Kentucky’s Real People Radio

For Word Radio Day 2026, we visit WMMT in Whitesburg, Kentucky, one of many small community radio stations in the US threatened by cuts to government funding. At a moment when news has become increasingly polarised, these stations are ever more needed, often providing communities with their only source of essential information and emergency warnings. WMMT was founded in 1985 with a mission to “be a voice of mountain people’s music, culture and social issues.” Known to listeners as "Possum Radio" or "Real People Radio," WMMT broadcasts to the coalfield communities of southern Kentucky and neighbouring states, home to mostly poor, white Appalachian people whose voices are among the least heard in the United States. Station manager Jared Henderson, is scrambling to raise funds to keep it on the air. At this critical moment in America's history, could the common ground of traditional local culture help to bridge America's gaping political divide?