In my last blog post, I spoke of my relationship with Monica
Reyes, a woman who is just like a sister to me. Another friendship that I have
enjoyed with someone of the fairer sex is someone I have known even longer –
Marcia Campbell. We rode the same school bus together a few years back, and she
went onto to become a key part of the Melvin Sloan Dancers, the square dance
troupe that has been a part of The Grand Ole Opry for years. It was my
friendship with Marcia that led to a year of my life which I will never forget,
one that I will be forever indebted to her for the opportunity she afforded me.
Before that, there was the summer of 1995. I had just earned
the title of PD at WDKN, and was looking for a way to put my mark on the
station. Out of the blue, Marcia calls me one day. It seems that she and Keith
Bilbrey were having a conversation about the possibility of her doing a radio
show. Keith knew that I was on the air at Dickson, and suggested she give me a
call. She was interested in putting together a weekly bluegrass show. I knew
that management of the station wasn’t going to pay someone to do it, but she
offered her services for free – just for the exposure. So, sometime around July
of 1995, “The Mule Skinner Bluegrass Show” went on the air on Thursday
afternoons from 1-3pm. Marcia didn’t do anything small – then or now. One of
her first guests on the air was “The Father of Bluegrass Music,” Bill Monroe. I
still remember putting the phone call through. Marcia honed her skills -which
she came by honest – very quickly. Before too much longer, her talents were
recognized by the Interstate Radio Network, and she began working at nights on
the syndicated truckers’ channel – broadcast locally by WSM-AM. She continued
to do the show in Dickson until the summer of 1998. I continued it for a while –
as part of the daily programming, running all-Bluegrass on Monday mornings
under the guise “Blue Monday.” WSM had – and has – always been the gold
standard for me, as far as radio went. She and I had so many conversations
about the Opry and WSM. I began sending airchecks and resumes to the station
not too long after high school, but Kyle Cantrell, the PD, never called. (Quite
honestly, nobody ever showed me correct protocol on putting together an
aircheck – or how to playlist an airshift. So, it would be fair to say that
while nobody could have had more passion for WSM Radio than I, I was as green
as my daddy’s GMC pickup!)
However, Marcia never forgot.
Fast forward to November 1998. I was coming back from
broadcasting a basketball game. I remember the exact place I was – at the curve
of Highway 70 by the Bowl-O-Rena. I had the stations’ old cell phone with me
and called her to say hello. Marcia said that she had been meaning to call
because there was a job opening working weekend nights at the Interstate, and
was I interested?
I couldn’t have been more interested than if she asked me if
I wanted a date with Faith Hill or Reba McEntire. I literally began training
the next week, and my first night on the air was the night that Tennessee won
the National Championship. I say that not out of love for the Vols, but WLAC –
in the same building as the Interstate was broadcasting the game. Needless to
say, there was a lot of excitement in that Clear Channel building.
For the next twelve months, I was honored to be a part of the
Interstate Radio Network, “on such great stations around the United States as
WWVA in Wheeling, KTNN in Gallup, and WSM in Nashville.” Yeah, the last one was
particularly a big deal. Whatever I do in my career, I was on overnights on
WSM. Nobody can take that away from me. There were nights where various
performers would call in to say hello, truckers from the road, and even a few
lonely women. The nighttime tends to heighten the emotion that one feels, and I
heard from a lot of people – and I even put one to sleep.
Twice an hour we would feature weather updates from the “IRN
Weather Center,” which was….wherever the meteorologist happened to be on a
given night. He would do the first couple hours live, and then I would record
the last four hours. It was 2:30am, the last segment of the night to be
broadcast live. He calls in a couple of minutes early. I put him on hold and
proceed to do my newscast. Then,…”And, now in our IRN Weather Center, here’s
the weatherman.” Dead silence. Well, not exactly. He had fallen asleep, and you
could hear the TV playing in the background. He called in later, and said ‘I
don’t know what happened.” LOL. I did. And, I’ve used that same sentence many
times over twenty-six years of radio to mask operator error!
I also got to host the weekly countdown, which was cool for
me because I got to feature the 1998-99 comeback of Kenny Rogers, and “Single
White Female” becoming the breakthrough hit for Chely Wright – someone who I have
always had a huge belief in. I played her album cut “Why Do I Still Want You”
one morning, and that night on the Opry, Jim Ed Brown asked her to sing “her
new song.” That was a cool moment. And, I will forever be the answer to the
trivia question “Who was the first announcer on WSM when 1999 became 2000?” For
that, and a lot more, I owe to Marcia Campbell. I love you for that, and your
never-ending friendship!
Next blog, I will let you in on a little-known fact about me.
My 8th grade teacher once took up a magazine I was reading in class…..and
never gave it back. One guess, and it starts with a “B.”
