As the semester comes to an end, 95.3 WWCU and Whee TV held their final spring broadcast covering Greening Up the Mountain Festival on April 25 in downtown Sylva.
For those in attendance at the festival, crowds started to fill Main Street at 10 a.m., but for broadcasting students at WCU, their day started at 6 a.m., setting up their equipment as vendors of the festival.
This was 95.3’s and Whee-TV’s first time at the festival, coordinated by both staff and students to prepare for a full day of engagement with other vendors, visitors, and well-known names in Jackson County.
Among those names was the mayor of Sylva, Johnny Phillips, who stopped by students’ tents to share a word on why people come to town and to give a welcome to the new chief of police.
Johnny Phillips interview on 95.3 WWCU FM.
The simulcast for both student-run broadcasts faced one main obstacle throughout the day: the rain, which caused both 95.3 and Whee-TV to adapt and move equipment to drier areas.
An enthusiastic Chancellor Brown of WCU stopped by the 95.3 tent and shared why she loves the festival and what her favorite part of the day was. Brown also signaled towards the nearing graduation for WCU students and the amount of preparation that goes into the event.
“I love Greening Up the Mountains, it’s one of the most phenomenal experiences… I had never seen anything like this until moving here,” Brown said.
The mountain trees changing color signal the beginning of spring along with the festival. Chancellor Brown says the seasons changing happens suddenly.
“I lived in flat land and all of a sudden you see the fall, but then all of a sudden in the spring you start to see the greening up at the mountains, and it starts from the bottom and goes all the way up to the top,” Brown said.
Event organizer, Mark Haskett, could be seen making rounds throughout Main Street and shared on air with 95.3, what goes into the planning behind GUTM, and where people come from to attend the event.
Mark Haskett intreview on 95.3 WWCU FM.
Economic development director of Main Street, Bernadett Peters, goes more into depth on the number of people needed to bring an event like Greening Up the Mountains to Jackson County, and how many people travel to the event itself.
Bernadette Peters interview on 95.3 WWCU FM.
This broadcast between radio and TV was one of the many produced throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. Because of the ongoing rain throughout the day, students had to get creative and think on their feet. Hastily taking the cameras from the streets and keeping them covered under the tents, students’ phones were then used to keep the broadcast going.
Halle Stanley is the WCJ editor-in-chief and WWCU 95.3 General Manager
Overall, the day was a success for students and figuratively, one last sprint to the end of the semester, concluding a busy academic year of increased broadcast for both 95.3 WWCU and Whee- TV.
Click here to watch the full broadcast on Whee-TV’s Youtube channel.
