Four members of the Ad-Hoc Committee for Responsive Public Radio — a group which has challenged WCQS-FM’s FCC license renewal — said they left the WCQS Board of Directors meeting March 21 “surprised and disappointed” that the board did not respond to the letter the panel sent to the it more than two months ago.

The committee’s letter included suggestions for how the station could be more responsive to the community.

“I had an e-mail from board Chair Bryan Smith saying that our letter would be discussed at an executive committee hearing and the results reported at today’s meeting,” Weaverville resident Fred Flaxman, the committee’s organizer, said. “Believing Smith to be a man who was good for his word, John Campbell, George DeWalder, Mary Hall Rodman and I sacrificed our lunch period to attend the board meeting.”

From Staff Reports

Radio talk-show host Matt Mittan and his co-host and producer Agness Cheek recently returned to Asheville’s airwaves with their show “Take a Stand’ on 1350 WZGM-AM.

The show airs from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on the Black Mountain-based station.

The duo also signed an agreement — as News Talk 50 Inc. — to take over content control and operation of WZGM, owned by HRNB, L.L.C., of Charlotte. The 10,000-watt station is based in Bncombe County.

About five months ago, when Mittan and Cheek departed from 570 WWNC-AM in Asheville, owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., Mittan shortly thereafter incorporated News Talk 50 Inc. to launch digital and sydicated version of the show as an independent broadcast.

Mittan and Cheek have added five radio affiliates in the past several months, including stations in Hendersonville and Brevard.

They also offer Apple App, as well as iTunes, subscriptions, podcasting and 24/7 streaming of “Take a Stand. 

As for format changes he is contemplating at WZGM, Mittan said he and Cheek will be adding other talk shows around “Take a Stand.” Already, they have  Clark Howard from 11 a.m. to noon daily and Neal Boortz from 3-6 p.m. daily.

Gospel music, the station’s traditional base, will fill the remaining time, for now.