For most of the 20th century, the small, northeastern North Carolina town of Murfreesboro was the basket-making capital of the world. The Riverside Basket Company employed 600 people, loaned its employees money to buy homes and even issued its own currency. Historian and educator Frank Stephenson has cataloged the history of Murfreesboro's basket-making heyday in his newest book. It is the 25th book he has written about northeastern North Carolina. He joins host Frank Stasio to talk about the past and present of the region that he calls home.
Amber Nimocks came to The State of Things in January 2009. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a survivor of 15 years in the newspaper business. As a reporter and editor, her posts have included such exotic locales as her hometown of Fayetteville, Robeson County, Wilmington, Raleigh and Fort Worth, Texas.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.