Merle FM turns 20
Though it is 20 years old, Merle FM has remained locally owned and operated throughout its history.
WMYL 96.7 FM plays, in its own words, “forgotten favorites and only the new country you love,” with selections ranging from the 1950s to the present.
The station also features what it bills as the longest continuously running morning show in the area, “Broadway and Friends in the Morning.”
Ron Meredith, who owns several local radio stations, said the time has passed quickly since Merle FM went on the air in 2006.
“It seems like just yesterday I was fighting to put it on the air,” he said.
The station broadcasts from studios at 119 Pine Road in Clinton, which also house WYSH and other Meredith-owned stations.
Before Meredith acquired it, Merle FM was licensed in Middlesboro, Kentucky, where it operated as “The Bull” before its previous owner died.
“I can do what local people want. I can play the music that local people want.”
Meredith said others in the radio business told him he would not last six months competing with WIVK in the East Tennessee market.
“So much for that,” he said, adding that Merle FM has hired employees who previously worked for WIVK.
“As we keep getting bigger, they keep getting smaller,” he said.
Meredith also said the station has experienced little employee turnover, and credited that stability to local ownership.
Having an owner nearby, he said, is easier for employees than working for a company headquartered elsewhere.
One such employee is Jay Carter, who described himself as an on-air personality. He said he agreed that local ownership matters.
“Corporate radio has gobbled up all the little mom-and-pop stations around here,” Carter said, adding that stations owned by large companies often impose more demands.
Merle FM, he said, can make its own programming decisions, including airing the Lord’s Prayer at 6 a.m. and the national anthem at 6 a.m. and noon.
“We know people around the community,” Carter said, noting that he coaches a local Special Olympics team. “With corporate radio stations, you can have a guy voice-tracking from Los Angeles who has no idea where Clinton or Knoxville is.”
Ben Pounds | The Courier News
Ron Meredith owns Merle FM. He is happy for its success despite early naysayers.
