This Conversation

This week we talk to another social media star. It's Josh Mancuso. He's an actor. filmmaker, and comedian -- best known for his social media routines on how college teams name their mascots. Learn more at https://www.joshmancuso.com/

This week's conversation focuses on the stunning internet success of Marion, Va native Amy Kiser Schemper with her fitness and lifestyle videos. You find her as Body Fit by Amy. She has 955,000 YouTube subscribers who tune in for her two -thousand- plus videos and is hoping to hit the one million mark soon. Hear how she and her husband built the social media business that supports their family of...

The Appalachian Highlands Community Dental Center is offering dental care for those who can't afford it in Abingdon, Virginia. The facility is funded, in part, from fundraising work with the associated fundraising organization Appalachian Highlands Community Dental Charities. Rachel Helton leads the fundraising work and describes the organization in this program and she introduces her summer inter...

Ann Ledgerwood is the guest in this episode of This Conversation and we learn about her passion in volunteering to help those who are dealing with addiction. Ann's work as a volunteer helped launch the program that established the treatment facility for women in Abingdon, Va. in 2023. The 70 bed facility is part of a larger system that serves men and women in several area locations. The program is...

In this episode we talk with actor Amy Baldwin, now performing in two shows at Barter Theatre for the summer repertory. Amy introduces us to Marlafaye, her character in the comedy romp Savannah Sipping Society and previews her upcoming role in the theatre's summer musical Guys and Dolls, both running through the first week in August. Then, she is scheduled to perform in Come from Away in September...

This week's show is an update from inside Cuba. After 60 years of a US Embargo on trade and now a new US blockade on Cuba, what is life like for people on the island? Sylvia Rozwadowska of Colibri Travel and Tours just returned from Cuba and is planning another trip in June in order to help the Cuban people. Hear the latest about the effect of power outages and the attitudes of people in face of a...

This Convo for this week is a conversation with LeRae Collins, the 2026 Emory & Henry University Commencement Speaker. She's President and CEO of Holston Foundation in Knoxville, the first woman to hold the position in the organization's 40-year history. You'll hear her overall message she shared with graduates that "all roads lead to Emory & Henry." She also reviews some of the important...

This Conversation this week focuses on Treva Randall and her soap... candle.. lotion...and cream business. Plus, the conversation gets off the business and soap making skill into Treva's life that provides the background for her small, private business as well as her 21 -year -career at Emory & Henry. The business is called Bohicket Apothecary and you'll hear the origins of the name in this ep...

Wendell Potter worked for large health care corporations CIGNA and HUMANA for 20 years. In a crisis of conscience, he quit. Two events prompted his decision: (1) observing the RAM health care clinic in Wise, VA where uninsured people were literally getting health care in a barn, and (2) the death of a 17-year-old girl who was denied coverage for a liver transplant. Since his resignation, he has be...

Dr. Robin Feierabend has diagnosed our health system in the U.S. as "failing." His conclusion is based on more than 30 years as a teaching physician and Professor Emeritus in Medicine at East Tennessee State University. He and some high profile fellow professionals are trying to address the issue in an event to which the public is invited. The prestigious panel includes a keynote address by Wendel...

Latin America journalist Cody Weddle was arrested, detained and deported from Venezuela in 2019. Now, he's living in Bogata,​ ​ Columbia and, again, covering news events in Venezuela. Furthermore, this international journalist is home grown -- in Meadowview, Virginia. We trace his pathway from Patrick Henry High School to his current work feeding information about Venezuela and Columbia to news so...

You may not see yourself as a soccer fan but this interview with Emory & Henry's soccer coach Ali al-Gashamyis about much more than the game. It's about a vision... a plan to achieve it... and seeing early results. It's about bringing more of the world to Emory, Va with a taste of the struggle it takes for some people to get here. It's about the gifts and contributions they bring, even to a sm...

This show is about the Virginia Special Redistricting Election, scheduled for April 21. The referendum reflects a national battle for "fairness" in the mid-term elections in November. There is one question: should the Va. Constitution be amended temporarily to allow redistricting? YES or NO. Who started it and what's the other side doing about it? And, how will you vote on April 21? Guests are Rep...

When Emory resident Sabrina Durling-Jones took a teaching job for a semester at a university in Dubai, she did not expect that incoming missiles from Iran would be part of her experience. Hearing Patriot missiles take off to intercept the incoming attacks is now routine for Sabrina. In This Conversation, we'll hear about this professor's experience in Dubai as the U.S. - Israeli war on Iran intens...

In fall 2025, the U.S. began bombing boats from Venezuela and other countries, killing 130 people and claiming that they were narco terrorists and a threat to U.S. national security, which justified military action. On Jan. 3, 2026, the United States invaded Venezuela, arrested and imprisoned its president, and now says that the U.S. is now in charge of the oil industry in Venezuela. What is the r...

After a number of campuses in the national Job Corps program were told they were being shut down by the Labor Dept and the results of Elon Musk's DOGE investigation, supporters filed injunctions and court cases have dragged on from summer 2025 until Congress stepped in. Legislators superseded temporary injunctions that were keeping Job Corps programs running and funded the program through June 202...

Tom Chapman is the Project Director for Washington County Virginia's RECOVERY COURT, previously known as DRUG COURT. This program provides an alternative to jail when an addict is facing charges and gets approval to enter the program. In this interview, Chapman explains how the program can save money for taxpayers with the hope of the addict's success in getting clean, making the community stronge...

This week, Teresa Keller and This Conversation present Part II of a new series on Drug Addiction Recovering addict Jessica talks about the first steps toward her drug addiction as a young child in her home in Abingdon, Virginia. In an intense and gripping story, Jessica details her decline into the world of drugs until she hit rock bottom. Now she can talk about her road to recovery. This Conversa...

Meet Bo. He's a recovering drug addict who has seen it all: things you can imagine and things you wouldn't have thought of. He started young...with alcohol. After that addiction kicked in, he found his way to cocaine, meth, jail repeated attempts in rehab, and prison. Finally, his rehab stuck and he has been clean for one year. What are the tools he believes will keep him straight? This interview...

Jerry Hill is organizing events to celebrate Martin Luther King in Abingdon, Virginia. He puts the week's events in the context of his history, from segregation through today's chaos. Mentioned in this episode: WEHC 90.7 FM is the Voice of Southwest Virginia. Stay tuned, connected, informed and entertained. This is listener supported radio. www.wehcfm.com

We recorded this interview at the beginning of basketball season 2025. Do you ever notice the referees in big-time basketball games?  Do you ever wonder about their lives...their families...the constant travel... and what it's like to be jeered and taunted by unhappy fans?  Find out in this interview with Division I basketball referee Justin Porterfield. And... by the way... he...

Odeliya Matter grew up within yards of her Palestinian neighbors. She didn't ever meet any of them, but she learned about the Palestinians in school, at home, and in the community. She was told that they were dangerous and they wanted to kill Jews. Then Odelyia met a Palestinian man while doing volunteer work with refugees in Lesbos, Greece. She found great commonality with his story and the story...

This episode is a chat with Tarah Taylor about how we make our cars go -- and the full spectrum of energy possibilities -- from gas and electric to hydrogen and propane. Taylor is Economic Development Director of Southwest Virginia's chapter of Virginia Clean Cities. Mentioned in this episode: WEHC 90.7 FM is the Voice of Southwest Virginia. Stay tuned, connected, informed and entertained. Th...

Princeton History Professor Dr. Sean Wilentz shares his views on Conspiracy Theory, one of his areas of expertise. Wilentz is author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln as well as No Property in Man: Slavery and Anti-slavery. He is a well-known political commentator and his writing on music has earned him two Grammys. In this conversation, Wilentz...

After 30 years as President of the United Mine Workers of America, Cecil Roberts is retiring at the end of October 2025. We asked him for an overview of the coal industry in SW Virginia and surrounding areas. He's clear that things are not like they used to be. How has the number of miners changed? How much coal is there? Where is it sold? How have Trump tariffs affected the sale of coal? Roberts...