South Pittsburg, Tenn. – Today, Tennessee Valley Broadcasting, WEPG and WSDQ radio (The River 104.9 FM in Marion County and Country Roads 93.3 FM in Sequatchie County) officially announce the launch of SValleyNow.com as a new local online newspaper; naming one of the Southeast’s most experienced and recognized broadcasters, play-by-play sportscasters and journalists, Lucky Knott, as News Director for the organization.
SValleyNow.com (also known formally as Sequatchie Valley Now) will offer readers in the Marion, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, and North Jackson County, Alabama areas of the Sequatchie Valley local news and information online at their fingertips each day in a free digital print form on their website and via social media channels.
Station owner and General Manager Travis Hickman said that Knott was the obvious choice for the new role having the extensive experience needed in not only radio broadcasting, but also sports coverage and print journalism thanks to his wealth of experience throughout his career.
Lucky Knott, News Director
Knott, who managed WEPG in South Pittsburg for ten years, says he’s happy to be “coming home” to lead the local media outlet’s news division. In a career that has spanned forty-one years he has done play-by-play for 3,894 (and counting) sports events on radio and television across the region. Along with being an experienced sportscaster, he’s served in various management and on-air roles at stations from Chattanooga and middle Tennessee including time as the manager of GCTV, the local television station in Grundy County.
Other career highlights include writing news stories and being interviewed by various news outlets across the nation while serving four years as the Public Information Officer for the Coffee County, TN Sheriff’s Department. Knott also taught radio and television media classes at Grundy County High School for six years and is also a three-time nominee for the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame.
In his first stint at WEPG, Lucky is proud to say that he gave current owner Travis Hickman his first job in broadcasting back in 1982. Knott says that life has now come full-circle as he and Hickman will work together at the same great local radio station once again.
WEPG began broadcasting from studios in South Pittsburg in August of 1954 and has remained the only truly-local radio station in Marion County and is a mainstay in the community as a trusted source for news and information, adding television, FM, and streaming media platforms in the years that followed. WSDQ began broadcasting from Dunlap in 1981 and has served the communities of Sequatchie and Bledsoe County in the same manner.
SValleyNow.com (Sequatchie Valley Now) began as an online extension of the radio stations—posting local community announcements, events, and information on social media platforms in May of 2023 and expanding to news coverage both on its social channels and website in recent weeks to fill the void left when Marion County’s longtime weekly news publication shuttered their printing and online site in the months prior.
In addition to offering local news and information at no cost to the reader on a daily basis on the website SValleyNow.com, both radio stations will be adding daily local newscasts anchored by Lucky Knott. Part-time station Operations Director Logan Carmichael says listeners can tune-in weekdays at 5, 6, 7, and 8 AM Central…along with additional updates at 12 Noon, 4, and 5 PM on both WEPG and WSDQ beginning Monday, July 24th, 2023.
The management team at Tennessee Valley Broadcasting—WEPG, WSDQ, and SValleyNow.com, including Hickman, Knott, and Carmichael—have over 100 years of combined experience in broadcasting and broadcast journalism and are excited to bring this vital local news service and new digital platform to the residents of Marion and Sequatchie Counties and the entire Sequatchie Valley.
