1989 Was A Very Good Year

It really doesn't seem like it's been nearly two decades since I first opened a microphone and said, "Good Morning!" to the good folks of South Carolina, but here it is another anniversary.

On April 24, 1989, The Banana Jack Murphy Show premiered on WKZQ 101.7 FM. The radio station was owned by Grand Strand Broadcasting back in those days. Tom Rogers was the president of the company and Bill Hennecy was the General Manager.

Man, those guys rocked. I remain friends with them even to this day. In 1997, Tom Rogers sold WKZQ to Hirsch Broadcasting he left radio. Bill Hennecy left radio too. Despite the ownership change, I stayed around and did mornings at 101.7 FM the entire time that Hirsch owned the station. Three years later, Hirsch Broadcasting sold WKZQ to Next Media in the summer of 2000. Once more, I survived an ownership change.

I remained on the air at WKZQ until September of 2001. When I left WKZQ to replace Howard Stern on Wave 104.1 (WYAV) on September 17th, I only walked about 30 feet down a hall and entered another studio door.

Ironically enough, the Wave 104 studio was located in the former office of Tom Rogers. You see, when Next Media purchased WKZQ from Hirsch, they also purchased some valuable real estate. Since, WKZQ was just one of 5 stations owned by Next Media in the Myrtle Beach market they had to put them somewhere, so they moved them all to the original WTGR/WKZQ property on Ocala Street. They moved everything to where I already was.

Geez, I spent nearly 18 years on Ocala Street in Myrtle Beach. Twelve and a half years at WKZQ and another five and a half at WYAV. When I signed off for the last time on April 17, 2007, I walked out of the same door in which I was hired by Bill Hennecy and Tom Rogers. Wow! Ain't life funny?

So, I'd have to say 1989 was a very good year. The others haven't been too bad either.

Stay Tuned!

Can You Believe It's Been a Year....?

I think I will always remember April 17, 2007. It was my last day on the air in Myrtle Beach radio. After doing morning radio in the area nonstop since April 24, 1989, my streak ended.

Still to this day, I'm asked, "What really happened?" Folks, nothing happened except I was replaced by a syndicated morning show. It was a cost cutting move by my former employer and that's the bottom line.

Those things happen. Recently, the ever changing radio business in Myrtle Beach claimed even more victims. There were some good radio folks that are probably wondering what the heck is to become of them. All I can say is, "DON'T PANIC".

One year ago, I assure you that I was not thinking about forming my own broadcast company and actually owning a radio station of my own.

But, looky here. It happened. Can you believe it been a year....?

Wow, what an incredible year it has been.

Stay Tuned

Bluegrass on the Corner is Now Heard Monday - Friday

Attention bluegrass fans. If you've been listening to WLSC during your lunch hour, then you may have already figured out that we mean business when it comes to bluegrass music.

We technically did a soft launch of Bluegrass on the Corner on Tuesday, April 8, but we were only testing the waters. Boy, were we surprised at the feedback.

We've even got sponsors on board to ensure the continued success of bluegrass on the radio around these parts.

So spread the word. Bluegrass on the Corner now airs Monday through Friday at Noon. Forget the blue plate special, get your bluegrasss special from AM 1240 WLSC. Be sure to let everyone know that they can catch the show online at wlscradio.com.

More BIG Announcements are coming......

Stay Tuned!

New Stuff is Coming to WLSC

Man, this is some cool stuff that I'm working on these days. I have a feeling that those of you that regularly tune in to AM 1240 WLSC are in store for some wonderful surprises.

You should expect nothing less than the best from America's Biggest Little Station.

Stay Tuned!

Hooray, We Did It!

Well, it wasn't a perfect broadcast, but we did it. We actually pulled it off. Thanks to the technical expertise of Bob Scarborough, we were able to do an entire broadcast of Bluegrass on the Corner live from an automobile dealership.

Bob, who often fills in for me on-the-air when I leave town, took the lead on this one and by the time that the so called experts got around to returning my phone calls,Bob had figured out what we needed to do.

Now, we're already laying out a game plan to expand on this successful test run.

Stay Tuned

Live from Atlantic Ford, It's Bluegrass on the Corner

WLSC is boldly going where no other radio station in this area has gone before. We will broadcast our entire show, Bluegrass on the Corner from Atlantic Ford on the radio. Sure, it's been done before, but not the way we're going to be doing it.

I can't divulge our stealth technology secrets. Not yet, anyway. I can tell you that what we're going to be unveiling is not new. Heck, we were doing this 8 years ago.

So, come out to the Grand Opening of Atlantic Ford on Highway 9 in Longs this Saturday and see what WLSC is going to be doing that will frankly put the Big Boys to shame.

We had planned a major event, but mid-week, we ran into some technical challenges that we didn't resolve until yesterday. We were actually planning to have a live band perform at the automobile dealership while we broadcast our program, but I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew in the event that we do have some technical issues.

Still, we're going to put on a show. It's Bluegrass on the Corner, Live from Atlantic Ford this Saturday, April 12th. You can hear the broadcast starting at 10:00 AM and continuing until Noon on AM 1240 and online at WLSCRadio.com.

See ya on the radio!

Grab Your Copy of The Loris Scene

Yes! Yes! Yes!, WLSC has made the front page of The Loris Scene once more. Grab a copy and see the awesome photos of our Grand Opening event. The photo of Dolly on the front page is worth 50 cents. Heck, I'd pay a dollar.

Thank you Loris Scene for making all of us at WLSC smile. I was almost started dancing when I saw the paper for the first time this week. WOW!

Stay Tuned.

Who Listens to AM Radio?

Go ahead and ask me. It seems everyone else is these days. I constantly get asked, "Who listens to AM radio?"

That's funny. Seriously, if you'd like to know who's listening to WLSC, then come hang out at the corner of Main Street and Broad Street in downtown Loris. You'll see first-hand why curiosity killed the cat.

Here's the deal, an unsuspecting motorist pulls up to the light in front of our studios. While sitting there, they see the vintage marquee sporting our larger-than-life call letters and frequency and whatever message I've bombarded the public with that week.

Wait, it get's better. Our studios are right on the corner. You can actually see the announcer on the air. Yes, we really do have live human beings behind our microphone. Now, all we have to do is smile and wave and watch the motorist reach for their radio dial and then they tune in to 1240 AM. In a perfect world, the light should change, the car behind them honks and they drive away unable to tune us out, at least until they get down the road.

I see it happen over and over and over again everyday. So come on by and give us a try. At WLSC, we get to enjoy our 15 seconds of fame everytime the light changes.

So who listens to AM radio? You do.

Stay Tuned!

Grand Opening Kicks Off 50th Anniversary Celebration

I didn't get a lot of sleep this week preparing for the Grand Opening celebration of our the WLSC studios. There was plenty to do in preperation for the event like painting, cleaning, hanging photos and making sure the invitations were mailed and sending out press releases to the media and.....I think you get the idea.

Folks started arriving before 9 AM and they kept coming through the afternoon. The Morris Brothers kicked off Bluegrass on the Corner and entertained our standing room only crowd with two hours of good ol' bluegrass music. Wow!

We aired the event on WLSC and even on our website, WLSCRadio.com. It was HUGE! Speaking of huge, Dolly joined us while we had lunch and posed for photos and entertained the crowd with a couple of songs. It was HUGE!

After lunch, Promiseland, a Southern Gospel group from Wilimington, NC entertained the audience with a full set of inspirational songs.

Considering we had rain all day, we're pleased with the turnout and the response. A couple of newspapers stopped by and a reporter from WPDE-TV 15. Man, I love it when the media talks about what we're doing. I have a feeling they're going to be doing a whole lot of talking about us because we've got BIG plans for America's Biggest Little Station. After all WLSC is celebrating 50 years of service to the Carolinas!

Stay Tuned!