Laurels to WSAT 1280 AM in Salisbury for adding 103.3 FM as a simulcast channel. The FM option should improve the local station’s reach and sound quality. WSAT is an important source for news, sports and information, while also offering a good mix of music generally from the 1960s and 1970s — fare not available on most stations any longer.

Station Manager Buddy Poole hopes the FM channel makes WSAT more familiar to a younger audience, which seldom trolls the AM dial. It may also give Catawba College students more internship possibilities at the college-owned station.

When Salisbury lost WSTP 1490 AM earlier this year, there was a sense of loss. The new FM channel doesn’t replace 1490, nor create a whole new voice,  but it’s nice to have it on the FM dial, providing an improved service to the community.

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A dart to naysayers whose favorite pastime is to complain about downtown Salisbury. The central business district remains a core for government, entertainment and commerce.

True, that commerce has changed and evolved drastically over the years. Long gone are the big department stores, the many shoe stores and hardware stores, tailors, dress shops and movie theaters.

The downtown here, as in most small towns in America, had to remake itself — and that has been a long process. Today Salisbury’s downtown has restaurants, museums, galleries and theaters. On the commerce side, it is a collection of mostly independent businessmen and businesswomen who figured out how to survive through customer service and finding their niches.

Downtown Salisbury Inc. reported at its annual meeting this past week that the central business district saw $8.5 million in private investment, had a net gain of five businesses and added 27 full-time and four part-time jobs over the past year.

These are modest numbers, but they continue to reflect  a downtown that’s holding its own and positioning itself for an even better future.

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Laurels to Salisbury-based Cheerwine for its purchase of Sun Drop Bottling Co. of Concord and adding the rights to distribute Sun Drop in Cabarrus, Stanly, Iredell and Rowan counties.

Surely in that particular region, Sun Drop drinkers are the most loyal and have been for generations. That should not change under Cheerwine’s leadership, and the Sun Drop purchase looks to make Cheerwine a stronger company.

Though it’s sad to see a local company sell and close its longtime operation, a silver lining was that one family-run business was selling to another. The other good news is that Sun Drop remains readily available on the shelves — and that’s a tasty win.