Station News

Twice a year 103.3 Asheville FM changes its on-air schedule to make room for new shows and give current DJs a chance to move time slots or drop from the schedule, based on their needs. (Programming at Asheville FM is done entirely by volunteer DJs and show hosts.)

This article is part of a series introducing you to the new shows hitting our schedule.

Dharma from the Public Domain is a unique addition to the Asheville FM on-air schedule. In this educational program Sarah B. reads from Buddhist books whose copyrights have expired. Along with the reading she offers commentary punctuated with calming musical interludes, or sound meditations. 

In the first episode, Sarah expresses her love for the public domain—which consists of all creative works that aren’t protected by intellectual property laws and can therefore be shared without restriction or permission—by comparing it to a playground. She reveals that the word “dharma” basically means “the teachings of the Buddha.” “No stranger to these airwaves,” Sarah has hosted two past shows at Asheville FM: Songs for Friends and Time & Other Thieves 

In discussing how she picked which teaching to share on the first episode of her new show, Sarah says she was overwhelmed by the options available. She decided to choose from the titles under the first date range listed at HathiTrust.org. Their vast digital library could provide countless hours’ worth of material for future episodes!

Dharma from the Public Domain airs every Sunday morning from eight to nine. You can listen to the lastest archive here.

Written by Jordan Lenoir 

Environmental degradation, and more specifically wildfire smoke, worsens air quality tremendously and does not only affect the general health of people, but according to the Alzheimer’s Association, deeply affects Alzheimer’s disease and brain health.

In yesterday’s segment of Asheville FM’s Newshour, Patryk Battle interviewed Katherine Lambert of the Alzheimer’s Association regarding exciting developments from the association’s recent conference which discussed wildfire smoke and how it affects brain health, and how to lower risks of dementia diagnosis regarding air pollution.  

The Alzheimer’s Association “has a vision of a world without Alzheimer’s and all other dementia” and aims for this by not only caring, supporting, and educating, but also lots of research. Lambert dived into the Alzheimer’s Association’s recent international research conference where there were “lot’s of exciting developments on the research front.” Some topics that were discussed at this conference include biomarkers, blood tests, rural and underserved communities, pharmaceutical trial reports, lifestyle intervention, and diagnostic tools. 

In recent years, wildfires have become more and more prevalent in North Carolina, which led Battle to sharing, “wildfire smoke is way more significant than a lot of us may think.” Lambert revealed that she was interested to find out just how prevalent wildfire smoke has become and that “wildfire smoke is an increasing threat to brain health.” Lambert shared that “breathing in wildfire smoke can be particularly hazardous” and “the exposure to wildfire smoke increases the risk of being diagnosed with dementia more than other forms of pollution.” 

Lambert revealed that researchers have shared some ways to lower risks: regularly update home air-filtration systems, stay inside during unhealthy levels of air quality, and wear a mask (outside) when air quality levels reach a certain point.  

For more on this topic, listen to the full episode on Newshour.