Charlotte Podcasts Find a National Spotlight

Charlotte Podcasts Find a National Spotlight

Sheri Lynch’s True Weird Stuff wins three W3 Awards as R&D in the NC reaches the Signal Awards finals

Johnny Caudle | Caudle Media | October 6, 2026

What started as passion projects for some familiar Charlotte names is now getting attention well beyond the Queen City.

True Weird Stuff, created and hosted by longtime Charlotte broadcaster Sheri Lynch, has won three 2026 W3 Awards, including the competition’s highest honor. At the same time, R&D in the NC, hosted by former Charlotte City Council members Tariq Bokhari and Larken Egleston, has been named a finalist in the 2026 Signal Awards.

For Lynch, the recognition is especially personal.

“This is like my heart and soul work,” Lynch told Caudle Media. “This is the stuff I do for free on the side, and to be recognized at all is overwhelming.”

Lynch is best known to Charlotte listeners as co-host of The Bob & Sheri Show, but True Weird Stuff allows her to do something very different. The podcast tells long-form stories about unusual people and events from history, with Lynch doing much of the research and writing herself.

She estimates each episode takes about 20 hours to produce.

“We bleed for it, and it’s managing to pay for itself in terms of hosting and equipment and all of that,” Lynch said. “But we do it for free as a labor of love. These trophies are our paycheck.”

That work brought home three honors from this year’s W3 Awards.

“The Living Corpse” received Best in Show in History and Biography. “The Bunker” earned two Gold awards, one for History and another for Best Use of Writing.

The W3 Awards recognize excellence in digital content, including podcasts, websites, video and social media. Best in Show is its highest distinction, reserved for a select group of entries judged to represent the best work in the competition. The W3 Awards lists Now Media LLC, which produces True Weird Stuff, as the winner for “The Living Corpse.”

Of the three honors, the writing award struck a particular nerve with Lynch.

“To get an award for writing? As a writer?” she said. “Like you can just stick a fork in me because I’m so done.”

Awards weren’t what Lynch had in mind when she started the podcast. She was looking for a creative outlet.

“I started True Weird Stuff because I wanted a creative challenge,” she said. “I wanted to do something longform where I didn’t have to pitch it first and get it approved by committee. I can’t even tell you how satisfying this work is.”

That freedom is one of the things Lynch likes most about podcasting. There are few barriers to getting started, which opens the medium to voices that might never find their way through traditional media.

It also creates a crowded marketplace.

“There really is something out there for everyone,” Lynch said. “But the problem is that there is something out there for everyone.”

Her description of the economics is even more pointed.

“It’s extremely competitive and there’s no middle class in podcasting.”

Across Charlotte, another independently created show has found its way onto a national awards list.

Bokhari and Egleston started R&D in the NC nearly a decade ago while the two were serving together on Charlotte City Council. Coming from different sides of the political aisle, they used the podcast to talk through council meetings and local issues. It eventually grew into a broader conversation about Charlotte, North Carolina and current events.

More than 140 episodes later, the Signal Awards has selected the pair as a finalist for Best Video Podcast Co-Host Team.

The news apparently caught even Bokhari off guard.

“Almost 10 years ago, Larken and I were two guys from different sides of the political aisle screwing around with microphones in my Council office,” he wrote in a public Facebook post announcing the recognition.

For Bokhari, what the judges chose to recognize may be as meaningful as the nomination itself.

“The best part may be what they recognized us for: the two of us together,” he wrote. “Apparently all these years of arguing, laughing, occasionally agreeing and trying to make sense of North Carolina from different perspectives has produced something worth watching.”

They find themselves in some notable company.

The 2026 Signal Awards finalist class includes work involving Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, Jon Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Amy Poehler, Anderson Cooper, Monica Lewinsky and other prominent figures in podcasting and media.

And Bokhari and Egleston aren’t the only Charlotte connection on the Signal list.

True Weird Stuff is also a 2026 finalist for Best Indie Podcast. Lynch told Caudle Media that the episode “The Littlest Survivor” has received Signal Awards recognition as well.

Unlike the W3 honors Lynch has already won, the Signal competition isn’t over. Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be announced October 20. Finalists are also eligible for the Listener’s Choice Award, which is decided by public voting through October 15.

For all the talk of awards, categories and competition, the common thread between the two Charlotte shows is much simpler.

Neither started with a trophy in mind.

One grew out of two City Council colleagues sitting down with microphones and discovering that disagreement could make for an interesting conversation.

The other came from a veteran broadcaster wanting room to tell longer stories, take creative chances and make something simply because she wanted to make it.

Years later, both have found an audience.

Now the industry is paying attention, too.