Why community radio from the other side of the continent matters to us in BC

So I've been listening to WMMT out of Whitesburg Kentucky since my Aunt introduced me to it a few weeks ago. It's a community radio station, mostly playing Appalachian music and stories: real people, unedited... I listen because they play the music of my soul, and fill my heart with joy.

Click here to listen: http://www.wmmt.org/listen

But not after 3PM. After 3PM, Mondays through Thursdays, they play news from the mountains (because 3PM our time is 6PM mountain time).

Mountain news may not be local to us here in BC, but it's more relevant than our own polished news, sometimes. It's been revelatory for me re: natural gas infrastructure. Every time I hear it they seem to be reporting on various tragedies to land and people caused by NG industry. The industry is never available for comment; the people are: Increased mortality, illnesses, birth defects, contaminated groundwater, drinking water, farmland. The news is ALWAYS devastating. The stories are heartbreaking, and prolific, encompassing many whole towns and cities, and they're interspersed with reports of natural gas industry expansion and job opportunities in various communities in NG or spill cleanup.

I think, as we in BC are having this industry shoved down our throats, but our local news doesn't report on these things, WMMT 3PM is a good thing for us to be listening to.