Wayne Powell, often called the heart of WKHI during its Top
40 heyday in Ocean City, Md, died of an apparent heart attack January 4
th
in Pocomoke City.
He was 66.
Greg Bassett
at delmarvanow.com recalls 99.9 WKHI-FM (100 KHI) was
an incredibly big deal. (The station is now Country WWFG Froggy 99.9)
Before WKHI came on the air, broadcasting out of a cramped
studio at Ninth Street in Ocean City, teenagers who needed constant stream of
rock songs had only five local alternatives: There was the quite excellent WJDY
in Salisbury, WETT in Ocean City, WWTR in Bethany Beach, WSUX in Seaford and
WSEA in Georgetown.
WJDY and WETT were both AM stations, so music sounded
comparatively bad, and WJDY went off at sunset. WSEA was rock that was a little
too intense; WSUX had a signal that wasn’t always receivable, WWTR was a little
too middle of the road.
When WKHI arrived in the late 1970s, radio listeners were
all immediately hooked. The disc jockeys were cool. Tom Dewicki commanded the
morning, Jack Gillen was The Man at midday. Afternoons and evenings offered the
likes of Stevie Michels, (now famous) Mike Seidel and, eventually, my all-time
favorite, Dave Fleetwood.
Shaking off the effects of disco music in 1977 and ’78; WKHI
was just the remedy. The first song played on the station was Gerry Rafferty’s
“Baker Street” — enough said.
According to Bassett two men were behind the station’s
creation were Wayne Powell and Choppy Layton. With investors propping them up,
they created a radio station with personalities and programming that people
still reminisce about 35 years later.
Powell had lived a locally itinerant career, but found his
home, made his mark and earned his stripes with WKHI. He was only an occasional
on-air presence, mostly filling in on the shifts no one wanted.
