Helen Chickering
Morning Edition Host, ReporterHelen Chickering is a host and reporter on Blue Ridge Public Radio. She joined the station in November 2014.
Helen grew up in Texas. Her broadcast career began in television news in 1985 at WLBT, the NBC affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi. There she did everything from news to weather and found her niche in medical reporting. Over the next 20 years she covered health and science news on both local and national levels, including 5 years in Charlotte at the CBS affiliate, WBTV. In 1998, Helen helped launch the health and science desk at NBC News Channel, the network's affiliate news service. She became the first journalist to serve as president of the National Association of Medical Communicators and was on the founding board of the Science Communicators of North Carolina.
In 2012, Helen and her family moved to Asheville from Chapel Hill and she started working as a freelance producer and as a Montessori teaching assistant. A longtime NPR listener, she was thrilled to land a job at Blue Ridge Public Radio. Helen is an active member of the Asheville Science Tavern and a guest lecturer and an advisory board member at the University of North Carolina's Medical and Science Journalism Program.
Email: hchickering@bpr.org
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The first-in-the-nation Healthy Opportunities Pilot helped nearly 30,000 North Carolinians access food, housing repairs, and transportation. Without funding, the program will shut down July 1. -
Highland Brewing founder Oscar Wong opened Asheville's first legal craft brewery since Prohibition. His leadership helped shape the city into a national beer destination. -
Several greenways and parks are now accessible, while long-term recovery plans move forward in the heavily damaged Azalea Road corridor. -
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein’s latest announcement outlines how federal funds and private partners will expand internet access in underserved areas, including parts of Western North Carolina. -
Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s Happy Land is based on the real story of a post–Civil War settlement built by freed people near the North Carolina–South Carolina line. -
The Department of Health and Human Services says over 500 people have died this flu season while funding losses strain efforts to monitor and respond to outbreaks. -
North Carolinians impacted by Hurricane Helene must apply by April 7, 2025 to qualify for housing, repair, and recovery assistance. -
Hurricane Helene washed it out — crews rebuilt it from the ground up. -
As his first 100 days in office come to a close, Stein talks about rebuilding, federal aid, and the long road ahead after Helene. -
Nearly six months after Hurricane Helene, Asheville is still rebuilding. Mayor Esther Manheimer discusses business recovery, the city’s budget challenges, the lessons learned from disaster response, and the recent removal of DEI language from the city’s federal disaster aid request.
