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" 1996 marks the 20th anniversary of Tennessee's only independent, non-commercial radio station "
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By Heather Gates
It's just another day at the WEVL FM-90 radio station. Location scouts - in town to survey the South Main Street area for another John Grisham movie backdrop - meander into the station at 518 S. Main. They ask a quick question, promptly receive an answer, and soon are on their way. At the same time, a documentary about 1940s and '50s music is being filmed across the street, in front of Earnestine & Hazel's, a local late-night "hot spot" for Memphis' younger crowd. "Is that Preston Shannon?" asks WEVL station manager Judy Dorsey as she peers out a window toward the impromptu movie set. Neither program director Brian Craig nor a visitor to the station respond to Dorsey's question about the identity of the local musician. Anyway, the filming, the scouting, the sighting - it's no big deal. Since the station began 20 years ago, it has seen countless numbers of "high-profile" events and personalities. But not all of them have gone unnoticed. In fact, many have molded the station into the treasured medium it is today. 1996 marks the 20th anniversary of Tennessee's only independent, non-commercial radio station. Since then, it has weathered a lack of operating funds and a two-year absence from the airwaves in the 1980s. But today it is a thriving station that fancies authentic, "real" music - stuff that's not slick, but somehow makes you appreciate it all the more. "(Our listeners) like roots music, particularly Southern roots music such as country, blues, rhythm and blues and rockabilly," Dorsey said. So seven days a week, for 20 hours a day, volunteer programmers bring their fans music they couldn't get anywhere else. They can hear Thelonious Monk, Booker T and Buck Owens' cuts on "Bebe's Berserkathon" hosted by Paul Williams every Tuesday, 8-10 p.m. For those who love cajun, zydeco "and other selections from the crawfish circuit," there's "Allons a Louisiana," hosted by Dr. Ed Amos, on Wednesday, 4-6 p.m. Dorsey herself hosts a weekly show also on Wednesdays (3-4 p.m.) called "Old-Time Country Music Hour." During her hourlong show, listeners catch "white boys singing the blues, comic songs and fiddle favorites from the '20s and '30s." She's hosted the show for 10 years, and still admits to being naive for thinking that she wouldn't "end up doing a show" when she was hired as station manager around the same time. "There was no way that I could sit in my office and not become a part of it," she said. The Memphis native added that occasional crises, like suddenly being without a programmer for the next show, also compelled her into the studio. WEVL began two decades ago as a small, 10-watt station on FM 90.3 with a reach of no more than 10 miles around the Midtown area. It prospered for five years and soon, staff members were added and more equipment was bought. But in 1983, Dorsey said the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would no longer "protect" the 10-watt stations located at the "left of the dial." Other stations were quickly allowed access to the previously occupied frequencies, including WEVL's. WEVL staff and volunteers knew the change was coming, but were unable to raise enough money in time to upgrade and buy a new frequency. Then "just one day" Dorsey said, a station out of Oxford, run by Mississippi Public Radio, was operating on WEVL's former air frequency. But by early 1986, enough capital had been raised to finance the purchase of a new frequency and the station moved to 89.9, where it sits on the dial today. Not only has it found a resting spot on the dial, but it seems WEVL also has found its permanent residence at South Main. And that'll be for some time, if listener response and support are any indication. The station's last pledge drive in April netted more than $41,000, which was the biggest drive in its history. And although Dorsey has no exact audience estimates, last month's Blues on the Bluff concert at the National Ornamental Meteal Museum drew a packed crowd. Part Two of Blues on the Bluff is Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. at the museum. They're listening 100 miles north in Tipton County and equally far south in Mississippi. But they're all listening because they're faithful to the station and its music. "I hear from people who said they were going to move but didn't because of the station," Dorsey said. "Others who moved here said (WEVL) was one of the amenities of the city. Memphis is so rich in music history. How can we not be a part of that?"
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