Train Wreck?

Far outside the contour of their 2,500 watt AM radio signal I tuned in to the Internet stream of The Train and its Scott and Christy Morning Show. It presumably emanates live from the stations’ facility on Tallapoosa Street in Bremen. Georgia some 60+ miles from this reviewers location. During the broadcast I heard the tell-tale sound of an actual train passing by. It was clearly not a pre-recorded sound effect because the DJ was slightly annoyed by the quaint interruption.

Let me recuse myself from the proceedings at the outset of this review as an impartial listener. I spent a whole year of my life from 1992 until 1993 building the former WBKI-AM as an afternoon then morning show host. I have tuned in my successor, Scott Garner and the renamed WGMI crew off and on over the past 17 years. I returned once on a Saturday to tour the facilities in the mid 90’s. The Garners did a marvelous job remodeling. I do not have any other affiliation with them and admire their effort. I can testify to the train noise: rails are only a few yards away from the point of broadcast. The studio walls are thin.

On to the show. When I began thinking on how I would present this review today restraint entered my mind. What if the show is a train wreck (pun intended)? Do I rip the hosts to shreds? I decided on honesty. With caution I tread into the unknown. First, Scott and Christy are billed as “a professional DJ and a professional mom”—cute. The station is trying. The liners are done by a booming voice-over artist obviously outsourced from a professional imaging firm. Next, the two hosts are suited to their market, even though Scott tries a little too hard. Would the show play well in major market Atlanta? I think not, although I consider the ATL talent poor considering its size. That’s another story.

The two delve into morning show cliché with stories about Paris Hilton and her ilk. There must not be much of local interest in Bremen. When doing local the overdone staple of every small southern station, obituaries, provides a rocky (depressing) bridge between selections. The surprise of the show is that the hosts are a married couple. Christy, to my amazement, is the more natural of the two while Scott tows the line as a trite DJ not a “personality”. She plays an excellent foil to his wanderings, snapping him back on occasion. The man needs to relax the old worn out disk jockey banter and become more of a relevant conversationalist. We’ve all heard that ancient DJ shtick before. Scott is a musician and plays in his family’s gospel band, so he discusses the music—a lot! We share a mutual enthusiasm for Classic Rock-and-Roll history, but that type of talk causes most listeners to tune out. Introducing every record went out of style in the 1970’s. Scott may be an aficionado but is a fish out of water in the mainstream music world. The oldies format is new to WGMI and their morning pair are out of their element separated from Southern Gospel roots. In 30 years of broadcasting experience I never saw or heard of a Christian owned radio station flip to a secular format in order to save it. It is surreal. My forecast: the station will either go dark or sell within six months.

The show was not exactly a train wreck; it was about what I expected from a small market. The music is a proven commodity, that’s a given. More personality needs to shine. Chill out people, the music sells itself. Unfortunately good music is not enough. Like the man said, “It’s only filler between commercials.”  I give it an A for effort and a C+ for execution. But, I’m biased. Check it out for yourself http://www.1440thetrain.com.

For me, I’m going back to Talk Radio. 

Stay tuned

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