The GRIN Two Point Oh!

Shortly after Easter 2009 I came to the realization that the many gremlins plaguing it would spell an end of my Internet radio stream known as the GRIN (Gospel Rewind Internet). A few months following its demise I finally discovered that a bad DSL modem was the culprit. Too little too late, I had moved on. But, I never abandoned the ideas behind my web station: playing gospel music that was out of print, not played on radio anymore, and a true variety of songs (secular and gospel, old and new) that mixed well. Over the last year I've toyed around with various ways of bringing back the show. Premiering today on Gospel Aircheck is The GRIN 2.0, a 45 minute glimpse into how the new 24/7 GRIN might sound; allow a moment or two for the podcast to load, press play and enjoy.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden,Gospel Aircheck blog. All rights reserved.

Want Fries with That?

I began my radio career at a religious radio station in 1983  when I was 17. I started out as a button pusher at this AM/FM combo on the AM side in scenic Savannah, GA. Often the jocks from either station would leave to get lunch alternately while the other stayed behind to babysit the board late in the afternoon after the administrative staff had clocked out. It was my turn to buy lunch, so I left the place in good hands--or so I thought. Unknown at the time, I had improperly  threaded the Revox A-77 tape machine that was to play a 30 minute preacher show. The broadcast rolled and I was on my way to a nearby fast food establishment. By the time I was on my way back, listening via my car radio, to my horror the tape had been dragging to a stop—dead air! I arrived inside the studio to find my GM hovering bewildered over the board, tapping her foot nervously red with anger. She never said a word. I just knew I was fired. The only words I could muster were, "Want a McNugget?"  Well, I dodged a bullet that day and the incident wasn't ever mentioned again. Maybe my food bribe paid off. The preacher in question had called the manager at home (she lived within walking distance.) He was perhaps our biggest client and a perfectionist to boot who, incidentally, had a studio better equipped than our own within his church. To this day I don't know why I was spared the ax.

stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck blog. All rights reserved

It’s Not So Unusual?

Now I have heard it all! The Welsh-born, leather clad lounge singer of such 1960’s hits as “It’s Not Unusual,” “Delilah,” and “What’s New Pussycat,” Tom Jones, has recorded a gospel album. With a career that spans 6 decades the 70 year old singer shows no sign of slowing down as he takes inspiration from Mahalia Jackson and Elvis Presley in recording a CD of inspirational tunes called, “Praise and Blame.” The album charted at number 2 in England, but has had slow sales here in the states.

Don’t get me wrong, Tom Jones’ voice is amazing. His powerful baritone has not diminished with age. Vocal power is a plus in singing gospel music, obviously. But, can he pull it off?

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck blog. All rights reserved

Sincere Flattery

Back in 1981 I was having a dental checkup when I heard the funniest song on the radio, “Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow!” I almost fell out of my chair laughing. It is one of those flashbulb memories permanently etched in my brain. The song was by the Oak Ridge Boys called Elvira, an obviously catchy tune that became a number one hit for the former gospel singing group now superstars of Country music. Actually the Oaks version was itself a cover of Kenny Rogers and the First Edition who had recorded the gem as well to lesser success. In fact, the song had been around since the mid-1960’s having been recorded by numerous artists. The 1981 version being the one best remembered. There were even a couple of Southern Gospel imitations, rather adaptations, as well: Go Jonah! by the Cathedrals and the version I remember playing by the Kingsboys. It was a case of taking a hit Country song, reworking the lyrics and adapting it for the Christian market.

“Giddy Up A-Go Down Jonah/God Will Tell You What to Say”

You will have to imagine the tune of Elvira in your head because my copy of the gospel version has not survived.

Probably a even bigger cross-over hit was Billy Ray Cyrus doing Achy Breaky Heart in 1992. Yep, it too was covered as a gospel song by a forgettable singer lost to history. I occasionally played these silly imitations as a gospel DJ many years. It was often a way to give our audiences a substitute for the secular music requests we would often get when these monster hits were played all up and down the dial. Most of the time Gospel gets it right by sticking to what it does best, but sometimes a few stinkers get thrown in the mix. On the other hand, one artist who had consistently impressed me with adapting secular music is Kirk Franklin. Check out his version of the Kenny Loggins classic This is It and September originally cut by Earth, Wind and Fire.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck. All rights reserved.

Let’s Roll, Again

In a previous post on Gospel Aircheck I wrote about one special summer when I hosted a roller skating party. That time was 25 years ago. Even then I questioned if skating was relevant to the 1980’s youth that rolled every Saturday night to Contemporary Christian music. Those kids now have children and—gasp—grand children of their own old enough to roller skate. Would this new generation find this pastime as appealing? Recently, I took a very informal poll and found that the consensus among teens of today is that the topic is completely alien to them. Roller skating to gospel music? “Could I text while doing this?” I imagine them saying.

That brings me to my idea: what if skating was re-introduced to this new generation? It would begin small with reserving a rink for a private party, say a church group. I’m developing the playlist of tunes, mixing current and skate-able CCM oldies on my laptop Ableton software. The selection process seems difficult due to the fact that the present crop of popular Christian music is impossible to skate to. The idea is incubating, but shows promise. I’m afraid these kids just wouldn’t be interested. Maybe this would appeal to those “40-somethings” of my generation. But, I’d hate to see any one of us break a hip.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck blog. All rights reserved.

Save Them LORD

“Pass me not, Oh gentle Savior / Hear my humble cry / While on others thou art calling / Do not pass me by”

In our Christian parlance getting saved means confessing one’s sins, repenting and accepting Jesus Christ as a personal savior. In other words, born again. Music is often a topic of discussion with Angie and me. Even though I am ten years older than my wife, we share common musical tastes. From time to time we will wonder if some of our secular music heroes are “saved.” We’ve determined that many secular performers are Christian; they’re just not singing or performing gospel music. What a shame. Don’t get me wrong, secular music is not evil. I would just like to hear these amazing talents used for His service.

There are widely reported examples of singers who “got saved:” Bob Dylan, Lou Gramm of Foreigner, and others. Not that we only pray for famous people, far from it, we would like everyone to believe. I think a good many may already be Christians—just not obviously so. What I am trying to say is how cool it would be to hear a gospel album from Eric Clapton! Even though in his recent autobiography the guitar legend made a somewhat vague declaration of faith. Let’s see a more overt testimony, please.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck blog. All rights reserved

Today in Yesterday

Previously on the peanut Whistle…

I found the song, inspired by the Lennon and McCarthy original Yesterday, called Calvary. The Winans rearranged the words in a delightful gospel version to the unmistakable tune of the Beatles classic. It seems that the family of singers had grown up singing it, but, to the best of my knowledge had not recorded it. In the early 90’s the entire Winans family, including Bebe and Cece, were special guests on the Oprah Winfrey Show Christmas special. I thought they had sang without musical accompaniment although there was a grand piano providing the music. See the very brief video on YouTube, just search “Winans – Calvary”.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. The Peanut Whistle Blog. All rights reserved.

Brainstorming

Over the last couple of years I have been toying around with several ideas for a new type of Christian radio station. Certainly not to compromise my beliefs, this new station would feature songs and styles from the many different artists both Christian and those not normally labeled as Christian performers per se. Taking some of the liners and id’s from my previous Internet stream, the GRIN, and combining music from the separate genres I put together a demonstration of how it might sound using Ableton Live software. You know what? It sounded great!

Songs such as Foreigner’s I want to Know What Love Is segued perfectly with Big Daddy Weave’s Hold Me Jesus. Good music is good music, no matter what the label. Back in the mid 80’s I wanted so badly to play the hit by Foreigner and thought it would fit perfectly with our gospel format. Secular music was taboo on our air so we played the gospel version by the New Jersey Mass Choir, the actual choir used to back up the rockers on the original song. The gospel cover version was not bad, I just wanted to play the original. 25 years later, I still believe that playing secular music is not a compromise of personal beliefs. However, it does not fit most listeners expectations of what a “Christian” station should be.

My station would have a very deep playlist that featured songs old and new. It would not mirror the new way of thinking with Christian programmers these days: where a song that is older than, say, six months is discarded. For the first time in my life, it would be a format that I would actually listen to. Of course the idea is still incubating.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck. All rights reserved.

Muzac of Your Life

Does anyone remember elevator music? The company most famous for providing innocuous string arrangements of popular tunes was Muzac®. These sleepy arrangements could be heard in doctors’ offices, banks, grocery stores, and of course elevators.

Today I continued my audition of several cassette tapes made by my late father. His hobby was recording reel-to-reel and cassette audio tapes of anything and everything. He captured music, conversations, sermons, airchecks, sound effects and spoken word diaries. He was blind so printed labels of the tapes were not a priority. You can imagine the challenge it has been weeding through his hundreds of tapes over the past 19 years following his passing. Just a moment ago I was listening to myself as a teen discuss training my 12 year old sister how to drive. My mother, panic stricken in the backseat threatened, “I’ll jump out, if you let her drive!” My dad loved to record us with our guard down a la Allen Funt and his Candid Camera approach to recording conversations.

Some of his tapes are a hodgepodge with no apparent theme or direction. A sermon on one side then on the next side a section of conversation, some things recorded off radio. He never left a moment blank on a tape. Usually he’d put some dreadful elevator music at the end of a side for no reason other than filling out the tape. It was not your usual Muzac® fare. No, these elevator gems were popular hymns and gospel songs he found on a long forgotten FM Christian radio station owned by Moody. They were apparently an automated not-profit broadcaster bent on putting listeners to sleep. My dad was a fiery Pentecostal preacher whose musical leanings were more upbeat; I will never understand why he listened to this station. Maybe he had found an insomnia cure.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. The Peanut Whistle Blog. All rights reserved.

Flip, Flop

In the world of radio broadcasting a format flip is when a radio station takes most or all of its music or programming and exchanges for another type of music and/or programming. Programmers do this with the hope that the new format will bring in new advertisers, that is: income or revenue to the station. Trust me, your favorite radio station is not trying to tick you off by eliminating your favorite type of music.

Not surprisingly, in fact, money is the name of the game. My first dozen years in radio were frustrating. I worked for quite a few stations—5,000 watts or less—that played Southern Gospel music. For the most part they relied on income generated from preachers and ministries that bought time. Usually, air time was purchased in blocks of 15 minutes to an hour by mainly local, read amateur, preachers. Some local businesses bought 30 and 60 second spots, but preaching shows were our bread and butter. The source of my frustration was that the stations sounded less than professional because of our association with these brokered time shows. What happens when the economy dips into recession and these ministries are equally affected? Do you pursue local business? As a business man am I to believe that I can sell my product on an inferior station? Perception being reality, the answer is: NO.

I have written about the 2,500 watt WBKI in Bremen, Georgia that was my home from 1992 to 1993. A highly qualified broadcaster, call him David, hired me to work with him at WBKI. I had worked with David at two other stations and saw WBKI as a good opportunity. He had arranged an agreement with the owner to run the small station. The owner would remain out of the picture. David intended to take over operations as he considered purchasing the property outright. It was a “try before you buy” scenario. He hired me and another friend to Dee Jay. We worked together fine, but our efforts were futile in the end. We were a flop. David dropped out and allowed the Garner family to buy the station. I quit, but our other friend stayed on with the new owners. I intend to interview my old associate in a future podcast.

Now 17 years later the renamed WGMI is flipping from a Christian format to sports and oldies—gospel music occasionally, Sundays mainly. The recession crunches us all. But my hat is off to the Garners, who hung in there for so long. See http://www.wgmiradio.com for details.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck. All rights reserved.

It’s Surreal

A thought occurred to me this morning that made me smile. Over the years as a Gospel music collector I have come across a few oddities. You know how sometimes a secular singing star will cut a Gospel album? Well, my recollection was not necessarily of those known as singers per se. TV actors and pro athletes have dabbled in sacred music from time to time—often with comical results. Let’s face it, Terry Bradshaw was a legendary Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and sports broadcaster. Could he sing? Well, he did an album of Country Gospel sometime in the late seventies or early eighties. Search for it and if you can find the record let me know if he should quit his day job. Not a Steelers fan? Then try Kathie Lee Johnson’s Gospel gems she recorded way back when. Who? You may know her now as an original co-host of morning talk shows, Kathie Lee Gifford. Yes, that Kathie Lee.

I am not making a judgment on their talent. Believe me, I’m not a critic. It just seems weird these particular people not known primarily as singers taking up, of all things, Gospel music. For example, Lisa Welchel who played Blair on the NBC sitcom classic The Facts of Life. She did a Gospel record. Who, except me, would remember that?

There are also well known singers who’ve done Gospel albums. It may be surprising: Bob Dylan got “saved” in the 80’s and gave us a couple. Of course, B.J. Thomas, famous for his signature hit Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, was a Gospel star for a while. Countless Country music stars: Glen Campbell, George Jones, Alan Jackson, Charlie Daniels and Grandpa Jones all did religious projects. Perhaps most famous singer of all time; Elvis Presley, won Grammys for his Gospel albums, an accolade ironically not rewarded for his secular work.

At the risk of sounding critical, take the best known of all the non-singers who has made his living in music: Pat Boone. In the fifties he remade such classics as Tutti Frutti and Long Tall Sally into bland pop imitations of the Little Richard originals. By the 1980’s Boone had migrated into Gospel with a charting hit, Let Me Live. Little Richard himself got religion numerous times over the years and has recorded at least one Gospel album. Whew! It boggles the mind. Could it be possible that old stars never die, they just get saved?

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden and Gospel Aircheck. All rights reserved.

E93

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My first misadventure with Gospel 90 behind me, I returned to thoughts of life after high school. I was wrapping up the 11th grade supposedly college bound needing some sort of diversion for the coming summer vacation. Returning home from one of our—probably last minute—tape delivery runs to the radio station that spring, my dad and I began listening and talking about the broadcast we had only recently started airing on WEAS-AM.

We noted that the DJ was running a phone-in contest involving listeners guessing the number of eggs contained in his imaginary Easter basket. They would offer a guess then he played a tape of a presumably randomly generated number. The DJ was prone to stammering and often at a loss of the right words that he delivered with a slight lisp. Knowing of this DJ’s skill with the English language my dad asked, “You think you could do that, Neal?” It was a loaded question for sure. I didn’t know weather to be honored or insulted. He obviously lacked the skills of the FM DJ’s I was accustomed to.  “I guess so,” I replied weakly. “Well, if you’re interested, then I can talk to the ‘acting’ station manager for you.”

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“If Neal wants the job, then it’s his,” the manager later phoned Daddy, “So I can [honestly] tell this other guy that the position’s filled.”

She had listened to the voice-over introduction I had taped for the Jesus is Lord Broadcast and claimed to like it. Retrospectively, I was a cheaper button pusher. The Easter Basket DJ trained me. Much of what he taught took me years to un-learn, especially when I moved to the Atlanta market four years later. Only the basic mechanics of radio were part of his curriculum.

We became fast friends, though. We could talk shop for hours visiting each other at work over the years. I last saw him on a return trip to the new studio facility in 1988 when I had considered coming back to my original radio home. I never saw him or any of the AM jocks equal to our counterparts at our sister FM, E93.

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Magic E-93, as it became known, was the consistent number one radio station year in and out. Its music format appealed to the market’s predominant population. Featuring  songs by the Gap Band, The O’Jays, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, The Commodores, and Prince, E-93 brought soul to all the Coastal Empire.

In those days prior to the invasion of Rap and Hip Hop I actually listened. The initial appeal of working with my Gospel 90—ironically, a mostly white Southern Gospel station—was that it shared quarters with a station I secretly tuned in at home.

I witnessed first hand the likes of E-Man, Don “Casanova” Jones and “Stormin’ Norman” Wright weaving word tapestries of Funk, Rhythm and Blues. I was star-struck.

Like the famous reveal in the Wizard of Oz, I eventually saw behind the curtain. But, that’s another story.

Stay tuned

We will take an extended break from radio topics for the time being and delve into more relevant fare, next time…

©2010 Neal Rhoden, The Peanut Whistle. All rights reserved

Echoes of Mercy

“Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine!

O what a fore-taste of Glory Devine!

Heir of Salvation

Purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit

Washed in His Blood.”

That song by Fanny Crosby was composed in 1873 which is, along with It is Well With My Soul a close second, my favorite hymn. It is based on Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

In 1873, blind hymn composer Fanny Crosby, was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp. Mrs. Knapp was having a large pipe organ installed in her home. Thrilled with a melody she had written, Mrs. Knapp asked her friend’s opinion of the tune played on the piano for Crosby. (The pipe organ’s installation was incomplete.) Said Knapp, “What do you think the tune says?” Crosby replied, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” The rest is history.

I first truly noticed this gem in 1986 while attending the funeral services of my favorite great-uncle Wilbur Gene known as “Billy” to all of us. Blessed Assurance resounded from the Hammond organ via two large Leslie speaker cabinets in the immense, reverberant hall. Had I not been trying to keep my composure that day I would have immediately fell to my knees in reverent awe of God’s inspiration. Out of the tragedy of a life cut shot was the realization that Uncle Bill had met Jesus personally having just accepted Christ prior to his fatal heart attack. My dad had led Billy to his knees in prayer at our apartment home one evening. Only now in retrospect do I begin to feel the gravity of that moment.

Those Echoes of Mercy still resound within me. It is a tune on a loop in my head and often I find myself humming it. Thanks to you, Mrs. Crosby.

Stay tuned

©2010 Neal Rhoden and Gospel Aircheck

 

 

Welcome Facebook Friends

If you have linked over from Facebook (or anywhere), welcome to my blog. This is mainly a career retrospective of my days in Christian radio and church sound. Recently, I have started a commemorative fan page for the Children of Light, a gospel group near and dear to the writer. In the companion Podcast Gospel Rewind the Children of Light have been featured more than once. You're encouraged to explore the shows and posts. In the future, the group will be subject of a more extensive write-up and possibly their own site. For all fans of the group we have big plans for reissuing their albums on CD. We have discovered the original multi-track session tape and would love to share the Presenting Jesus album in 21st century crystal clear digital audio remix. As for the two other superb albums, the location of the master tapes is uncertain. We have access to good clean LP copies of the albums, but working with the original sound source is the preferred method.

Stay tuned

©2010 Gospel Aircheck. All rights reserved.

Heaven's Jam Podcast

Heaven's Jam

A Child’s Love

Can you believe that January is almost over? I’ve always seen the first month of the year a bit slow; not this year though. To quote Bryan Duncan from a 1980’s CCM tune, A Child’s Love, “…I see the pages fall from the calendar like the leaves falling from the trees.”

 

I first played that song in 1986. It spoke to me in a way few songs have ever done. At the time I didn’t have children but very strongly identified with its message. “Teach me, dear LORD, to have a love for you, a child’s love” These days are filled with lessons learned from my 4 kids foreshadowed by a song from 25 years ago. I am blessed. Allow these words to soak into your spirit:

I see the pages fall from the calendar
Like the leaves falling from the trees
Feel a chill in the fear of the future
As I weather this autumn breeze
I watch my red-haired inspiration
Playing games out on the lawn
Such an innocent joy of living
He's his father's only son
Don't let me live without a child's love
Like the love in this child of mine
Teach me, dear Lord, to have a love for you
A child's love
I let the changes in my season
Steal the passion from my heart
Like the roses fade in the winter
All the petals fall apart
Until a young voice gives my withered soul
A rejuvenating smile
And those small hands clasped around me
Erase the hardship for awhile
Don't let me live without a child's love
Like the love in this child of mine
Teach me again about a child's love
And sharing the best of my time,
Oh, and don't let me live without a child's love
Like the love in this child of mine
Teach me, dear Lord, to have a love for you
A child's love
Don't let me live without a child's love
Like the love in this child of mine
Teach me again about a child's love
And sharing the best of my time,
Oh, and don't let me live without a child's love
Like the love in this child of mine
Teach me, dear Lord, to have a love for you
A child's love
A child's love
A child's love
A child's love

Stay tuned

The Truth with My Hand Up

My hand to God this is the truth. If it had not happened in church to someone I know and trust. Yada, yada… In my last post I spoke of some gospel lyrics near and dear to my heart; this next song is especially touching to a car guy such as myself (the actual words from my cousin Ray):

Actually it’s...Jesus, he will be my snow tires, in the winter he’s my anti-freeze, when I need him, he is my oil filter, and he's my windshield when there is a breeze!!! C'mon, sing it this time if ‘ya know it!!.. (true song....written by a well-intentioned, but hardly mentally gifted girl from my childhood)

At least it rhymes. Thanks Ray! She took a metaphor and ran with it. Now on to something completely different.

I first met gospel comedian Wendy Bagwell in 1983 at a big gospel music show in Savannah, Georgia. He was over six feet tall with curly dark hair. The only man I have ever met named Wendy. Like Johnny Cash and his Boy Named Sue I believe Bagwell would have had a great story to tell with the origin of his name. This was about the time he first told his Three German Police Dogs story about the disruption that ensues when a yellow cat is introduced to three seeing eye dogs belonging to a group of famous blind singers at the Ebenezer Freewill Baptist Church all day singing and dinner on the ground homecoming. “Those blind folks didn’t know what was going on,” he said, “They just thought they done took that job too cheap.” His theory was that the blind group, unaware of the ruckus, assumed the crowd had broke out in an old fashioned shouting revival.

It turns out that Mr. Bagwell was quite the shrewd businessman as well. He owned Bagwell Sales in metro Atlanta, Georgia. My parents, who were both blind, did business with his furniture store several times over the years. My mom, who is not the least bit shy, confronted Wendy about his comments in the famous bit. “I’m blind, but I know what’s going on,” she commented to him. “I know you do,” Wendy replied with a broad smile and a wink in his voice. “This is the truth what I’m telling you with my hand up,” he would often say before one of his stories which were probably slightly exaggerated. Stretchers, if you will, were his calling card. He was a master showman of the Gospel world. Wendell “Wendy”Lee Bagwell died in 1996 and now has a stretch of US 278 in Georgia, our home state, named after him. Rest in peace.

Stay tuned.

nealrhoden@thepeanutwhistle.com

We’re Douglas Country!

Radio home number three has been very hard to write about because it ended in a bitter divorce. Just like the child, little J-O-E, in the famous Tammy Wynette song I needed shelter from the awful truth. I realize now, 18 years later, having survived a bad first marriage in real life a decade ago this radio separation thing was a walk in the park. Both marriages lasted only 10 months.

Third time around was another unique situation. This new owner held a General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL). I was impressed with his credentials and his engineering background in both radio and TV. The honeymoon soon ended when I discovered his hardnosed, dictatorial approach to managing our staff. This radio home was now owned by one individual owner operator not a corporation or church organization like my previous employers. Imagine Fidel Castro rolled up into Adolf Hitler. So as not to defame the dead, I’ll call him Bill.

The church that had owned WSPZ had become desperate to unload this albatross hung around their neck. So desperate, in fact, that Bill wound up paying less than a tenth of the original asking price of the station less the studio building, which he’d lease from April until we moved the following summer of 1990.

Bill, 58 years old, entered with flattery, focusing his attentions on my office of program director. He seemed to value my role and appointed me architect of the new image. What an ego expedition this turned out to be for me. I came up with the new call letters WDCY-AM, representing We’re Douglas County. We realized the focus of the former owners was too broad. They had assumed our 2,500 watt signal would penetrate the Atlanta environs and marketed us as such. We decided to do a heavy local push by adding a news director and field reporters, making our presence known in the business community, covering nearby high school sports events and doing live remotes ad nauseam. Bill had some great ideas; made some tough adjustments to staff and bruised many egos along the way, but I must say that it was never boring. Bill and I were just too different. He never had a proper understanding of our Southern Gospel music format often referring to it as Barber Shop Quartet. I was an impetuous 24 year old bent on winning control over the old man’s station. Boy, was I wrong!

I believe a pivotal moment for Bill was a Gospel concert he had masterminded, not meeting his expectations, although I saw it as a success during the culmination of Southern Gospel Music Month in September of ‘90. I pled the cause of Gospel music, but he seemed soured by the experience and preferred to go to what he called Country and Western. Who called Country that anymore? Secretly, I knew a secular format would not work for me and would probably quit should we change. Anyway, for the first time ever I was forced to take an on-air partner and produce a morning show modeled after the morning zoo fluff shows popular those days. The Mabry & O’Neal Morning Show was born around November with promotions director slash occasional news reporter, Angie Mabry. We both worked hard at it but the show was incompatible with our audience. We seldom ever referred to the Gospel music or religion at all.

By February of 1991 Bill had trimmed the now bloated air staff taking on some air time himself. This change put me on-air 6 days a week thereby stealing vital time away from the office and production room tasks necessary for perfecting our sound. The balancing act proved humanly impossible and I resigned during the inevitable and ultimately ill fated format change to country and a new slogan, We’re Douglas Country.

Stay tuned

Breakfast with Burl

  The radio station I listened to most as a kid was Z-102 in Savannah, Georgia. Now, I realize that the station was only another Z-100 New York clone. This CHR format over populated the FM dial all across the USA in the 1980’s. Yes it was derivative but I enjoyed the station and copied their style often when I became a Contemporary Christian Music DJ. One unique element of good old WZAT-FM was Burl Womack. His show “Breakfast with Burl” was on my car radio every morning on my way to high school. Burl was allowed to play Southern Gospel music along with Adult Contemporary and hits of the day. Strange combination of styles but it worked! Burl had the number one show on the number one station in the market for years.

  Womack was a mature man with an easy going style and mellifluous baritone. He’d get to a point in the show where he would pour another cup of coffee (a sound effect from a cart tape, no doubt) address the topics of the day, read the school lunch menu and, as best as I can recall, played his choice of Gospel music until at least 8:00 AM. He seemed to be actually having breakfast with you. The show was aptly named. To this day I wonder why he didn’t make the jump to television, he reminded me of David Hartman, one time host of ABC’s Good Morning America.

  I met Burl on two separate occasions once at at the Savannah Skate Inn roller rink where I hosted a Christian Youth Skate and then again a few months later when he emceed a Dixie Melody Boys concert at a private school auditorium in Garden City. What struck me most about the main was his vocal power in person. His speaking voice was laid back and boomed even though he spoke softly. I was intimidated and our exchange was minimal, after all what did I as an 18 year old upstart have to offer? It was a mystery to me why he was at the skating rink and at the time I felt he gave me the brush off although he was probably hurried or surprisingly, shy. A few months later at the Gospel concert he did a splendid job as emcee and I saw a humorous side to the man not always evident on his radio show. That night I was asked to stand as representative of my radio station during the concert. Typical of me I was embarrassed, quickly stood, waved, said nothing and sat down.

  Burl has been nominated in 2009 for a lifetime Career Achievement Award by the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. Good luck to you Mr. Womack you deserve the honor. Your many years on the Savannah airwaves are fondly remembered by your fans and I am one.

Stay tuned.