Dave Wilson and WAJR took their “Talk of the Town” radio show on the road Wednesday.
The daily talk news show was broadcast live from Morgantown’s Metropolitan Theatre for the 100th anniversary of the theater, which opened July 24, 1924.
Broadcasting from the stage, Wilson talked with Met manager Joe Kaehler about the history of the Met, including the initiative to reopen it and refurbish it so it could be used again.
Kaehler said the renovations include high-tech sound and light systems, but the personality of the historic theater is still there.
He said the goal was to get the theater to look much like it did 100 years ago.
Kaehler said he enjoys the children’s programming they are able to do. He remembers one Preston County second-grader who walked in with her class and said, “Wow, this is what I want my bedroom to look like.”
He also told Wilson there are ghost stories attached to the Met and he has met “her.” He talked about the stage manager of a recent production who was also a ghost hunter. With no prompting, that person told Kaehler he had met the ghost — a little girl apparition he saw backstage.
Laura Lewis talked with Wilson about growing up at the Met because her father was the original projectionist. Lewis said her dad worked there more than 60 years as “the man who did it all.”
She said her father loved being part of a building that was so important to the community.
“The Met was him and he was the Met,” she said, adding she feels her father’s presence there.
Michael Mills, of the Mills Group, the firm responsible for the renovations plans for the Met, told Wilson the act of preservation is a process and the Met went through that process.
“It’s a sense of pride, not only for me but for the whole community,” Mills said of seeing the Met today.
In addition to marking the 100th anniversary of the Met, Morgantown has also been celebrating the 100th birthday of native son and actor Don Knotts, who was born July 21, 1924, in Morgantown.
