October 26: Halloween Dance Party for Hurricane Relief

WOW! We raised $2,000!

Thanks to the support at WDRT Presents: Halloween Dance Party – a Hurricane Helene Relief Benefit on October 26, and the support from people all over the world, wART-FM raised almost $15,000 in the last month, including the $5,000 match from WORT-FM in Madison, WI.

All donations will go to rebuild WART-FM Community Radio in Marshall, NC. The station was previously broadcasting out of a red caboose which has been decimated by Hurricane Helene. They set up a temporary broadcast station out of a storefront and have proven to be a lifeline to the local community, being the only accessible source of critical information during a natural disaster.

You can listen to our recent interview with Chuck, wART-FM station co-founder and Joel, volunteer DJ, on their incredible experience during and after the hurricane.

About wART-FM Community Radio

This event is the brain-child of Julie Tomaro, a Viroqua resident, who is friends with Chad and Chuck the co-founder of wART. She asked Chuck for some background:

Here are some basics about the station. We have been on the air since 2015. Chad and I are co-founders of wART. We are part of the Madison County, North Carolina Arts Council. Our beloved Southern Railroad Caboose sat between Main Street and the railroad tracks. The station was located about 8-10 feet from the tracks and another 20 feet to the French Broad River.

We have a lot of local interest in our station. People tune in for our wide variety of music – and also to hear the local personalities and get information. Most of our DJ’s or personalities had no experience in radio, but just wanted to share their love of music with the community. We broadcast at 95.5 on FM and also via livestream at www.wartfm.org and we also have an app. You can find the app at the Apple Store or the Google Play Store, just search for wART FM 95.5.

As you may know, we are in a mountainous area, so the FM signal doesn’t cover all of our county, Madison, but the livestream and App covers those areas we can’t reach with FM.

In the past, we have broadcast local festivals and we used to broadcast on Friday nights from the old Depot, which was right next door to the caboose. Friday nights there was lots of local talent who would show up and just pick and local folks would come in and listen and dance.

On September 27th, record floodwaters swept our caboose off its track and it now sits on its side about 200 yards from its original site. The depot, itself, was swept away, along with most of the upper end of Marshall.

Last Saturday, October 5th, two friends and I got the station back on the air. We are operating from a local store – and ever since then we have been broadcasting live from 8am-5pm with news and information about services available to those in need.