Posted this on the "side piece" board but I think it deserves to be mentioned here as well...
Being born and bred in lovely North Carolina I really have a problem with how the rest of the nation approaches the pronunciation of Appalachian, both the university and the mountains themselves.
There is no hard A at all in the word people.
As my fellow Tar Heel
Sundrop put it if you can say AppleAtChin you should be close to a correct pronunciation. Could some of you please forward this to proper media outlets CBS,ABC,CNN and especially ESPN.
We in the Old North State would be thankful.