In December of 2008 coal spilled into people’s house in Kingston. The cleanup resulted in toxins killing 50 workers from the neglect of TVA and others. Jared outlines the struggles of those that sued for damages.
After all the flooding from Hurricane Helene the interstates and roads in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina have a lot of closures. We spoke with TDOT’s Mark Nagi about when we can expect them to be open again.
Singer Morgan Wallen gave $500,000 to his MW Foundation to help those in need after the horrific flooding in East Tennessee from Hurricane Helene. I spoke with his parents, Lesli and Tommy along with Tyler Davis with Sticks Management about the efforts.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared over 10 years ago without a trace resulting in the most expensive recovery search in aviation history. Author Jeff Wise has pursued this and now hopes to find new ways to locate its resting place.
The Department Head of Economics at the UT College of Business, Scott Gilpatric gives his opinion of the status of the economy and what the biggest factors are that affect it.
Bob’s interview with Knoxville FBI agents Michele Ernst and Caleb Yokley of the Counter Terrorism and Joint Terror Task Force about Terrorism Indicators and what the public needs to be aware of.
Heath is a former Tennessee Volunteer football QB, SEC Player of the Year and former Congressman from North Carolina. Now residing in Knoxville, with his popularity among Tennesseans, will he consider running for Congress or Governor? He tells us his thoughts.
Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler joins Bob six years into his 8-year tenure. According to the polls he is the most popular elected official in Knox County, some say he could easily be elected Mayor. Sheriff Spangler lets us know if that is a possibility.
Researcher and author of Fireflies, Glow-worms and Lightning Bugs, Lynn Faust tells us when to expect the peak time for the synchronous fireflies in the Great Smoky National Park!
The day I filled in for John Ward. I always loved doing play-by-play sports. I had done 100s of high school football games. So, on Saturday, March 22nd, 1986, Vol Network Producer Mark Dyer called me and said that John Ward had done one game in the TN-KY baseball series and was feeling ill. He… Read more: Bob Thomas doing Vol Baseball Play-by-Play on the Vol Network – March 22, 1986
In honor of Veterans Day, I spoke with former POW Bill Robinson on Newstalk 98.7. No enlisted man in American military history has been a POW longer than Robinson. For seven and a half years, he faced daily privations and endured the full range of North Vietnam’s torture program.
Off-duty KPD officer, Tony Williams was shot in the back in July, 1989 on the entrance ramp to I-40 at Cherry Street while riding his motorcycle. The KPD Homicide Unit has a suspect in their sights, but need someone to step forward with more details.
Another “Lost Interview!” Back in the 80s I booked everything in the Tennessee Theater. One of those acts was Don McLean. Before the performance he called in on my WIVK show. Among many questions, I asked him to explain the song American Pie and the reason he wrote Vincent. These are Interviews I did years… Read more: Bob’s 1982 interview with Don McLean – Oct 23rd, 2023
Former 30-year congressman Jimmy Duncan has written a book, from Batboy to Congressman! Bob talks to him about that and the current status of the world and Congress.
Hamas attacks Israel and the Israelis declare war. Last week Congressman voted to oust Speaker McCarthy. The vote for a new Speaker is Wednesday. We talk war ramifications and the reasoning behind his vote to get a new Speaker of the House.
The Knoxville City election took place August 29th with one of the poorest turnouts in recent history. Out of 102,000 registered voters, 85,000 DID NOT vote, leaving the decision to only around 17,000 people on who runs the city of Knoxville. This is my interview with Election Commission Director, Chris Davis.
The next Lost Interview is out! On November 13th, 1984 Grandpa Jones had a book out about his life and he joined me in the studios of WIVK. He was a delightful man who starred on many shows and on the infamous Hee-Haw! He endured tragedy when he found the bodies of his playing partner,… Read more: Interview with Grandpa Jones
And interesting interview on the future of medicine! Dr. Ty Prince is with the Allergy, Asthma and Sinus Center. Soon when you go to the doctor a camera on the doctor’s glasses will be connected to AI. It will recognize you, pull your medical records, listen to what you tell the doctor, suggest questions for… Read more: Interview with Dr. Ty Prince about AI in the medical field.
I believe this interview with Ronnie was in 1980. Ronnie was always a great friend of mine and WIVK. Always a fun guy to talk to and a great performer in concert! This interview came out just as Smoky Mountain Rain was hitting the airwaves. Enjoy!
I was fortunate to meet Tom Collins in the 80s when he ran Pi-Gem Music on Music Row. Tom produced many #1 records for artists like Ronnie Milsap, Barbara Mandrell and many more!
I believe that this interview I did with Jimmy Dean on WIVK was in 1982. He was a very down-to-Earth guy with a great sense of humor! The interview could have gone longer, but I had to cut it short for time constraints. We talk about music, acting, golf, sausage business and life in general.… Read more: The Lost Interviews – Jimmy Dean
The Lost Interviews – George Jones I got a call from George Jones wanting to be on my WIVK midday radio show. He was scheduled to be at a Knoxville nightclub that night and there were rumors that he wasn’t going to show. He wanted to address that on air. During the interview we talked… Read more: The Lost Interviews – George Jones
