

The Broadside
WUNC News
Each week, host Anisa Khalifa tells one story from our home in North Carolina, at the crossroads of the South. From news to arts and culture, WUNC News’ “The Broadside” dives into issues that might not make the front page, but deserve a closer look. Along the way, we explore the nuances of our home — and how what happens here ripples across the country. Find new episodes of “The Broadside” every Thursday.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 20, 2025 • 20min
Hell froze over: Southern hockey is thriving
In the 1990s, professional ice hockey was primed for growth. But the NHL had one major problem: geography. In order to expand its footprint, the sport had to move into unlikely warm weather locations with few existing fans. The league eventually expanded to the Sun Belt with mixed early results. But in North Carolina and other Southern states, the NHL has found success with a radical long-term strategy. They've helped build the next generation of hockey fans almost completely from scratch.Featuring:
Ibraheem Khalifa, hockey fan
Cory Lavalette, freelance Carolina Hurricanes beat reporter and senior editor at North State Journal
Shane Willis, Director of Youth Hockey & Community Outreach for the Carolina Hurricanes
Joe Ovies, co-host of the Ovies & Giglio sports podcast
Special thanks goes out to the Orange County Sportsplex and Coach Kevin Kamenski of the Carolina Thunder Hockey Club in Hillsborough, NC.Thanks also to WUNC's Josh Sullivan and Mitchell Northam.Links: You can find a transcript of the episode here.The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 13, 2025 • 22min
The hunt for a long-lost musical masterpiece (Revisited)
To celebrate Black History Month, we're revisiting one of our favorite episodes from last year.Perhaps more than any other artform, the 20th century was shaped by jazz. And piano player and composer Mary Lou Williams was there at nearly every turn. In recent years, historians have documented and dissected her career and its big impact on American music. But the final chapter of her life—spent teaching at Duke University—was shrouded in mystery. Until now.Special thanks to Chris Pattishall for writing and performing the score for this episode.Featuring:
Anthony Kelley, Professor of the Practice of Music at Duke University
Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant, Chair of the Music Department at Duke University
Tammy Kernodle, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Music at Miami University
Chris Pattishall, Grammy-nominated piano player and composer
Links:
Watch the Duke Wind Symphony perform Mary Lou Williams’ “History” here.
You can find a transcript of the episode here.
Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 6, 2025 • 21min
Who gets to be Native in America
North Carolina’s Lumbee Tribe have been pursuing full federal recognition for over 130 years. A campaign promise kept by Donald Trump has given them hope. But it’s also renewed centuries-old questions about who gets to be Native in America.Featuring:
Sarah Nagem, editor of the Border Belt Independent
John Lowery, Lumbee Tribal Chairman
Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz, author of The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America
Links:
Check out more reporting from Sarah Nagem and the staff of the Border Belt Independent here.
You can find a transcript of this episode here.
Special thanks this week goes out to WUNC’s Will Michaels for providing us audio from his interview with John Lowery. Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 30, 2025 • 19min
Election season is over… right?
Election Day was nearly three months ago. Since then, every race in the country has been called and certified. Except for one. A single election for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court remains in limbo, and its outcome might have huge ramifications for American democracy.Featuring:
Rusty Jacobs, Voting and Election Integrity reporter for WUNC
Frank Bruni, contributing writer for The New York Times and author of “The Age of Grievance”
Links:
Check out more of Rusty Jacobs’ reporting here.
Read Frank Bruni’s article for The New York Times here.
You can find a transcript of this episode here.
Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 23, 2025 • 22min
How North Carolina became Japan's favorite state
North Carolina has been cultivating a special relationship with Japan for more than four decades… and the rewards for the American economy are only accelerating. This week, we find out how tax incentives, BBQ, and Bojangles helped make the Tar Heel State the epicenter of Japanese investment in the US.Featuring:
Teruhiro "Terry" Kawabe, President and CEO of Morinaga America
David Robinson, Honorary Consul of Japan to North Carolina
Andy Steinhauer, General Manager at Health & Nutrition North America plant in Raleigh, NC
Brian Gordon, Business & Technology reporter at The News & Observer
Links:
Read Brian Gordon's continuing coverage of Japanese investment in North Carolina at The News & Observer here.
You can find a transcript of this episode here.
Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 16, 2025 • 23min
Segregation academies and a forgotten migration
Throughout the South, state legislatures are adopting and expanding school voucher programs designed to allow parents to use public funds to pay for private school tuition. But this modern day push for school choice is connected to a dark past that recalls America’s long and sometimes forgotten history of resisting integration in the classroom.Featuring:
Jennifer Berry Hawes, reporter with ProPublica
Crystal Sanders, author of “A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs”
Links:
Read Jennifer Berry Hawes reporting on segregation academies and school vouchers here.
You can find a transcript of this episode here.
Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 9, 2025 • 23min
The gambling gold rush is here
In 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled that states could legalize sports gambling. Since then, 38 states have taken the plunge, including our home state of North Carolina. The payoff has been lucrative. But it also has a human toll.Featuring:
Jason deBruyn, Supervising Editor for Digital News at WUNC
Jason Quick, Senior Writer at The Athletic
Links:
Check out Jason Quick's incredible reporting about gambling addiction.
You can find a transcript of this episode here.
If you or a loved one need help with problem gambling you can find it at the National Problem Gambling Helpline. That number is 1-800-GAMBLER. There are also state programs across the country like the North Carolina Problem Gambling Helpline which is 1-877-718-5543.Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 2, 2025 • 18min
That time we almost destroyed the world
On a chilly evening in 1961, a B-52 crashed in rural eastern North Carolina near the town of Goldsboro. Any plane crash is bad, but this one was particularly dangerous because onboard that bomber were two nuclear weapons. The event was perhaps the closest the United States has ever come to accidentally detonating a nuclear bomb—and kicking off a nuclear war.Featuring:
Jay Price, Military and Veterans Affairs reporter at WUNC and The American Homefront Project
Stephen Schwartz, independent nuclear weapons expert and author of “Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940”
Links:
Read Jay's article from 2018 marking the 50th anniversary of the Goldsboro nuclear accident.
View photos of the Mars Bluff Crater left behind by the nuclear accident in Florence, South Carolina.
Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 26, 2024 • 40min
The ballad and the flood
This week, we visit the small town of Marshall in western North Carolina, a region ravaged by Hurricane Helene earlier this year.But this story isn’t about the storm or climate change or the walls of water that rushed through the Black Mountains in September. It’s about what happened after. How people create systems to help each other. And how the best aspects of humanity can shine in the wake of a disaster.This episode comes to us from Outside/In. Produced by our friends at New Hampshire Public Radio, it’s a podcast where curiosity and the natural world collide. Credits:
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, written, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
The Outside/In team also includes Felix Poon, Marina Henke, and Kate Dario.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Special thanks to the folks at Poder Emma and Collaborativa La Milpa in Asheville. Thanks also to Rural Organizing and Resilience (ROAR).
Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 19, 2024 • 25min
Deck your halls with Rauch balls
In this special holiday episode, we meet the Jewish man from Gastonia, North Carolina who became the world's largest manufacturer of Christmas ornaments and used his power to make his home more tolerant of all religions.This episode comes to us from Jeremy Markovich. Jeremy is the creator of a newsletter and podcast called the North Carolina Rabbit Hole, where he explores the strange and quirky corners of his home state. You can find all of his incredible work at ncrabbithole.com.This story was adapted from: "The Unlikely Ornament King of Gastonia" which appeared in Our State's December 2016 issue.Music in this episode:
"Dad, Get Up" by Peter Lamb and the Wolves (Raleigh)
Additional Music: Blue Dot Sessions, U.S. Marine Band
Special Thanks: The Rauch Family, Jack Betts, Don Walser, Kimberly Simpson, Alexis Castanos, and Todd Dulaney.Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.


