The Community, Connections & Commerce Podcast, presented by OUE & St. Clairsville Chamber - Community and Connections Season 2 Episode 17 Final Episode of Season 2

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

Welcome to Community and Connections. I'm Drake Watson. That's Jason Garsick. And we've got Sam from the radio joining us as well. This is the season finale. And we thank you so much for tuning in. Everybody, how are we feeling? How is your days and mornings going? I think it's been a wonderful season.

It's been great. Yeah. Talk to a lot of great people. Yep. It's been a great season. And a wonderful variety of folks. For sure. Wonderful variety of folks, I think, that have all done

an incredible job of really honing in on their connection to the Ohio Valley, what it means to them, what they believe it means to many other folks, and their expression of how special the place is, not only to them, but for many folks. And why they stayed here, you know? Absolutely. Went to school here, stayed here, raising families here. Yep, how they've contributed to the area and, you know, what they want to see our area, you know, grow into and, you know, continue to develop toward.

Yeah, we talk about community and connections. All of them, I thought did a great job of touching on both of those things. And I think everybody had a different but unique perspective to provide as far as what community means to them. I mean, everybody kind of echoed the same sentiment as far as its importance in a place like this. But everybody had their own spin on it. And the connections was also a big thing that a lot of folks touched on and had great things to say about. And I will say this, there were, through the majority of people, you know, I learned a lot from folks. I learned a lot of just little tips and tricks and learned about organizations that I wasn't real familiar with.

You know, those kind of things, you know, those types of topics. One of the first person that jumps into my head is Joelle Morey. You know, she does a lot of wellness coaching. You know, one tip I picked up off of her is that, you know, the pause. Pause and take a break. Yeah. I forget. Oh, what was her, what's her term for?

Oh, it escapes me right now. But you just stop, close your eyes, put your hand on your chest. Yeah. And you just breathe. Yeah, right. And we don't do that enough. No. And that's just an example of one of the, uh, the tips that I picked up from one of our guests.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

of if you were to tell me before the season started that I would that I would sit down and have good conversations with with folks who ran a symphony or a or hair stylists or things like that I would have thought there's no way I would be able to to talk and connect with with folks like that but the folks from Wheeling Symphony they did a great job had a lot of great things to say learned a lot that's when you first had learned a lot that's one of the first things I thought of same thing with Rosie from from Color Me Mad out in Morristown.

You learned more about... I learned a lot. I didn't think I would... I didn't think I'd do too well in that. And the thing about some of those folks were, they were all great people. And none of them were in... Like, you could ask a question and not, like, I have to... You would talk about hair.

I have to ask a lot of dumb questions because, you know, I'm not familiar with that world. But none of them made it uncomfortable. Jason, how familiar are you? With hair? Not too familiar. I'm losing it. I started losing it in college. What about Botox?

I don't know anything. No, sorry. Wouldn't know the first thing or whatever comes before that. Yeah, yeah. I liked a lot of, there was a lot of history that was discussed in this. And I love history, especially local history. And, you know, that was touched on in a number of segments that we discussed. Not only Wheeling Park talking about their 100th anniversary, Belmont Savings Bank talked a little bit about their history.

history. 140 years, yeah, which is incredible. But, you know, we talked about it with Belmont County tourism. Yeah. Talking about the out in Morristown, the Black Horse Inn and how the Underground Railroad is going to be moving out there, which I think is super exciting. And then Dr. Jan, when we talked with her, talking about like Dicer Woods and the history there and its connection to high university Eastern.

Well, really cool. We even went international. Oh, yeah. Learning about Thailand. Yeah. That was awesome. Yeah, he was a great conversation. I ventured to guess I will probably not get the opportunity to ever go to Thailand,

so to hear somebody else's stories about it, you know. Well, I think, too, the perspective that allows you to gain on everything, and, you know, all aspects of life, I think. And those are great conversation pieces you could talk about and really provide the folks that listen with something that they can learn from. and really take notes and take with them. Yeah. Well, we got to learn about Manny and the Wheeling Ironmen,

High Valley Ironmen, my apologies, formerly, Wheeling Ironman. Anyways, we got to hear about their schedule, their upcoming games. Now, since that particular conversation, things have changed. Yes. Things have changed, but nothing has stopped. Nothing has What's the term I'm looking for? Closed up shop?

Yeah, it's not. It wasn't on their end. Yeah. It was a we are going to, as we talked about just a minute ago, we're going to take a pause and really reflect. I mean, that was the language used in the statement that they had to put out is that they weren't going to go anywhere. And it's. It wasn't by choice of them.

No, no. they frankly were too good. I said on a show recently, they did a really good job of acquiring talent. And I think there was a disconnect as far as like what they were versus the teams that they were going against. And apples to bowling balls kind of situation. And so they have to reassess and really take a hard look at finding more comparable teams for 26 is the most concise way to put it. But I thought he touched on, you know, you take the game out of it.

and what he mentioned as far as connections, I thought he did a great job of really hammering that home. And he talked about, you know, a lot of folks, oh, you got this many people, you could text this, whatever. He's like, how many folks do you have that you could genuinely call on a Tuesday night and they would pick up and they would willing to talk to you for an hour? He's like, I don't know that a lot of folks have many people like that. He said he had many folks like that in his cell phone or that he knew or whatever.

but he was like, connections isn't just the amount of names that you know or names that you have written down or phone numbers. It's the amount of people that you can actually talk to and call when you really need to. Yeah, he had an interesting perspective on a lot of things. And he's actually had a fascinating life. He has great stories in that episode of working in the NFL, working in the European League, I believe, was it. And, you know, one thing when we talk sports, a lot of the times, you know, it's looked at. and rightfully so, is entertainment. And it is.

But there's also the business side of it and the behind the scenes. And he gets into a lot of that side of that world. And it's an interesting perspective. Yeah, I mean, he and one other lady kind of made up their entire front office, if you will. So when you have something like this, it's kind of small scale because just a small community and small area, you know, you're not dealing with the types of things you see at the very top of the pros. but he's got to take on the role of not only head coach, but also general manager and also being 50% of the front office. And I thought he was great.

His conversation was great. All the conversations that we had were great and all the guests were good. You can go back and listen. If you haven't done so, we're talking about all these people. If any of these sound interesting to you and you haven't heard the conversation, go back and look at the history of the show, and you can certainly tune into any of these episodes that you think sound intriguing. Or if you want to go back and re-listen,

because some of those episodes were frankly just good listens. Well, and we're currently talking about, of course, season two, because this is our season two finale. But there's season one out there too. So, you know, if you're just finding us, season one is absolutely worth a listen to because, you know, our guests are entertaining, but, you know, we're entertaining too. I wasn't around for season one.

Oh, sorry, Jason. No, no, I was able to go back and listen to them. So, no, it was really great to be able to hear, you know, where this podcast is started. and where it's come into today and, you know, I'm honored to be a part of it today. So, no, always go back. Well, that's one thing that's great about podcast opposed to, you know,

traditional media or, oh, what I want to say, a television story, something like that. With a podcast, it's a roundtable, you know, you really can have, you're not on a deadline, you're not on a window of time that you have to fit within. You can really have a conversation. And you may start off at topic A. Somehow you end up at topic Z,

and it's completely 100% opposite where you thought you were going to go. But sometimes that ends up being the best conversations you have. Sure, sure. It's genuine, you know? Yeah. And it just has a natural flow to it sometimes. Yeah.

I thought there was a lot of genuine people that came in to talk to us. And a lot of folks that you could ask a question and they could, you know, they weren't looking at, you know, maybe they had to stop for a second to think of the right way to say what they wanted to say, but they were definitely giving a genuine answer the entire time. And you could be confident that you could ask your genuine question,

and they would provide the insight and really help the conversation along with the things that they know. You know who was really real? Like, salt of the earth, Ohio Valley people, the Ebert's. Yeah. Yeah. That's another one where I was. was like, all right, farming, here we go, you know, as I'm walking in. Not part of your repertoire off the top of your head?

No, not not quite. But they were some of the nicest people we've spoken to and they had some great things to say. And it really, again, opened the door for someone to walk through and kind of learn, I guess, audibly learn through the things that they talk about. And their impact on the community. And I, you know, I think farming and agriculture is one of the literal pillars. of society. Yep. And they did a great job.

And as you said, very down earth, very Ohio Valley, I guess, personified. Yeah, the mentality, the work ethic, the community support, the, you know, just the basic foundations

that we want. And the other thing is, you know, you talk about agriculture, you talk about farming, you talk about, you know, the coal mining that we have here. You know, A lot of industries like agriculture and farming on a national level have been romanticized.

Oh, sure. Oh, yeah. And when you actually speak to people that live that world, that lifestyle day to day, you know, it's not a Hallmark movie. You know, it's not Yellowstone. It's not, you know. It's not a little house on the prairie. There you go. Yeah.

It's real life. Yeah. It takes a lot out of you and you got to give a lot to it. I think of all the things that go on in the corporate world. And it's a lot of the same things. I mean, it's the same kind of intensity and the same kind of work ethic and workload. It's just, you know, it's in a different clothing. It looks different.

It's a different flavor. But it's all the same kind of thing. I mean, it's not from what I took away from them. And you don't have to talk to a farmer to know this, but it's not easy what they do. Well, and I think I mentioned this before, but, yeah we all have our our bubble right the bubble of the world that we work in you know i work in radio you you jason are government government and and you're still a student yeah so you know we all have our our little area right yeah this podcast and i think we have done it with this is

we have different people from you know folks from different walks of life and they kind of give us a behind the scenes of what their bubble is like, you know? Yeah. Because otherwise, you don't really, really know what it's like. And that's what do we do? I think that's why community is important and what's the all connections, you know? That's like, that's the entirety of kind of what it's all about. And not only have we been able to learn from those conversations, but we, that's the goal with anybody who, who would be listening is for them to learn things and get a different look and perspective.

on things that they might not have inside of their bubble. Well, and the other side is, of course, Ohio University Eastern, who is, you know, behind this podcast. And it's providing information to students who possibly haven't made a decision yet where they want to go with their education or they're teetering on, you know,

maybe I want to be a teacher, or maybe I want to get into finance. And if they want to get into the financial world, They hear Todd Kover from Belmont Savings Bank. And, you know, may have some questions answered that they don't even realize that they're questioning. You know, and that's another side of this podcast that we want to, you know, put out there for folks and for students. Or don't know about the possibilities that are out there. Yeah.

It's here locally. You know, there's so many entities, you know, many of these folks that we discussed with throughout this podcast this season. But there are opportunities to join some of these. organizations and individuals in the path that they're going or to forge your own path where you see there's a need in the community. I don't think anybody exemplified what Ohio Eastern was trying to do and their goal better than Rich Greenlee, Dr. Greenlee, who came on and he played it. He first of all wrote a song subsequently played it for us. I mean, that's a guy who loved it. He had a blast. Yeah. The green and the white

Yeah, he was, I mean, that's Bobcat through and through, and he's very passionate. You could tell just the way he spoke, the passion kind of oozes out of him that he has for rural Ohio, Appalachian, Ohio. And, you know, places like, I think what helps too is places like St. Clairsville and you get into Monroe County and then the Panhandle and, you know, those places of West Virginia, places that we would consider the Ohio Valley, they're not too different from Athens, geographically. And so, you know, Athens looks a lot different than New Athens will say. But you get an hour outside of town and that's the same thing. Oh, it is. I mean, you get an outside of town, you know.

So him being able to kind of be a part of both worlds allows him to really connect and, you know, understand what it's like for folks in this area. And that allows him to channel his efforts through the right means to try to make the university experience the best it can be. Absolutely. You know, one thing, because I've known Dr. Greenlee for years. He was dean when I was out there at the eastern campus. And one of the things that I'll remember, and I don't know if I touched on this in discussion

with him, but he approached me as I was a student. And he said, you know, we want to bring Rotorak back on campus. Rotorak is Rotary for college students, which Sam and I were in Rotary Club of St. Clairisville today. But I just remember him, you know, placing that confidence in me and wanting me to, you know, you can bring this back, you know, bring some of your friends along with you and get this going. And I thought, I don't even know where to begin. But he had the confidence in me to make that happen. And I made it happen.

And, you know, I'll never forget that. You know, it was a learning experience for me. And I think he has that ability, you know, to make change in others and let them see things that they didn't think that they may have. Well, and Jason, I think you and I talked about, you know, Rotary is the one thing that, you know, you and I have in, you know, common with our club and everything. And but, you know, I've been in business. Let's see, I've been in radio 25 years this month. Oh, God, I'm dating myself. 25 years in August. And one of the things over the past, I think I joined Rotary five years ago, it's been one of the biggest things that has affected my career.

Wow. And what I mean by that is not only did it expand my connections, but it made me part of the community under a different guise than just my professional who I am. And, you know, it's one thing that I think in education, in college, if that's the route you go, that's not stressed enough, I don't think. You know, that was never mentioned to me. And I'm not just talking Rotary. I'm just talking service somehow, whether that is volunteering at your animal shelter, whether that is joining something like Rotary or the Lions Club,

or volunteering with somebody like the United Way who we had on the podcast. I think that is an aspect of the business world or just employment that adds so much to somebody that is not talking to. taught enough in school, you know. For sure. For sure.

And, you know, not only do you build those connections, but you gain valuable experience in doing that, you know, relating with other people, helping other people, how to communicate that with them. But then there's also skills that go with the organization and leading it if you go that route or being there in the background and making things happen. Being a board member. Absolutely. Yeah, learning the ins and outs of like that kind of stuff.

Yeah. Yeah, it adds so much to you. And you know what? I'm not one to, I'm not one for the, I call it hippie-dippy stuff, but like karma and all that kind of, you know, people talk like that. But honestly, when you, when you partake in stuff like that, it comes back to you, you know, you don't even realize it, but it does in different forms. But, you know, it's a little bit of good karma for you too. It's good to give back to the community in any way that you can.

There's a show about karma. I can't remember what it's called, but. Like a TV show? Yeah. Community and Connections podcast has been one of the things that we've enjoyed putting a lot of time and effort into over the last few months. And I was curious, it's going to be hard to pick a favor. So we won't frame it like that. But what are some things that, and we've really been talking about this the entire time, but what are some of the things that stood out to you guys the most to get out of the pit that was the thinking of what the show was about?

about karma just to get back on the on the train tracks here i think i think one thing that i could say i don't want to say a favorite but i want to say maybe i was most comfortable okay talking with someone was commissioner j p dutton and i think it's because it's within my wheelhouse you know i deal in the bubble yeah absolutely definitely you know i work with the commissioners on a regular basis. We're in the same building, ultimately. I get what his office does or what other elected officials do within that building. So that was a really neat conversation to have. I felt like, oh, you know, I got a pretty good grasp on this. And so that was one that in that regard, I thought, stood out. Yeah, I'll kind of share that. I mean, I thought he had a lot of great

things to say. I thought he provided a really good insight into, because there's a lot of folks in the county that frankly aren't short or some folks don't even know who the commissioners are other folks maybe know who they are but don't know what they do and don't understand the logistics behind that i think him providing an inside look at what kind of his everyday looks like and what his tasks are and really what his goal is as a commissioner he was talking about you can kind of make it you know you can go 80 miles an hour or you can go 30 miles an hour it's kind of up to you and you can tell the way he's one of those guys that you know everything's 80 miles an hour. He's always looking to do something, get things done. He's a doer. So he's done

great at that, and he was a great conversation as well. I also thought Rosie from Color Me Mad was, as far as being able to talk to, for someone who was in an industry that I'm unfamiliar with, 100%, she couldn't have been more inviting as far as, as far as opening the door for me to ask more questions and learn more about what she does. I thought that was good. And again, I don't want to pick a favorite. They all stood out. Manny stood out. The folks from the Wheeling Symphony stood out.

I thought everybody was good and had a great conversation. Yeah. You said you don't want to pick a favorite, but you asked what the favorite was. Let's be clear. I reframed that as what stood out. There we go. You did. You did.

I was going to, Rosie was kind of the direction I was going to go just because of how unique her businesses with, the quiet room for kids. And I don't know if we got to this. She now has a special needs dog. Did we talk about piglet the dog? I can't remember. I don't know if we talked. I know we talked about it.

I don't know if it was before or after the microphones turned off. Okay. Well, along with the quiet room, she has for autistic children. She now has a special needs dog. The dog itself is dead. is hairless, but they are training it to work with special needs clients. And the dog is learning sign language. Wow.

So it's wild, right? Think about this. This is a salon owner. Yeah, I don't know if we've mentioned that yet. But look how you wouldn't have known. How innovative that is. A completely different direction of thinking for somebody in that industry. So that, yeah, I was kind of going to mention Rosie in color, I'm mad.

but then also I wanted to highlight Trinity a little bit, having them in here that day. The growth that they've shown with the new hospital in St. Clairsville, you know, what they've added to the community in St. Clairisville is huge. So, you know, having that conversation and learning about what they are going to offer is, was really interesting because it's a lot more than what I was expecting that's going to be offered there. It's more than it's not an urgent care, anything like that. It is a hospital. So, you know, learning all those ins and outs was interesting. Related in that in the medical industry, we also talked with WV Medicine, Jess, which was a great conversation as well. Yeah, and exciting things that they have coming up, which is going to be really exciting to see come,

the Children's Center, the Cancer Center in a matter of years. Well, and think about, you know, we mentioned Belmont Savings, bank earlier, but the anniversaries that people are, are experiencing 140 years. It's incredible. 140 years. That's huge. That's a huge accomplishment. You know, we have somebody who wasn't on the show, but respects, family-owned, local, 100 years they hit. So, you know, we have a foundation of amazing local businesses that have hit amazing, you know, huge accomplishments, you know, time-wise.

And like not that I would know from first-hand experience, but like that's hard to do to stay around and continue doing what you've been doing for 100 years or more. You know, the fact that you've been around for 100 years or 140 years, you've weathered the Great Depression. Yeah. You've weathered World War II. Like these major events. Vietnam. Yeah. Yeah.

And if you can withstand those, especially like the Great Depression, you know, you're starting off in the 20. 20s were, you know, a pretty good time economically. And then a huge downturn. It tells you you've got what it takes and stand the test of time. Yeah. It's incredible. Yeah. And as you're listening, not currently as we're recording, but as you're listening,

the nation, 250 years. Yep. And WWVA, I'm sure Sam would have a couple of words to say about that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We're going to be celebrated. What, we are celebrating 100 years here at WWVA, 100 years. And that's hugely significant.

again, Jason, like you just said, to withstand being a radio station and a source of information, you know, we provided the information on the assassination of JFK, on the Vietnam War, on Eisenhower visiting Wheeling, you know, there's so much history behind this radio station, and there's the radio station side, and then there is the economics that the radio station provided, not only here in Wheeling, but also the Ohio Valley, because with WWVA was Jamboree USA. Oh, yes. Jambery USA, huge, huge entertainment significance.

That then turned into jambry in the hills. You know, unfortunately, we know the situation with Jambore in the Hills. But when you go back and I've looked at old pictures, and of course I've had the conversations with my apologies, the old timers that tell me. the stories of what Main Street was like in the heyday of the Capitol and Jambore USA, the business, the bus tours, the foot traffic, you know, the Doc Williams store and all of that. So, you know, this radio station, we're sitting in the VA studio. That's why I say this radio station.

But WWVA was the, is the second oldest radio station here in our nation behind KDCA out of Pittsburgh, which is hugely significant. And, you know, it hits me and I'm, I don't underestimate, underestimate the significance that I co-host the morning show at this point in time on this incredibly historical, significant radio station. So this year so far has been an absolute blast celebrating this radio station. and the rest of the year as we go through the things that we have planned that are coming up is going to be fun.

And I've had the opportunity to dig through a lot of stuff, especially like black and right photographs, and to think that the pictures I've found of like Johnny Cash and June Carter Crash sitting there with the VA microphone, and I'm sharing that microphone. You know, it's really cool and significant. And the other thing that's cool, just real quick, finding old clips of broadcasts from 1945 from 1962.

But one of the coolest things about it, like I have listened to interviews with the Judds and Johnny Cash and, you know, all these other names and everything. But the old commercials. Oh, yeah, I bet. The old jingles like Elby's Big Boy. And, you know, I can't think of the rest of them off the top of my head. but for the older generation that remembers that time and remembers those jingles, it's just like, oh, I remember that.

That kind of, it's just, it's really cool. It's really cool. So, yeah, 100 years, we hit it, folks. If you're one of the folks, you drive, the county road escapes me, but you're making your way towards Barton and you see them three big towers. Oh, yeah. That's us. That's WWVA and the, I guess, the concrete structure.

I don't know if it's concrete. you might have something more strong than that, but the structure next to it was significant in the 40s as well. I have been told by multiple people, it was, it's a bomb shelter. It looks like it too. If you're driving through there, I go there frequently and it does. Yeah, for security purposes. So the way I understand it is, it's a point, it's a central point that say a dignitary or the president or whoever is in the midst of travel. And God forbid something happens. it's somewhere to get them quickly for safety and security purposes and this. Now, at this point in time, I don't believe it's of use, but it is a certain point in time.

Somebody that used to work here years ago said, you know, the red phone. I've never been in that building. I'd love to tour that building. But yeah, there's a lot of history there, a lot of history. No doubt about it. Well, 250 years of the country, 100 years of WWVA and some of the other. anniversaries and milestones that we talked about. And this now makes two years of community and connections.

Hey, two seasons, man. Yeah, we're really getting in there. Ohio University Eastern as well as I-Hart at the WWVA studios in collaboration. And we're glad to be a part of it. And we're glad to bring you the conversation. And we hope you took something away from it. If you have anything to give back to us, O-U-E-E-Podcast at

Ohio.edu is the email that you can use to reach out to us with any kind of feedback or comments or anything that you'd like to provide and give back to us. That's the way to reach us. And with that, I don't know that there's much more. Well, we hope everybody

enjoyed. Yeah, I hope so. For sure. And to the planning process for next season. Yeah, that's where we move. That's where we move now. Season three, approaching quicker than we think. Oh, goes fast. For Sam from the radio, Jason Garsick, I'm Drake Watson saying thank you so much for listening, and we hope you enjoyed.