Wednesday, June 22, 2011

AM Station Doesn't Follow Traditional Format

It's safe to say no one will accuse radio station 1230 AM WEZO-AM in Augusta, GA of conforming to the Top 40 mainstream.

From the small brick building with just one studio and one employee to go with the massive library of diverse songs that plays with virtually no interruption, the station is closer to Pandora, the Internet radio service, than something you'd find in corporate radio.

Operations Manager Ray Parton says that's the way it should be, according to a story by Luke Thompson at chronicle.augustacom.

"It's pretty much music," says Parton, adding that he does offer weather reports about 50 minutes past the hour and plays The Star-Spangled Banner at 6 a.m. and noon every day.

"I've got a handful of advertisers but ... instead of your normal generic 30- and 60-second spots so much, I've got (advertisers) recording a liner," he said.

Those quick 5- to 10-second sponsorship messages between songs aren't any longer than a disc jockey telling listeners what songs they've just heard or what's up next, which is something never heard on WEZO.

Parton, a laid-back Texan with long, gray hair and a beard to match, seems right at home behind a cluttered desk in the somewhat secluded building he says is just 18 steps from the trailer where he lives.

The 48-year-old has been in the radio business since he was a junior in high school, giving him enough time to collect a music library of 6,000 to 7,000 hits that he hopes will appeal to baby boomers.

"How are we paying the bills? We're not," Parton said with a chuckle. "We need to make some money."

The first step is creating a solid base of listeners, and last month the live stream on the Web site had about 10,000.

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