Scott Slade's Georgia

"They are smart, reproduce like rabbits and leave a wake of damage everywhere they go. These porcine pests have long been a plague in Georgia." This week, Scott's speaking with Georgia Department of Natural Resources Deer and Feral Hog Biologist Charlie Killmaster about the estimated $150 million damage a year caused by feral hogs in Georgia. They show up in all 159 Georgia counites and now in mos...

"What was Georgia like 250 years ago this summer?" We were untamed, rural, with a brutal plantation economy. And as Berry College History Professor Christy Snider tells us, up to the mid 1770's, we largely stayed out of revolutionary politics. Here's what happened that got those early Georgians involved.

Updating the effort to crown Georgia's first national park. This week, Scott's speaking with Tracie Revis, CEO of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative, to get a progress report on elevating the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park to a full-fledged national park. Along with the natural beauty and rich biodiversity of the area, Revis says human history there stretches back some se...

"Meet the people who continue to find a way to get vital nutrition to hundreds of metro Atlanta seniors -- many who depend on Meals on Wheels Atlanta as their only source of food." This week, Scott's speaking with Meals on Wheels Atlanta (MOWA) volunteers Valerie and Dwayne Williams, and MOWA Culinary Director Robert Gerstenecker. How they are managing to prepare and deliver meals to seniors despi...

This week, Scott's thoughts on Father's Day — and on being a dad.

The super-food harvest underway now in South Georgia. This week, Scott's speaking with blueberry farmer and state senate agriculture committee chairman Russ Goodman about Georgia's number one fruit crop. Why a swatch of South Georgia is ideal for propelling Georgia some years to best in the nation for growing this health-conscious crop.

What your news outlets could look like in the years to come. This week, Scott's talking to University of Georgia Journalism School Dean Charles Davis. It can be a toxic atmosphere for the news business these days; how that might affect future journalists? He’s pretty optimistic.

How Memorial Day can be very personal for Georgia families. Scott speaks with Lisa Jenkins, the Department of Georgia President of American Gold Star Mothers, the service organization that supports families who have lost loved ones while serving our nation.

Speaking with Kim Zane with the City of Alpharetta and Smokestack BBQ owner "Dave" about the 34th annual Taste of Alpharetta, Thursday May 14, 5-10 PM in downtown Alpharetta. Over 70 restaurants involved will make it the biggest ever. Admission is free but "taste bucks" will be required to sample and sip. Details at www.tasteofalpharetta.com.

This week, Scott pays tribute to Congressman David Scott's decades of public service with a story you may not have heard before now.

Speaking with Pamela Lyle with the James Stewart Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and their effort to reunite a Purple Heart medal with the family of Atlanta native Raymond Leroy Mauldin. He was killed in action February 2, 1944, during the Battle of Anzio in Italy at the age of 19. The medal had been missing for four decades before it was discovered in a drawer as an estate wa...

Georgia lawmakers approved a measure (HB 1193) that would put a literacy coach in every elementary school in the state more than thirteen-hundred of them. We speak with Dr. Lindee Morgan, the executive director of the Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy, to get a read on how those coaches will be trained and what they will do for Georgia children and the teachers who teach them. There is a...

The pack date for this year's Vidalia onion crop is April 13th; that's the date the famously sweet onions can legally be shipped and sold. The Vidalia Onion Act of 1986 established the 20-county growing region and trademarked the onion name to ensure only the highest-quality onions reach consumers. Speaking here with Aries Haygood, co-owner of A&M Farms in Lyons, GA, just east of Vidalia, about wh...

For twenty-eight years, Sherry's Produce has been selling farm fresh fruits and vegetables to loyal customers from their stand in the corner of a parking lot at 3863 Lawrenceville Highway. Tina Dorsey helps run the business for her mom, Sherry Harris. When the strip mall and parking lot came up for sale, she tells the story of how neighbors and customers rallied to help raise thousands of dollar t...

To this day, it remains Georgia's worst aviation disaster. April 4, 1977. The crash of Southern Airways Flight 242 on a two-lane road in New Hope in Paulding County. Sixty-three people on the aircraft and nine people on the ground died that day. What aviation experts learned from the crash to make future flights safer and how the community came together to build a memorial to honor the victims and...

Speaking with Tom McCall, the president of the 300-thousand member Georgia Farm Bureau Federation about the realities of farming in this economic and political environment. And what Georgia farmers want more than anything else to be able to survive and thrive. Also, State Rep. Jutt Howard from Carrol County, one of the few fulltime farmers in the Georgia Legislature about what he is seeing in the...

WSB Radio turns 104 years old on March 15, 2026. The north Georgia hydroelectric plants that powered the station had already been generating electricity for nearly a decade when it signed on the air. Speaking to Georgia Power Hydroelectric plant managers Greg Brown and Jimmy Packer from Plant Tallulah at Tallulah Falls, Georgia. Here's how this century-old infrastructure is updated and refurbished...

Scott looks into the largest research ever constructed to find a treatment for young kids with autism.

While the building that houses the Prince Hall Masonic Temple and Lodge is getting ready to open to the public as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park this spring, don't miss what was going on upstairs in that yellow brick building at 330 Auburn Avenue. WERD 860 AM radio became the first Black-owned, Black-operated radio station in America when it signed on in 1948. For the f...

This week, Scott's speaking with Scott Shelar, the CEO and President of Construction Ready, the non-profit that works to fill skilled construction worker openings with events like the 20th annual Career Expo, February 19-20, at the Georgia World Congress Center. Twelve-thousand students, teachers and professionals—along with the construction companies they represent--will be on hand for a hands-on...

This week, Scott's speaking to Michael Cowan, Board Chairman of the Georgia Native Plant Society, and Sandy Springs State Representative Deborah Silcox, who introduced House Bill 955, proposing that the Sweetbay Magnolia should become the new state flower, replacing the Cherokee Rose. For starters, the Sweetbay Magnolia is a native Georgia plant; the Cherokee Rose isn't, coming from China. In fact...

As the important "Point in Time" Homeless count begins after a weather delay this week, Scott's speaking to journalist Brian Goldstone about his remarkable book, "There Is No Place For Us: Working and Homeless In America." Brian took six years to report and research the book, while basically imbedding with five hidden homeless families in Atlanta. Their search for permanent housing inspires both s...

This week, Scott's speaking with Tena Clark, owner of Dunaway Gardens in Coweta County. Founded in 1916 by Hettie Jane Dunaway, the gardens became known across the nation and even overseas as a center for the arts, training high school and college kids in theater, music and dance. Hettie Jane constructed a thousand-seat amphitheater (which still stands), a restaurant, cottages and more that attrac...

After hearing that Emory University had been awarded an Alzheimer's Foundation grant to explore the effect of music on patients, you have to wonder how even more beneficial playing a musical Instrument could be. Speaking with Maura Nicholson, the executive director of the Frank Hamilton School in Decatur. Founded by folk music pioneer Frank Hamilton ten years ago, the school is dedicated to making...

This week, Scott's speaking with dentists Dr. Slade Lail in Duluth and Dr. Jay Phillips in Tifton on how Georgia's new tele-dentistry law will work when it goes into effect this month. Not only will it allow a new level of triage for patients in metro Atlanta, but it can also make a huge difference in level of care for patients in rural Georgia and patients with mobility issues.