The Sheperdstown Good News Radio Hour

89.7 WSHC is the archetypal small town radio station. With 950 ERP watts it covers it's home town of Sheperdstown, WV and little more. It's HAAT is -3 meters, which if you've been to West Virginia makes sense. If you're not going uphill, you're usually going downhill.

The station has been on air since 1949, founded by Dr. Milton Wiksell; himself a graduate of Louisiana State University. Spinning indie gives the year of their first official broadcast year as 1974 [source] It's a fine station airing a mix of AAA, indie rock and old punk rock like only a taste-maker can. As I type now the DJ is spinning some Black Keys.  The newspaper, where I found that show advert is the Sheperdstown Good News which was established in 1979, three decades after WSHC. They have a mission statement on their website that reads

"We aim to publish the best little good news paper in the known world and give it away free with the hope and a prayer that it will help cultivate a community of love and goodwill among those who fall under its good spell."

It's funded by the Shepherdstown Ministerial Association. The newspaper is a mishmosh of local business plugs, poetry, prose and art. I found copies of it more-or-less on every unoccupied flat countertop on German Street. It's a rarity, but it's nice to see a symbiotic relationship between local print and broadcast media. You can download the current issue here.