ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702170039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
A TOWN RESIDENT saw to it that Buchanan's few minutes of fame were well spent Saturday.
Nancy Hostetter may have a career awaiting her at the Botetourt County Chamber of Commerce.
The way she plugged her hometown of Buchanan on Saturday on the nationally syndicated "Whad'ya Know?" show on public radio would make any chamber director proud.
Buchanan was the featured "Town of the Week" on Saturday's live broadcast - the second Western Virginia locality to be so honored in the last seven months. Salem was "Town of the Week" July 20 on the comedy/quiz show, which airs locally on WVTF-FM.
The only way to become a town of the week is for an audience member to hit your spot on the map with a dart. That prompts host Michael Feldman's sidekick, Jim Packard, to do some research on the town for a salute to it on the next show.
He is not always terribly thorough, however.
Saturday, he alluded to the town's population and its current revitalization efforts, as well as its location on the James River in what he called "Bah - te - TORT" County.
He got the name of the town right, but then an alleged Virginian in the crowd disgraced her home state by claiming it's correctly pronounced "Bew - chanan." She redeemed herself, however, by correcting Packard's pronunciation of Botetourt.
"Don't let the pronunciation bother you," said Hostetter, when they got her on the phone. "Call it what you want, but it's home."
Feldman asked her to take the audience on a "visual tour" of the town. So Hostetter rambled on about everything in town from one end of Main Street to the other.
She dropped names like a public relations pro, from the Rainbow Drug Store to the Kaleidescope Cafe.
She mentioned the town's Christmas parade, and said they celebrate other holidays, too.
"Like Kwanzaa?" kidded Feldman. "Or Hanukkah?"
He asked if Buchanan had a synagogue, but Hostetter was ready for that one.
"The nearest one's in Roanoke," she said calmly and confidently, as though she had researched the question.
Hostetter invited everyone listening to come to Buchanan, the Gateway to the Shenandoah Valley. And, like any good chamber of commerce spokeswoman, mentioned the nearest places to find accommodations.
Regular listeners of the radio show know Feldman is often frustrated by the townsfolk they call not having much to say, but with Hostetter, he had to interrupt her to end the show on time.
"You made [Buchanan] sound very idyllic and attractive," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB