JACKSONVILLE – A trail-blazing former member of the Jacksonville City Council has died. A press release from the city of Jacksonville says Fannie Coleman passed away Wednesday, September 13 at the age of 88. Coleman was the first black woman elected to the City Council. She served from 1991 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2011. Jacksonville Mayor Sammy Phillips described Coleman as “gracious in her dealings with others and thoughtful in her advocacy.”
George Olsen is a 1977 Havelock High School graduate. He received his B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina in 1982 where he got his first taste of non-commercial radio working for their student station WUSC. After graduation he worked about five years in commercial radio before coming to work at Public Radio East where he has remained since outside of a nearly 3-year stint as jazz and operations coordinator at WUAL in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the early 1990s. On his return to eastern North Carolina he hosted classical music for Public Radio East before moving into the Morning Edition host position and now can be heard on All Things Considered. He also hosts and produces The Sound, five hours of Americana, Roots Rock and Contemporary Folk weekday evenings on PRE Public Radio East News & Ideas, and is a news and feature producer for Public Radio East.