When he speaks, Red Bay listens.
Keith Ledbetter has been at local radio station WRMG since the fall of 1969 and he has no plans to be anywhere else.
“I love the work and I love the town,” Ledbetter said. “That makes for contentment. That’s what most folks are searching for.”
Ledbetter remembers how he came to work for WRMG.
“I loved to come visit the radio station,” he said. “I was asked one day if I’d like to do a commercial. That sounded good to me. Then I went to work part-time. I knew if I couldn’t play in a famous band, I had found what I wanted to do.”
During the time Ledbetter went to work at WRMG he might not have been playing with nationally known bands, but he played with local bands for most any kind of social get together. “Mirrors of Reflection” and “Bad Lads” were two of the most well-known. Ledbetter said the bands played for some Itawamba (Miss.) Community College dances and for lots of social events in Red Bay and Belmont.
“We were greatly influenced by the Beatles music that was the rage, Ledbetter recalls. “We even had the trendy haircuts that were so popular at the time.”
He says he grew up listening to Elvis and he was a number one fan.
“Mom and Dad, Gerstil and Louise Ledbetter, had a radio going most of the time and I remember listening to WVOK in Birmingham as I was in my ‘formative’ years,” he said. “The D.J.s were personable and more importantly, they sponsored the ‘Shower of Stars’ shows that came to the big city.”
Ledbetter said he attended some of those shows and in his heart, he was right up on stage, playing with such famous entertainers as Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs and Jan and Dean.
“I still take guitar lessons as a hobby,” Ledbetter said.
He attended Northwest Community College in broadcasting and communications. When he was offered the position of station manager and sales manager at WRMG he took it.
“I sign on every morning,” Ledbetter said. “I feel like as people in town are sipping their morning coffee, they are listening to me. I feel a closeness with the town.”
WRMG provides useful information as well as entertainment for the people in Red Bay and surrounding areas. WRMG has a community bulletin board at different times during the day and weather and news come to the air waves on the half hour by satellite.
“We try to play a mix of music to appeal to our listening audience,” Ledbetter said. “We sign on with country and at noon we have the ‘Gospel Hour.’ In the afternoon we play the top country hits.”
His shift ends at noon and Kim Hicks comes on and plays the most requested tunes until sunset.
Local ministers have time spots on WRMG, and the station carries the worship service from First Baptist Church in Red Bay on Sunday morning.
Ledbetter said he tries to personalize the line-up because that is what makes people begin to feel a part of it.
“I get phone-in requests and I do my best to play what the folks around here enjoy,” he said.
The clients of the Sarah Dinsmore Center enjoy listening to Ledbetter as well as Hicks on WRMG. They phone requests in daily to hear their favorite songs.
Ledbetter recently donated a poster-size picture of Garth Brooks to be hung on the “Wall of Fame” at The Dinsmore Center.
“If you’re going to work in a town, you need to be involved in what’s going on,” Ledbetter said.
With his down-home way of broadcasting and his concern for the area listeners to WRMG, Ledbetter shares some of what’s right with small-town America as he “visits” with folks from sign on until noon.
“I can’t imagine being anywhere else,” he said.
