Hey y’all.

If you’re reading this, you likely know me as WCHL’s (former) news director and (current) evening news anchor; some of you may also know that I perform at the DSI Comedy Theater in Carrboro. And you advanced scholars will know that it was comedy that brought me to WCHL in the first place—back in 2010 I was head writer for “DSI Witness News,” a comedy spot that riffed on local people and events, and the folks at WCHL liked it so much they asked me to do real news too. True story.

Anyway. I served as WCHL’s news director for the last year and a half, but earlier this month I handed the reins to Christopher Hosken—(insert long sigh of relief here)—leaving me with some actual free time. So as of today, I’m adding “Local Buzz columnist” to my resume. Consider this my intro chapter.

So what’s this column going to be about? I’m not a science wizard like Jeff Danner; I don’t know North Carolina like DG Martin; and while I may look like a geek, I can’t hold a candle to Alicia Korenman. (And sadly, I’m not a kid anymore.) What I can offer, though, is some interesting political insight, a dash of snarky skepticism, and a fair bit of decent comic timing—so we’ll go with that, I think. For starters.

Also, I have a Ph.D. in political theory. That might help.

I want to leave the theme as open-ended as possible, for now, but this column is going to be about insights—different perspectives, thought-provoking ideas, bits of information you may not know, obvious facts we conveniently forget. I’m not really interested in taking specific positions on this issue or that: what I want to do instead is examine the debate around the issue and point out the things we’re missing, basic points that might make our political discourse a bit more informed and less—you know, eye-rollingly silly.

Or sometimes I might talk about a movie I’ve just seen. Whatever. This is my page, I do what I want.

Anyway, that’s my introduction. Email me (akeck@wchl.com) and let me know what you’d like me to write about.

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