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BUZZing about Franklin County NAACP’s “Raising the Shade”

 BUZZing about Franklin County NAACP’s “Raising the Shade” 900 506 Michael Hemphill

Since January 2025, we’ve buzzed with the Franklin County (Va.) NAACP as it has shared the story of the county’s 70 African American men who fought for the Union in the Civil War in the United States Colored Troops.

On Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, at 3:00 pm ET, the NAACP’s work culminates with an Official Monument Unveiling Ceremony at First Baptist Church of Rocky Mount. A reception follows at the Harvester Center. The event is free and open to the public.

MORE INFORMATION HERE

While thousands of Confederate monuments dot the U.S., fewer than 25 exist honoring the 200,000 Black men who fought in the United States Colored Troops. With support from Virginia Tech’s Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia, funded by the Mellon Foundation, the NAACP has “raised the shade” on this untold history, the climax of which is a statue sculpted by famed artists Rick Weaver and Paul DiPasquale.

We look forward to filming the event for an upcoming episode on Blue Ridge PBS to culminate our work alongside this inspiring nonprofit!

Catch up on our work highlighting and helping Raising the Shade!

Our episode Feb. 5, 2025 shares the origins of Raising the Shade.

Our episode Aug. 27, 2025 shares the Raising the Shade forum in which scholars from around the U.S. came to Franklin County to share their research.

Where did I see myself in 5 years?

 Where did I see myself in 5 years? 720 960 Michael Hemphill

My least favorite job interview question: “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”

As a peripatetic professional who claims at least 10 different jobs in my 32 years of post-college work, I am contemplating this question as I wrap up year 5 of Buzz4Good.

It was the start of the pandemic when we started rolling cameras in Spring 2020. The world was a fearful and isolating place. We masked and social distanced and sanitized as best we could while still trying to capture the beautiful humanity of those nonprofits – and the marketing pros willing to risk their own health – in those early episodes.

If you’d asked me then where I saw myself in 5 years, I would have replied, “I’ll be lucky to make it 5 months.”

I didn’t have a long-term strategic plan … still don’t. I lived by the mantra first uttered by my friend Bruce C. Bryan: “Head down, keep grinding. Head up, keep looking for opportunity.”

So we kept producing BUZZ episodes as that foundation grant or corporate sponsor came through … and sometimes when it didn’t. In 2021 WFIR offered an hour time slot on Saturday afternoons, so the Buzz4Good! radio show/podcast was born. My mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2023 (she’s in remission now), so I took BUZZ on the road to my hometown of Birmingham to highlight Alabama nonprofits while helping my sisters with Mom’s care. Around that time, my wife’s cousin Rob Orthwein, a livestream technical producer, moved to Roanoke, and so early this year our BUZZ Live! talk show began.

Last night we previewed our 78th episode to wrap up 2025. It stars Angels of Assisi and airs Dec. 3 on Blue Ridge PBS. By chance – or fate – it features development director Carol Jessee, who back in 2020 served as executive director of Southwest Virginia Ballet, the star of our very first episode. And it features Wordsprint owner Bill Gilmer, who also donated marketing assets to SVB in Episode 1.

Has BUZZ achieved the exposure and EMMYs I believe it merits? No. Has it gotten easier to raise money to fund this work? Nah. But I have secured $60,000 in grants for production in 2026 in both Virginia and Alabama, and have begun conversations about buzzing in Nashville … stay tuned.

I still have no idea where I see myself in 5 years. But I am looking back on where I was 5 years ago and saying, “Not bad, Michael. Not bad.”

5 years ago today

 5 years ago today 1024 1024 Michael Hemphill

Dear Hive:

Five years ago today, our first BUZZ aired on Blue Ridge PBS.

It almost didn’t happen.

A lot of BUZZ in May

 A lot of BUZZ in May 900 485 Michael Hemphill

We just wrapped a busy — dare I say BUZZy — month of May by filming the Franklin County NAACP’s “Raising the Shade” forum for an August episode highlighting the county’s 70 African-American men who fought for the Union in the Civil War.

NEWS RELEAsE: BUZZ television show returns to Birmingham to highlight and help nonprofits

 NEWS RELEAsE: BUZZ television show returns to Birmingham to highlight and help nonprofits 1024 576 Michael Hemphill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BUZZ television show returns to Birmingham to highlight and help nonprofits

April 24, 2025 (Birmingham, Ala.) – The EMMY-nominated public television show BUZZ returns to Birmingham on May 8 with a live talk show at Red Mountain Theatre Arts Campus to launch four new episodes starring the nonprofits Christian Service Mission, Holy Family Cristo Rey, Sav-A-Life, and Down Syndrome of Alabama.

During the one-hour BUZZ Live! event, Birmingham native and BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill will talk with the leaders of these nonprofits and share clips from the episodes that highlight their inspiring missions. These four episodes air Fridays in May (starting May 9) at 8:30 pm CDT on Alabama Public Television. 

Produced in partnership with See-It Productions and Tate Hipps Films, these BUZZ episodes are made possible through generous support by the Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation and Hoar Construction.

Launched in 2020 in Hemphill’s adopted state of Virginia, BUZZ features the great work that nonprofits do, and the marketing pros who donate their time and talent to help these life-giving organizations attract more donors, volunteers and clients to their cause … in short to achieve more “buzz.” In 2023, Hemphill brought BUZZ to his hometown and has since produced 10 episodes starring Hispanic and Immigrant Center of Alabama, Bundles of Hope Diaper Bank, Studio by the Tracks, United Ability, and Nurse-Family Partnership, among others. 

Thanks to the National Educational Telecommunications Association, BUZZ now airs on public television stations across the U.S. including New York, Chicago and California. Episodes are available on demand at buzz4good.com/episodes.

The BUZZ Live event on May 8 will include hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and an opportunity for the greater Birmingham community to meet and greet the nonprofit stars of BUZZ and learn more about their cause. More information at buzz4good.com/events. 

# # #

Contact:

Michael Hemphill | Creator of Buzz4Good
buzz4good.com | michael@buzz4good.com | 540.556.2879
@buzz4good on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn

BUZZ Live! stars Hope to Walk’s mission to Ukraine

 BUZZ Live! stars Hope to Walk’s mission to Ukraine 900 506 Michael Hemphill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 24, 2025 (Roanoke, Va.) – A Blacksburg nonprofit hopes to travel in May to Ukraine to provide prosthetic legs to some of the estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians, women and children, who are now amputees because of the war.

To help Hope to Walk fundraise for its $15,000 mission, BUZZ Live! will host a special one-hour show | on April 3 at 7 p.m. at Church on Main in downtown Blacksburg. The show is free and open to all, and will also be live-streamed to the Facebook and YouTube channels of both @buzz4good and @hopetowalk.

Announcing … BUZZ LIVE!

 Announcing … BUZZ LIVE! 900 506 Michael Hemphill

In partnership with The Spot on Kirk, BUZZ is proud to present a new 30-minute talk show called BUZZ LIVE! that’s designed to be a “Tonight Show” for nonprofits!

7 Bees a-BUZZing

 7 Bees a-BUZZing 900 370 Michael Hemphill

Dear Hive:

In honor of the seventh day of Christmas – and with apologies to those swans a-swimming – I offer up these “7 Bees a-BUZZing” highlights of 2024!

Why I regret #GivingTuesday

 Why I regret #GivingTuesday 900 506 Michael Hemphill

Now that Giving Tuesday is over, let me share why I regret Giving Tuesday.

Yesterday I received at least 43 emails from 27 different nonprofit organizations asking for my support on #GivingTuesday. This doesn’t count all the texts, social media posts and so forth. 

Mind you, I don’t fault the nonprofits. They’re taking advantage of this one day — fabricated with good intentions, I’m sure, in 2012 — to inspire us to think beyond ourselves during the holiday hustle and donate to these organizations that bind us together when so many other institutions have failed.

But the unintended consequence of Giving Tuesday is a further relegation of nonprofits to subservient status. By hyping this one day for charitable giving, we suggest that the countless causes with which nonprofits grapple aren’t important the other 364 days.

Watch our latest round of BUZZ in Birmingham

 Watch our latest round of BUZZ in Birmingham 900 506 Michael Hemphill

We just finished premiering our latest round of six BUZZ in Birmingham episodes on Alabama Public Television. Watch now on demand to see how we highlighted and helped the nonprofits Nurse-Family Partnership, United Ability, Small Magic, College Choice Foundation, and the Alabama Association of Nonprofits!