THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507200194
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
One of the Outer Banks' most familiar voices has a new home.
Longtime radio programmer/personality Lee Lovingood has joined WVOD-FM, 99.1, in Manteo. He leaves WOBR-FM, 95.3, after three years.
The 31-year-old Lovingood will lead a full-time air staff of six at the alternative-leaning WVOD.
``I'm really excited to be joining a station that is on the rise,'' he says. ``We really have some good people here.''
He's been on the job a week. How is it different from the satellite-delivered programming on WOBR?
``First of all, the music here is what I like,'' Lovingood says. He cites Big Head Todd and the Monsters, David Bowie, Ricki Lee Jones and Paul Weller among his favorites.
WVOD is a recent adoptee of alternative music, radio's hottest format.
``A lot of people of my generation,'' Lovingood says, ``are looking for something different. This format works because our listeners are not afraid to hear some new, unfamiliar music.''
Lovingood says he will meet listeners face-to-face to discuss the station's performance. And he'll spend the first couple of weeks on the job listening to the station.
``A good programmer knows he has to be a member of his listening audience to be successful,'' he says.
The 10-year veteran started his career at the then-country formatted WOBR-AM.
``I was working at a convenience store,'' remembers Lovingood. ``A guy who worked at the FM station (of WOBR) came in and we got talking.''
The next day, Lovingood approached the FM program director.
``I had a real Southern accent back then,'' he says, owing the accent to his upbringing in Wytheville, Va. ``We decided I'd sound better on the country station.''
A month later, after a lot of work erasing the accent, Lovingood moved over to WOBR's rock-formatted FM station. He was a quick learner and a diligent student. Working the overnight shift, Lovingood mastered the fundamentals of good broadcasting: brevity and levity.
He eventually moved into the evening shift.
In 1990, Lovingood moved home to Wytheville. For two years, he programmed the album rock station in the nearby college town of Blacksburg. It was there that he met his future wife, Lisa.
One of the many things Lee and Lisa had in common was a case of beach fever. They moved to the Outer Banks in 1992.
Back on the beach, Lovingood took a number of jobs, working as a cook, a record store clerk and an assistant to an air-conditioning repairman.
But Lovingood had the radio bug, a malady with no known cure. He rejoined WOBR-FM in 1992.
Those were the glory days for the Wanchese station. It was the top-rated radio station in the market. Record companies respected the deep and wide selection of songs. The station was part of the first-ever Triple AAA conference in Boulder, Colo. The Wall Street Journal heralded the format as the next big thing in programming.
In the house was an award-winning newsman. In times of emergency, WOBR-FM was the go-to station in the market.
Many times, WOBR was the only station broadcasting during hurricanes and No'easters. Lovingood was one trooper who often braved the elements for what most broadcasters strive to do: provide reliable information when it's most needed.
During the March storm of 1993, Lovingood and another announcer, Doug Duenow, stayed the course at the one-story studio building in Wanchese. As the wind blew the sound water across the road and over the marsh land, the two men found themselves in several feet of water.
Their reports stopped when then-WOBR general manager Pat Cahill and a Wanchese fireman, navigating a small boat in the 50 mph winds along the water-covered and totally dark Route 345, rescued the men from the flooded building.
Six months later, the station was hit with another flood - a flood of changes. A new CEO came aboard, the format changed to satellite programming, and most of the staff - including me - quit or was let go.
Lovingood hung in there and assumed the program director position. It was his home. He was virtually attached to the radio station, carrying a beeper that sounded whenever there was trouble.
But when the WVOD opening became known, he jumped at the chance to cross the street and work at the totally live outlet.
Lovingood's Southern accent is all but gone now. His voice is polished. In many ways, he's a throwback to another era when disc jockeys talked to their listeners.
His well-modulated, upbeat but not smiley delivery is in sharp contrast to the generic disc jockeys spouting, ``We play the greatest hits'' or, ``Here's another five billion songs in a row without interruption.''
In addition to his programming duties, Lovingood will handle the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift. Former afternoon man Dan Wyatt moves to mornings. Michelle Mills keeps her midday slot, and Matt Cooper does the night shift. Another new arrival is overnighter Jay Menard, who leaves an afternoon drive shift at WQZK in Kaiser, W.Va. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Lee Lovingood is the new programmer at WVOD-FM in Manteo moving over
from WOBR-FM in Wanchese.
by CNB