Appalachian Airwaves: WNCW celebrates 35 years

It’s not lost on Joe Kendrick just how beloved WNCW remains some 35 years since its inception. Not only as a vital radio station for the masses of Western North Carolina and greater Southern Appalachia, but also this unique source of community and connectivity right here in our backyard.

“For us, we hope to keep doing what we love to do and being able to do it in the way that we’ve been doing it, essentially,” Kendrick said. “You can’t take for granted how important what you’re doing day-to-day really is for a lot of people.”

Director of programming and operations for WNCW (which is located in Spindale), Kendrick initially started at the station as a volunteer in the early 1990s, only to work his way up the ranks to nowadays being regarded as a longtime pillar of the brand, something he doesn’t take lightly.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Kendrick noted. “When we started, these freewheeling stations like WNCW were incredibly rare. And what we did was help prove that a completely against the grain approach could work.”

In a modern era of streaming services, podcasts and YouTube, what WNCW provides is actual human connection with folks who live and work in your community. These are real voices who you’ve come to know and appreciate over the years, those providing quality music programming, live on-air studio performances and important local news coverage.

“And we’re still able to keep a core group of [listeners], with a lot of young people that also get turned on to WNCW,” Kendrick said. “We’re doing podcasts and also streaming our broadcasts. So, we’re always making sure we’re where people are in that regard.”

One of the key aspects of WNCW loyal listeners look forward to is the keen sonic taste of the radio disc jockeys. It harkens back to the old days of the corner record store, this sacred space where the person behind the counter could suggest your new favorite band without you even knowing who they were when you walked in.

 

“Nothing beats a real person choosing music. As good as an algorithm can be, it’s only a reflection of the person that set it up — and it’s not alive, it’s not in that moment,” Kendrick chuckled. “But, when you’re listening to a DJ or host on the radio, that person is breathing and thinking — they’re improvising like a musician onstage.”

When it comes to the core ethos and mission of WNCW, Kendrick points to the mere fact the station itself is currently in the midst of celebrating its 35th anniversary — the number itself a testament to the audience itself who tunes in each day, each passing year.

“Well, that’s what we’re here for. We do this because we love it — that’s the bottom line,” Kendrick said. “We love being in a central part of the community, the fabric of Western North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina and East Tennessee. We love connecting with people through music first, but also all of the news and information programming.”

And it’s that sincere sense of passion and purpose within Kendrick and his colleagues that keeps WNCW as vibrant and real as ever.

“[With WNCW], you don’t have the sort of growth imperatives and the necessity to please shareholders [of corporate radio],” Kendrick said. “So that you [we] stay true to [our] mission and exist and have whatever growth [we] can over time — to survive and thrive in our own way.”

 

This article was originally published in the 2025/2026 issue of Down the Road Magazine.

Read the full magazine here.