Andy Johnston recently reached out to Smith County Insider and sent us a video that he produced in 1974. Johnston was a reporter for WLAC-TV (WTVF) Channel 5 Eyewitness News and he hosted a series called “Tennessee Traveler” in the 1970s.
Johnston traveled all around the state doing stories on unusual and amazing people. Johnston said, “It was the best job in television. In 1974 I came to Difficult to do a story about the town. The guys on the porch of P.C. West General Merchandise were happy to fill me in on how the town got its’ name. There are several stories about how the origin of Difficult. One is just about as crazy as the other. Apparently, the disagreement about the origin of the town’s name has never been settled because it’s too ‘difficult’.”
Johnston recently discovered some of his old videotapes of the original TV news stories that he produced nearly 50 years ago. He has been adding them to his YouTube channel, “The Original Georgia Traveler”.
