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WKMS Airs Special on Coal Dependence

By Jenni Todd

Murray, KY – Media Release: WKMS Airs Specials on Coal Dependence

Date: 2-22-11

Contact: Kate Lochte (kate.lochte@murraystate.edu or 800-599-4737)

Murray, KY -- Murray State's public radio service 91.3 WKMS continues airing special programs Thursdays at noon with Power and Smoke: A Nation Built on Coal, on March 3.

Can we burn coal more cleanly? Can we get off of it? To explore these questions Power and Smoke goes back to the roots of our addiction to coal, and shows how fuel choices have changed American culture and history. The program uses lively archival audio, contemporary interviews, and provides a fascinating insight into the past and the future of a country built on coal.

The one-hour American Radioworks documentary focuses on how Americans contribute more heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere than Europeans with similar standards of living. One reason discussed is dependence on cars, but the other, less-talked-about reason is coal. Americans rely on coal for nearly half our electricity. Electrical generation pumps out more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector- cars, trucks, planes, and ships - combined.

WKMS reaches listeners in far western Kentucky, southernmost Illinois and northwestern Tennessee with two channels of public radio programming. One is news, analysis, discussion and a variety of music. The other is all classical. WKMS operates with funding from individuals, underwriters, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Murray State University.

See a schedule of WKMS programs at www.wkms.org, where there's a secure pledge page for making contributions online. Contributions may also be mailed to WKMS at 2018 University Station, Murray, KY 42071. Checks should be made payable to WKMS/MSU Foundation. Murray State's public radio service includes 91.3 WKMS, Murray; WKMS HD-1 and All-Classical HD-2; 90.9 WKMD, Madisonville; 89.5 WKMT, Fulton; 99.5 Paris, TN; and All-Classical 92.5 Paducah and 101.5 Madisonville. The station streams both WKMS HD-1 and HD-2 at www.wkms.org.