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Friday, October 30, 2026Oct 30

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Play it forward: Donate unused instruments to students who can use them

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photo Scott D. Kornblum, general manager at WSMC FM in Collegedale, looks at musical instruments donated to the station’s Play It Forward instrument drive.

INSTRUMENT DROP-OFFS• WSMC Studios5077 Industrial Drive, Collegedale, Tenn.• Chattanooga Symphony Opera Office701 Broad St.Chattanooga, Tenn.• To arrange large instrument pickups: 1-866-905-9762

Dr. Bob Coddington always had a hankering to learn to play the banjo. So the his wife sent him one while he was stationed in Korea with the Army — a morale booster from home.

But his new hobby didn’t prove to be the Rx for downtime.

“After trying to learn to play it awhile, I got calluses on my fingers on my left hand. I wasn’t able to do surgery like I should, so I quit,” says the now-retired pediatric orthopedic surgeon. “I’ve had it ever since then; never did learn to play.”

So 40 years after his banjo-picking came to an end, Coddington donated it to WSMC’s instrument drive.