker 12 (56:15):
For you to share.

Speaker 6 (56:16):
Okay, So actual media group is a market out of
a bigger conglomerate.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
I guess or our corporate offices are Saga Communications and we.

Speaker 6 (56:41):
Although you know we are owned.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
By corporate, it is on a much smaller scale than
a lot of other media companies, and so we are
able to be more localized than a lot of other
commercial radio stations because it is a smaller We are

(57:03):
on a smaller corporate scale, so being able to have
freedom with and more music stations.

Speaker 6 (57:12):
We're not news stations.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
All of our stations are heavily music oriented and so
these past few weeks switching over to hard news has been.

Speaker 6 (57:32):
Very different from our normal programming.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
My radio station ninety eight One of the River is
about supporting local artists. It's about supporting smaller artists two
who might be nationally known but are just getting there,
you know, just getting started.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
So we.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
We're commercial radio, but we're on a much smaller scale.
So this is.

Speaker 6 (58:06):
We're small but mighty in this situation for sure. And
it's just been very humbling.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
To be able to.

Speaker 23 (58:17):
Be essential for our community at this time and having.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Our corporate offices support us in anything that we've been
doing because they know the importance of radio and at
a time when cell service and internet was cut off
from our.

Speaker 15 (58:36):
Community, radio was the way people could hear what was
going on.

Speaker 6 (58:44):
And it has been essential in a way that I've
never known before.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
So if anyone, if you want to contact me, my
email is Jordan and Date Onethriver dot com.

Speaker 6 (59:03):
I'm on air.

Speaker 24 (59:06):
Six days a week and I'm you know, we're going
to get back to the point where I'm talking about
concerts and live.

Speaker 6 (59:17):
Music and why you should come to Asheville and.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
The resilience of our community has been just amusing to see.

Speaker 6 (59:28):
And spirits are still high.

Speaker 25 (59:30):
People are tired, but it it is a city and
a town and an.

Speaker 6 (59:38):
Area that you you want to see at some point.
It's one of the most beautiful places in this country.

Speaker 5 (59:49):
And we're gonna get We're going to get back to that.
We're going to get back to the vibrant community that
I fall in love with.

Speaker 3 (59:57):
We're going to give Jordan a chance to breathe for
a little bit. We're at the top of the hour.
We're gonna come back on the other side, and we're
going to have all kinds of stories about what people
have been going through, how the heroes have shown up,
how people have struggled, how people have triumphed, and Ashville

(01:00:18):
is going to rebuild, is in the process of rebuilding,
is doing it better and more beautiful than ever before.
You are listening to Inner Journey with Greg Friedman on
k XFM, and we'll be back right after this.

Speaker 5 (01:00:40):
I'm Marian Williamson, Jack can't feel that's a bunk with Sammy.

Speaker 6 (01:00:44):
I'm during Virtue be Filmed again. Why, I'm Carolyn me.
This is James Van Praub, and you're listening to Inner
Journey with Greg Friedman.

Speaker 20 (01:00:51):
Keep doing what you're doing, Greg, balancing the negative radio
broadcast with positive energy.

Speaker 13 (01:00:57):
Welcome back.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
You are listening to Energy Journey with Greg Friedman on
k XFM. Social media is exactly the same Inner Journey
with Greg Friedman. We are here tonight with a very
special guest, Jordan Coppinger is in so many ways, and
especially through all of this insanity of Hurricane Helene has

(01:01:22):
been a shining light of voice, a beacon, and she
is continuing to do that. She is from Ashville Media.
And you know, there are so many people I said
this in the first hour, There are so many people
that you wind up seeing the love and seeing the

(01:01:45):
beauty of humanity because how they show up for one
another and for the community and for and out of love.
And Jordan has done that throughout and Jordan is actually
doing that tonight. She has if you didn't listen to

(01:02:05):
the first hour, go back. She has cried her way
through the first hour with such courage it's unbelievable.

Speaker 12 (01:02:12):
And what I was saying during the break to her is.

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
Because she has the courage to do that, she is
giving other people the permission to shine their light, to
hold their grief, to express their grief, to express.

Speaker 12 (01:02:30):
Their sorrow, their joy, to.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
Feel once again, because so many people are still holding
their breath energetically and physically, and so many people are
still struggling. I know, really, there are plenty of areas
that don't have electricity.

Speaker 12 (01:02:49):
Still, there are plenty of areas.

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
The irony of not having water after a flood is
not at all funny in this particular instance.

Speaker 12 (01:03:00):
There are so many things that are going on right now.

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
They may have water back for the most part, but
it's not potable, it's not drinkable. There's so much that
still needs to occur. And Jordan, thank you for taking
time out of that insanity to join the insanity of
inner journey.

Speaker 6 (01:03:22):
Well, I appreciate you raising awareness for the area and
that we are not out of it yet.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31):
We may have some running water back, but like you said,
it's you can't drink it from the tap. Some of
the concerns before the immuno compromised is can I shower
in this water? We know we're under a boil water advisory,

(01:03:51):
but just washing hands, like if you wash your hands,
should I use hand sanitizer after this?

Speaker 6 (01:03:57):
Because of what is still in the water system that
they are trying to fix for us. All right, you go, well,
I was gonna say. And the amount of destruction to
the area took out so many.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Major nonprofits like Mana Food Bank. Their their warehouse was
completely destroyed. There's pictures of banana boxes just floating away,
and this is where they stored and sorted.

Speaker 6 (01:04:42):
All the food for.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
Not just Fulcome County where Ashville is, but much of
western North Carolina.

Speaker 6 (01:04:50):
They distribute to so many different counties.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
In western North Carolina from this warehouse and it's completely gone.
So Mana Food if anyone's looking to donate, they're part
of like Feeding Carolina, Feeding the Carolinas, but directly it's
Manafoodbank dot org. They do such incredible work for this

(01:05:14):
area and now they have to completely rebuild and restock food.

Speaker 6 (01:05:22):
The amount of people who are now unhoused because.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Their homes are decimated or filled with mud and unlivable.

Speaker 6 (01:05:33):
Is in the hundreds.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
There's an organization that my station works with directly, ninety
eight when the River works with Homeward Bound of Western
North Carolina, where their motto is housing a key like
getting a roof over someone's head is the first stop

(01:05:57):
first step to getting them rehabilitated and off the streets,
and that housing is should be.

Speaker 6 (01:06:06):
An equal right for everybody.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
They're going to see an uptake, an uptake and an
unhoused people. So Homeward Bound of WNC dot org is
another great nonprofit where people can donate and help because
unhoused and lack of food that is the next big

(01:06:35):
hurdle that we are going to have to get through.

Speaker 6 (01:06:42):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
Okay, so will you just say the websites of those
organizations consecutively one more time?

Speaker 12 (01:06:52):
Please?

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
Sure? Nanna Foodbank dot org and Homeward downs of WNC
dot org.

Speaker 12 (01:07:07):
Excellent.

Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
You know when we left off in the last hour,
we were talking about your journey from home into the
station and the devastation and how that was affecting, and
then the shortages and how.

Speaker 12 (01:07:25):
That was affecting.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
What was it like when you walked into that radio
station that first day?

Speaker 12 (01:07:32):
Was there any power? Was there anybody there? Well? I
have no point of comprehension.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
So my.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Direct boss is the operations manager of all setends of
our stations.

Speaker 6 (01:07:51):
He was there.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
He dodged trees and power lines driving in Friday morning
to the radio station because he knew he had to
be there. He knew this was not a good situation
and was going to get worse, and he knew that
he had to be there.

Speaker 6 (01:08:09):
Our station engineer, who was very young.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Most radio engineers.

Speaker 6 (01:08:18):
Are retiring at this point.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
We hired someone a couple of years ago who was
very young because we knew that we could train him.

Speaker 23 (01:08:31):
And he was very much willing to learn, and he
has been so dedicated. This young man, he's in his
late twenties, and he was there.

Speaker 15 (01:08:45):
Crawling around in the mud because the radio station suffered
two trees falling.

Speaker 6 (01:08:55):
One is still there. Well, they're all there actually, because
that's the least of our worries. Fell on our generator.
We had no power.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
We were operating on generator backup during the storm until
a tree fell on top of our generator. So there
for a bit a bit of time we were.

Speaker 6 (01:09:24):
Knocked off the air until our engineer.

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
Got a little saw, I mean it was he was
trying to cut a massive tree with this tidy handsaw
and knew that wasn't getting very far.

Speaker 6 (01:09:42):
So luckily was able to emergency call the.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
The generator company and they had someone in the area
that was able to come out when the chain saw
to cut up the tree that had fallen on the
radio station generator. He then had to We had gas

(01:10:09):
cans in our tool shed, so he was able to
refuel the generator so we could.

Speaker 6 (01:10:17):
Get back on the air. But there were trees.

Speaker 1 (01:10:23):
The trees that fell are still cut up and just
you know, one completely took out the fence too that's
around our radio station parking lot.

Speaker 6 (01:10:33):
And so those two.

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
Guys have been.

Speaker 6 (01:10:42):
They deserved an award because they kept us on the
air when all the odds were against us. So we
were able to get back up and running with the.

Speaker 1 (01:10:53):
Help of our engineer and the generator guy who came
to really save the day too.

Speaker 6 (01:11:01):
And so they just hunkered down. They were pretty much
living at the station.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
One of our our guys on our morning show on
our rock station, he's diabetic and so his insulin had
to be refrigerated, and so he was living at the
station for a few days because he didn't.

Speaker 6 (01:11:25):
Have power at his home. He couldn't go home because.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
He didn't have power to refrigerate his insulin, so they
were buying.

Speaker 6 (01:11:37):
He and his fiancee.

Speaker 1 (01:11:40):
Were on air mattresses and dog beds that they found
because for pillows. And we're living at the radio station
for a few days because that was the only place
that had power because of the generator backup.

Speaker 12 (01:11:59):
So what was like emotionally when you walked in and
saw all of that?

Speaker 6 (01:12:03):
Oh, I immediately, I mean cook right, you're hearing me.
I immediately started crying.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
Immediately, like and seeing to seeing people seeing that they
were okay.

Speaker 6 (01:12:19):
It just was like, okay, you're okay, We're back on
the air, all right. And then it then it was
like kick into vital operation mode.

Speaker 25 (01:12:35):
Basically, Okay, what can we now do that is going
to help people?

Speaker 6 (01:12:40):
What what news do we have access to? You know,
because what what are the reports?

Speaker 1 (01:12:47):
You know, we still didn't know in those first few
days of the severity at the flooding. It's that the
neighborhoods like swan Noah uh is a towented Bucom County
and our sales manager lives in Swatabella and she is

(01:13:09):
she's been.

Speaker 6 (01:13:09):
In radio fifty years and she is a strong woman.
She has seen it all. But she was suffering. She
didn't have water or power for over two weeks. She

(01:13:31):
had all of her parents.

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
Belongings in a storage unit that got washed away, so
she lost her her mom's piano.

Speaker 15 (01:13:43):
She lost over eight hundred pieces of vityl that she
had treasured from when.

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
She was a kid.

Speaker 6 (01:13:51):
She lost all of her Christmas decorations. She's like, I'm
not putting up Christmas this year. There's no point. So
all these people that you know are so strong, were
you were seeing how vulnerable we all were are at

(01:14:12):
this time and.

Speaker 1 (01:14:16):
But then you know, showing those emotions and then being
able to flip a switch to Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:14:25):
We are feeling this like you are. But we need
to get you vital information right now. We need to relay.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
Where you can find food, where there is water, that
help is on the way.

Speaker 6 (01:14:41):
We're receiving phone calls from some people.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
Who it was the first time that they had cell service,
but they had been listening through their battery.

Speaker 6 (01:14:53):
Operated radio or their transistor radio.

Speaker 1 (01:14:56):
They had been listening, and as soon as they got
cell service and they could make a call out, they
were calling us.

Speaker 6 (01:15:05):
We had one woman that said, oh my gosh, this
is the first time that I've talked to anybody in
the past. In the past three days, she said.

Speaker 1 (01:15:15):
I had to evacuate my house and go to higher
grounds she was disabled, and she was like, yeah, you know,
I almost didn't make it up the hill because I
have my Kate. And she stood at the top of
her hill watching her home get flooded.

Speaker 6 (01:15:34):
And she's telling us this on the air.

Speaker 1 (01:15:38):
She was saying, I saw a cow float away, and
she's standing on top of her hill and she said
the creek by her house turned into.

Speaker 6 (01:15:51):
A river basically, and it redirected itself. She said, the
the creek moved.

Speaker 26 (01:16:01):
It was no longer flowing where it normally was. She said,
it completely cut through a field. Now, like her creek,
her little creek had.

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
Redirected itself and had formed its own path through her
field in the back of her house. She said, once
the water receded, she was able to go back in and.

Speaker 6 (01:16:28):
And assess the damage basically. And they're still in the
entire county, they're still not done assessing the damage.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
And so far there's been over one thousand structures that
are majorly damaged and over six hundred structures that are gone,
and they're not even fully done assessing the damage in
our county.

Speaker 6 (01:16:57):
That's just in our county.

Speaker 25 (01:16:59):
There are lot of other smaller mountain towns around Asheville.

Speaker 6 (01:17:05):
There's this beautiful place in Madison County called.

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
Hot Springs where they have a resort, and like part
of the beauty of going out to this mountain town
is going.

Speaker 6 (01:17:18):
To this resort where they have hot tubs on the
river that are fed by hot mineral springs.

Speaker 1 (01:17:27):
So you go there to relax and to detox, and
you go to these hot tubs where it's this fresh.

Speaker 6 (01:17:34):
Mountain spring water and those tubs are full of luod.

Speaker 1 (01:17:41):
Now that resort is going to have to rebuild, Like
Hot Springs in Madison County is in bad shape.

Speaker 6 (01:17:51):
Like the Asheville is.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
Getting a lot of attention because of the destruction in
the population, but a lot.

Speaker 6 (01:18:02):
Of these other smaller mountain towns Marshall.

Speaker 1 (01:18:07):
Marshall is another town they're they're almost completely.

Speaker 3 (01:18:13):
Gone, and there are people still there are people missing
a month almost a month later, isn't that correct?

Speaker 1 (01:18:20):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (01:18:22):
Yes, And they haven't been able to fully.

Speaker 1 (01:18:28):
Release names of the people that they have found because
they're still looking for trying to respect the process and
notify next of kid and to fully confirm that it

(01:18:48):
is that person.

Speaker 6 (01:18:49):
They don't want to make a mistake and they don't
want to they don't want to release information that's not correct, obviously,
So we still don't have.

Speaker 3 (01:19:06):
We still don't have a list of we don't know
who's missing, we don't know who's.

Speaker 6 (01:19:14):
Yes, we don't fully have that number.

Speaker 12 (01:19:19):
We're gonna take a short break, and when we come back.

Speaker 3 (01:19:23):
We're gonna shift gears because, as I've said throughout this program,
when there are times of disaster or trauma or drama,
look for the helpers, look for the triumphs.

Speaker 12 (01:19:36):
When we come back, we're going to talk about.

Speaker 3 (01:19:38):
Some of the things that have occurred that have really
been stories of unlikely heroes.

Speaker 12 (01:19:45):
For lack of a better way of saying it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:48):
Jordan, will you do one thing for me before we
split for the break, Give the websites again of places
people could donate and support if they would.

Speaker 6 (01:20:00):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:20:04):
So.

Speaker 6 (01:20:05):
Manafoodbank dot org is the major.

Speaker 1 (01:20:09):
Food bank in Western North Carolina that was wiped out
in Asheville. Homeward Bound WNC. Dot org is a nonprofit
that helps the unhoused get back on their feet.

Speaker 6 (01:20:27):
Or going into the holidays.

Speaker 2 (01:20:30):
With all the.

Speaker 1 (01:20:31):
Artists that are that call Asheville Home and Western North
Carolina Home. The If they google the website is too long,
but if they google Love Ashville from Afar, it's a
website that the tourism departments set up.

Speaker 6 (01:20:53):
Where you can either.

Speaker 1 (01:20:54):
Shop or donate to small businesses or studios or artists
or restaurants.

Speaker 6 (01:21:03):
So Love Asheville from Afar.

Speaker 1 (01:21:07):
Is another great way to support local or donate, especially
going into the holidays.

Speaker 12 (01:21:15):
You know, and I want you to do one other
thing for me, please.

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
You mentioned all these heroes that were in your own
radio station by job.

Speaker 12 (01:21:24):
Give him a shout out, will you please?

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
They deserve recognition and appreciation.

Speaker 7 (01:21:31):
Yes.

Speaker 6 (01:21:32):
Steve Richards is my operations manager who he's been the
true leader of the station. And Cameron Depsey, he's our engineer.

Speaker 1 (01:21:47):
He's always willing to help and has had a huge burden.
I don't think he knew what he accepted the job
two years ago.

Speaker 6 (01:21:59):
He was in the store for but he has just
been a trooper ever since and so dedicated.

Speaker 1 (01:22:09):
You know, he gives He gives a Millennials or I
guess he might be gen Z.

Speaker 6 (01:22:14):
He gives him a good name because he is a
very hard worker.

Speaker 12 (01:22:20):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:22:21):
So that those two guys, yeah, have been I have
really led us through the past few weeks.

Speaker 12 (01:22:28):
And you.

Speaker 23 (01:22:32):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:22:35):
Your response to that says everything about your strength and
your humility. And I just want to say thank you,
and we'll be back with more Inner Journey with Greg
Friedman and Jordan Coppinger right after this short break.

Speaker 13 (01:23:08):
You call me strange, call.

Speaker 4 (01:23:12):
Me friend, I'm just another strange bird of the natural
for man. Your hor Hord proved to me by MARBG.
What another great home for.

Speaker 13 (01:23:33):
A natural for man.

Speaker 6 (01:23:43):
I'll need no worst.

Speaker 4 (01:23:44):
Let you know how am I being. When I'm hanging rocking.

Speaker 8 (01:23:48):
Treats, I'll sing no sad sad songs, go over singing
lives like you and me.

Speaker 4 (01:23:56):
I'll give you some tennis southern charm. The money seems
nothing in these days. Hey yeah, I'm three Brownians love ways.

Speaker 6 (01:24:12):
You don't not go.

Speaker 4 (01:24:16):
Across the linic. What another strange trip for a natural role, Romaynic.

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
This song.

Speaker 13 (01:24:32):
My cousin panic.

Speaker 4 (01:24:36):
What another great joel for a natural role Romayna. But
I don't need no word lest.

Speaker 6 (01:24:45):
You know how am I being.

Speaker 8 (01:24:47):
When I'm egging around the old tree, I'll see no
sad sad song for always seeing lives by you and me.

Speaker 4 (01:24:57):
I'll use some tennis on the job. But he sees
enough of business day. Yeah, I'm fay from and Lucy looking.

Speaker 13 (01:25:08):
We have Moor. I mean no worst of.

Speaker 4 (01:25:50):
The show, how am I when I'm made him?

Speaker 8 (01:25:53):
I agreed, I'll see no sad sad song the or
singing last.

Speaker 6 (01:25:59):
But you w.

Speaker 4 (01:26:02):
I'll use some tennis so job for Bay season, for
Bibis Day. I'm feel.

Speaker 9 (01:26:18):
Comic, strang.

Speaker 6 (01:26:22):
Commic brass.

Speaker 11 (01:26:25):
I'm just another strange bird, a natural, another strange person,
a natural, another strange bird, a natural for man.

Speaker 13 (01:26:39):
That's all, Ima, welcome back.

Speaker 3 (01:26:52):
You are listening to Inner Journey with Greg Friedman on
k x F M one O four seven, broad cast
from Laguna Beach, California, all over the world, and right
now our radio station station is reaching out across the
country to touch another radio station or a series of stations.

Speaker 12 (01:27:17):
Ashville Media and I.

Speaker 3 (01:27:20):
Wanted to do this show because there are so many
people that are going through a ton and we tend
to be very caring, very compassionate while it's going on.
And because of the world that we live in, we
also tend to forget very very quickly. And I want

(01:27:41):
you guys out there not to forget. I want you
to remember that today people are struggling, people are still
injured or hurt or missing because of Hurricane Helene. People
all over Ashville are affected. And I'm putting this on

(01:28:04):
so you remember, so if you're inspired, you will help.
And also it's important to remember the best of who
we are as humans, our humanity, our love for one another.
And I've never seen that come out better than unfortunately
when we're in dire situations, and somebody that has been

(01:28:27):
a great shining light has been Jordan Coppinger. Jordan, tell
us about your station, tell us about who you are,
and tell me about some of the heroes you've encountered.

Speaker 12 (01:28:39):
Please.

Speaker 1 (01:28:41):
So I've worked at Ashvil Media Group since twenty ten.

Speaker 6 (01:28:46):
I started out as a promotions assistant and worked my
way up over the years to where I am full
time on air.

Speaker 1 (01:28:55):
My station is ninety eight on the River. We have
Sevendo stations in our building, and I have never seen
or gone through anything like this in the fourteen years
that I've worked at this radio station. I was on
air during in twenty twenty, but that was different because

(01:29:19):
the whole world was shut down, whereas now it feels
like just western North Carolina is shut down and the
world is still spitting.

Speaker 6 (01:29:30):
Around us, and we're just trying to get out of
this hole that we're in right now.

Speaker 1 (01:29:37):
And we've had incredible help federally from other states.

Speaker 6 (01:29:43):
The amount of people that have come to the area
from other states has been incredible. But that first weekend
it was just we had to rely on each other.

Speaker 22 (01:29:57):
No one could get to us yet. Either there was
no road access or the winds.

Speaker 1 (01:30:03):
Were too high still for them to land helicopters.

Speaker 22 (01:30:10):
So it was on us and on each other that
we were leaning on to see if we were okay.

Speaker 6 (01:30:20):
Neighbors were knocking on each other's doors. Uh they were.

Speaker 1 (01:30:26):
This is a huge outdoor community, so hikers were, you know, hiking.

Speaker 6 (01:30:32):
Up mountains to their neighbors to see if they were okay.

Speaker 1 (01:30:39):
People with kayaks and came became lifesabers.

Speaker 6 (01:30:43):
There was a guy who.

Speaker 1 (01:30:47):
Was in his kayak that first morning after the hurricane
in these raging waters getting to people.

Speaker 6 (01:30:56):
He saw that there was a guy trapped than.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
His attic with his Pomeranian who couldn't get out the window, and.

Speaker 6 (01:31:05):
The waters started to come up to this guy's attic.

Speaker 1 (01:31:08):
So this kayaker had an axe and had to chop
into this guy's roof in order for him to get
out of his attic where he would have drowned, and
on top of his roof.

Speaker 6 (01:31:23):
So he could be rescued.

Speaker 19 (01:31:25):
I mean, everyday citizens became heroes, you know, in that
first weekend especially, so our community has has shone through
so brightly, but now, like we're all getting very tired.

Speaker 6 (01:31:52):
And exhausted. So that's where you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:31:57):
This is so helpful because we're not even close to
in the clear yet.

Speaker 6 (01:32:04):
There is some you know, mountain towns where there's two
feet of mud in buildings that did survive that they're
trying to clean out, and you have to.

Speaker 1 (01:32:14):
Wear ppe because the mud and the dust is considered
toxic from the flooding.

Speaker 6 (01:32:22):
Like they don't know, you know, what's in this mud
that they're.

Speaker 1 (01:32:26):
Trying to clear from their homes or from their businesses,
so they have to wear full personal protective equipment. And
so the cleanup and the rebuilding, we're just now getting
into that barely because you know, we're still trying to

(01:32:47):
just get basic needs met like.

Speaker 6 (01:32:50):
Drinkable water from the tap.

Speaker 1 (01:32:53):
The reservoir that got flipped upside down in Asheville.

Speaker 6 (01:32:58):
Is still being treated.

Speaker 1 (01:33:01):
So the water that is finally running twenty one days
after the hurricane. The water that is finally restored to
most it's not one hundred percent I would.

Speaker 6 (01:33:14):
Say ninety percent back is not codable.

Speaker 1 (01:33:22):
So we're still working on that before anything with rebuilding
is going to start.

Speaker 6 (01:33:31):
So it's it's a long road, but we are, you know,
we're still hanging in there. It's just we just still
need the help.

Speaker 3 (01:33:40):
So you know, I'm sorry, but I want to jump
in here because you just touched on something very very
important because people listen to this show literally all over
the world, and we more likely than not are going
to air some of this in Asheville as well. I'm

(01:34:00):
want this to be an opportunity because you're right, people
have been I've been hearing horror stories about people being
poisoned by the water because they don't know about its
toxicity or the mud or so.

Speaker 12 (01:34:13):
Many other things. Can you help people remain safe?

Speaker 3 (01:34:20):
What are some of the things that they need to
do in order to remain healthy and stay away from
anything that may be dangerous?

Speaker 1 (01:34:31):
Right? So, if so, the people who are volunteering and
who are going out to these towns like Marshall or
Hot Springs, which is part of western North Carolina.

Speaker 6 (01:34:46):
You know, you you have to wear personal protective equipment,
long sleeves, long pants, gloves, safety glasses if you have it,
because the mud and the dust is considered toxic, and
ninety fives.

Speaker 25 (01:35:03):
So any of this, you know, any.

Speaker 1 (01:35:07):
Masks that people still have on hand from four years ago,
you know that is still very much essential and very
much needed.

Speaker 6 (01:35:19):
I dropped off. I dropped off a box of.

Speaker 1 (01:35:24):
Ninety fives and safety glasses to one of the donation.

Speaker 6 (01:35:30):
Centers downtown because I you know, people need this for cleanup.

Speaker 2 (01:35:41):
Now.

Speaker 6 (01:35:41):
Most of the county.

Speaker 1 (01:35:44):
Is still under a boil water advisory because of what
is in the water, and they are working actively and
as quickly as possible.

Speaker 6 (01:35:57):
To treat this reservoir.

Speaker 1 (01:36:00):
But the the water coming out of the tap right now,
you cannot drink. You have to boil vigorously for a minute.
If you are going to consume. If you are immunocompromised,
they are recommending that.

Speaker 6 (01:36:19):
You do not directly shower.

Speaker 1 (01:36:21):
Then if you have an open wound or cut, then
the tap water should not go into that cut or
that wound right now because.

Speaker 6 (01:36:34):
It is still not clean.

Speaker 1 (01:36:38):
So that's where we still even though water might be
flowing back to say ninety percent of the area, we
still need water distribution sites.

Speaker 6 (01:36:50):
So people can get clean water so they can drink.
I mean, it's it's you need.

Speaker 1 (01:37:00):
More than food, right, So it's like it's so essential
that we have this clean water for people.

Speaker 6 (01:37:07):
So they can live. And we're not you know, I'm talking.

Speaker 1 (01:37:12):
About personal protective equipment for cleanup, but we're almost not
even to the point of cleaning up because people still
need basic clean drinking water. You know what.

Speaker 3 (01:37:26):
We're gonna shift gears again, but before we do, put
out those websites one more time for people that want
to help, how they could donate, how they can support,
how they could take care and look out for their
brothers and sisters that are across the country.

Speaker 1 (01:37:46):
Sure a major food bank that was swept away and
the flooding, Manna Food Bank needs to not only rebuild
the warehouse but restock their supplies. So Manafoodbank dot org

(01:38:07):
is a great way to help out and donate. And
for so many people who are now unhoused. We have
a nonprofit that works directly uh directly with different communities
and getting people into housing because they believe housing is
a human right, and that's homeward bound WNC dot org.

(01:38:33):
A lot of our local artists are out of work,
our local musicians restaurants because you can't.

Speaker 6 (01:38:43):
Really serve you can't serve food.

Speaker 1 (01:38:45):
You know, they're they're able to open and have bathrooms
operating with the water, but you know.

Speaker 6 (01:38:51):
To have a full menu.

Speaker 23 (01:38:53):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:38:54):
A lot of our restaurants are in trouble too.

Speaker 1 (01:38:57):
So if you google or search for Love Asheville from Afar,
that is kind of a one stop website where you
can shop local from local artists or you can donate
to small businesses.

Speaker 6 (01:39:14):
And that's part of the reason why I love Asheville
so much too.

Speaker 1 (01:39:19):
It's so.

Speaker 6 (01:39:22):
Central, it's centered around small businesses.

Speaker 1 (01:39:28):
Like downtown Nashville especially, there are hardly any chains. There's
one store that they let it, but really that is
the only chain store in downtown Nashville. Otherwise it's all
small business owners with restaurants or small businesses that are

(01:39:50):
making the.

Speaker 6 (01:39:51):
City what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:39:53):
And I've been saying like a broken record that there
are so many heroes that show up in times like this.
And you guys had a really cool event put on
on your behalf.

Speaker 12 (01:40:08):
Just last night, just two nights ago, is that correct?

Speaker 6 (01:40:13):
Correct?

Speaker 1 (01:40:13):
Friday Night Sonic Sunshine Benefit, and I believe you can
still donate.

Speaker 6 (01:40:21):
It was. It was a live streamed.

Speaker 1 (01:40:25):
Concert basically that was put together by Toe the Wet
Sprocket and Bare Naked Ladies. Now, those guys were supposed
to have their very first show, Bare Naked Ladies.

Speaker 6 (01:40:38):
It was gonna be their.

Speaker 1 (01:40:39):
First time playing in Asheville Friday night at our arena downtown.

Speaker 6 (01:40:46):
That show got canceled, and so what did they do?

Speaker 1 (01:40:49):
They immediately sprung into action and Towe the Wet Sprocket
and Bare Naked Lady's got all of.

Speaker 6 (01:40:56):
These musicians and.

Speaker 1 (01:41:00):
And more together because in order to support four major
nonprofits that have been supporting the area.

Speaker 6 (01:41:10):
And it was just so cool to see.

Speaker 1 (01:41:14):
These these people caring so much about our mountain community
and raising funds where one of the proceeds went to
four different nonprofits. So that was World Central Kitchen, who
was on the ground from the beginning in Asheville, Brother.

Speaker 6 (01:41:36):
Wilf Animal Rescue, which I'll get back to in.

Speaker 1 (01:41:39):
A second, Direct relief and feeding the Carolinas. So World
Central Kitchen was absolutely essential. Jose andres came in with
his team. They set up shop at a restaurant called
Bears Smokehouse and they served over twenty six thousand meals.

Speaker 6 (01:42:05):
In a matter of three weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:42:08):
Less than three weeks, they had free hot meals every
day for people. Their prep kitchen was at Current, which
is a James Beard Award winning restaurant, and it's incredible.
I mean, it's one of my favorite places to go
to for special occasions. I've spent multiple wedding anniversary dinners

(01:42:32):
there and birthday dinners there, and so they became the
prep kitchen for World Central Kitchen in order to get
these meals distributed out to thousands of our citizens.

Speaker 6 (01:42:45):
So they have been so essential.

Speaker 1 (01:42:48):
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue is a nonprofit where they.

Speaker 6 (01:42:56):
It's a rescue agency. They're built is also gone. It
flooded almost up to the roof. Luckily a day at
like it was at least thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:43:13):
Six hours before, if not twenty four hours before the
hurricane really hit, were they able to evacuate.

Speaker 6 (01:43:21):
All the animals.

Speaker 1 (01:43:23):
So our community once again stepped up and.

Speaker 15 (01:43:26):
They fostered all these animals that Brother Wolf was having
to evacuate.

Speaker 6 (01:43:33):
Because they knew.

Speaker 1 (01:43:35):
It wasn't going to be good for their building, so
they evacuated all of the animals just to see their
building completely destroyed.

Speaker 6 (01:43:45):
So they brother Wolf Animal Rescue.

Speaker 1 (01:43:49):
If you love animals, then that is another place that
you can donate where they need to rebuild. They need
to find another location and they need to rebuild from
the ground up.

Speaker 12 (01:44:03):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:44:05):
All right, we are getting near the end of our program.
I want to make sure that we get in one
other story. Tell me, tell me another. I know you
encountered because we talked about this so many different examples
of when people would show up for one another.

Speaker 12 (01:44:23):
Give us one more if you would please.

Speaker 1 (01:44:41):
I know I've been focused on the devastation of what's happened,
but there have been so many great stories of people
helping one another.

Speaker 6 (01:44:53):
Uh, not just neighbors, but.

Speaker 1 (01:44:56):
Obviously federal workers and our local Ashville fire department.

Speaker 6 (01:45:01):
And the police department. They were able to with new
technology that they have. Again this is.

Speaker 1 (01:45:13):
Over it's over my head, but you know what they
were able to do and to find with DNA, they
were able to rescue a woman seven days after the
hurricane who was wheelchair bound. They were able to find
her and build more village and get her to our

(01:45:36):
local hospital.

Speaker 6 (01:45:39):
There was another store