NH Local Radio Station: Roy Prescott on North Conway's 93.5 WMWV

Nestled in the picturesque landscape of New Hampshire, North Conway is a town that thrives on its rich history, vibrant community, and love for adventure. A key element that ties this community together is 93.5 WMWV, a radio station synonymous with local culture. Recently, the 603 Podcast took a deep dive into the story behind this beloved station, offering a fascinating glimpse into its history, unique appeal, and integral role in the community.

In this episode of the 603Podcast, host Dan Egan sits down with Roy Prescott, the charismatic voice of WMWV, along with guest appearances from George Cleveland and Greg Frizzell. Roy Prescott's introduction to North Conway came in 1976 through a skiing trip to Cranmore Mountain Resort, which led to his permanent move in 1979. Reflecting on this, Roy shares, "Our strength lies in our local roots. We know our community, and our community knows us. That's what sets us apart in this digital age."

This episode delves into the local connection and history of WMWV, the eclectic and thoughtful music selection on air, and the community engagement and support that form the foundation of the station. Listeners are treated to a rich conversation that underscores WMWV's enduring success and relevance in North Conway.

Engaging with WMWV is easy and rewarding. Tune in to 93.5 FM to enjoy the eclectic mix of music and community-focused programming. Visit their website at WMWV.com for live streaming, event updates, and more information about the station. Follow WMWV on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to stay updated on local events, new music, and special broadcasts. Join the conversation, attend promoted events, and feel the pulse of North Conway through the station that truly knows its community.

Mad River Coffee celebrates 20 years of roasting coffee, legendary egg sandwiches, meals to go, and live music right off Exit 28 in Campton NH.

For more information about the 603podcast visit 603podcast.com

Transcript

Dan Egan: 

And welcome back to the 6 0 3 podcast. Today we're at 93 5 W-M-W-V-  A Beacon that carries the sound of North Conway. And we're with the man behind the mic. Roy Prescott. Roy, how you doing?  

Roy Prescott:

Hi Dan. This is wonderful. 

Dan Egan: 

Oh, it's good to see you. Kind of interesting to flip roles, me interviewing you for a change.

Roy Prescott:

 It is, last time I saw you here at our W-M-W-V studios, you were promoting your 30 years in a white haze book. How, uh, Dan Egan's story of Worldwide Adventure and the evolution of Extreme skiing. 

Dan Egan: 

Fun. <laugh>. What an adventure it's been, you know, and I love that, that we all have our own adventures. Right? 

Roy Prescott: True. 

Dan Egan: 

And you live here in North Conway, uh, a region of New Hampshire, which is just full of adventure. 

Roy Prescott:

It is an incredible area to live in. And I was introduced to it in 1976. I came out skiing at Cranmore. With a yacht club from Cape Cod. We Qua Lake Yacht Club. I'll give them a little shout out. And we came up and stayed at the red jacket. I took my first lesson at Cranmore mountain resort I climbed to the top and skied down. 

Dan Egan: 

That's the way it goes. Right. Love that. Right to the top. 

Roy Prescott:

And then I, I just knew I was gonna fall in love with this area and took me a couple years, and it'll be 45 years this October 1st since I moved here. 

Dan Egan: 

North Conway and the region, of course, Mount Washington and Pinkham Notch and all around here. Talk about all the different activities that you've incorporated into your own personal lifestyle. 

Roy Prescott:

It's incredible. The things that you can do around here is, just a mecca for outdoor entertainment and indoor and everything else. Uh, over the years, I've, I've played a lot of racquetball. Back in the day when racquetball was big. Um, I've hiked the 48 4,000 footers in the state, most of them many, many times. Um, back country skiing, Nordic skiing, bicycle riding, hiking, horseback riding. Everything you can you could find for outdoor entertainment is here in the valley. 

Dan Egan: 

It's amazing. And you know, I I think one of the most, there's so many unique things about WMWV, but, but the voices on air are people who love and live here and they have a passion for the area. Uh, don't you think that drives this station as much as anything? 

Roy Prescott:

I think it really does. And if you went back to 1959 when Skip Sherman and his wife Joan came from New York because they knew they were gonna love this area, and they started working at WBNC AM back then, and then ended up, uh, taking over and buying the business. And at that point, I don't know if you know, but WBNC was in a farmhouse on East Main Street.

 In a beautiful farmhouse. When you come into town, you see the big tower. The, it's now condos. But it was a farmhouse. And that's where they raised their family and ran a radio station. The bedrooms were studios. And it was just, he, he knew there was something special about this area back then. And he knew that there was a need for, for interesting music. 

Dan Egan: 

I mean, the idea that this radio station is one still independent, two, so eclectic and three has such a huge following. One could be argued nationwide. What, what, how has it survived? I mean, in, in an age of internet and Spotify and everything else, WMWV continues to thrive. And what's the magic sauce? 

Roy Prescott:

I think part of it is, is that in today's world, people wanna go back to simplicity. They want to, they want to hear something radio. I think most of all, when you talk about the big outlets for radio, whether it's on, on, you know, Spotify or anything like that, is the fact that, or these conglomerate radio stations that you hear out there with some guy sitting in a studio in Texas talking, trying to tell you what you do in your town. And that just doesn't fly. So fortunately, we have been independently owned, which, uh, I think we'll have a chance to chat with our own Greg Fralin a little bit. 

Uh, he and his dad, Ron came in and they just wanted to continue what Skip Sherman started, where you can get very eclectic music. Um, you can get community activities, you can be involved in the community and, uh, offer to the community and keep it so local. But then that's okay. But then there's the secret sauce of the music. And I think that's what sets WMWV apart is the AAA adult album alternative format of music that we play. That you've traveled the country a lot. There's not a lot of good radio out there. 

Dan Egan: 

There's really not, I mean, there's, there's sort of a cookie cutter radio, and you're right, these voices, you don't know where they're based. You know, when you, when you're here, some of the things I hear when I listen to 93 5 WMWV is I hear the community calendar talk about the simplicity and the importance of just doing that. 

Roy Prescott:

That is important because I still believe in this day and age, although there's ways to find anything you want, people still want to know what that, that we are a part. And they are a part of one whole circle of people that live in the, in, in the area, and then now the people that listen online all around the world. But yes, uh, every day we have, we do a nonprofit. If you're a nonprofit, we will, um, announce your events, your fundraisers and everything. And then not only that, but we will promote them not just in a segment, but we'll talk about it up until it comes. 

'cause we want these to be successful and nonprofits are so essential in a community, and that's just another whole part of the community. 

Dan Egan: 

I mean, it sounds so simple, but yet so old school <laugh>. Right? I mean, it's like, why don't you just post it? Right. Why don't you just put it on the social media? Like, I know you do all that too. Right? But, but that sense of knowing, right. I always talk about with ski towns and resort towns, people wanna belong. And knowing is part of belonging. Right. And the more you inform people, the more they feel like they're part of it. 

Roy Prescott:

Exactly. And, and the intelligence of our listenership, it's, it's thoughtful music. It's cerebral music, it's rock and roll. It's, but it's, it takes, I always, I tell our listeners a lot about what we're playing because I want them to understand and, and learn as I have and have a love of this music so that when they listen, they're not just hearing a song like, oh yeah, that's that song. Oh wow, that song says this or that, or, and plus it, hopefully it rocks too. 

Dan Egan:

Yeah. So it's always like, you know, I was listening today, of course, on my way over and, uh, you've got this Depe mode. You've got Depeche Mode, and you've got a few album, few songs I've never heard of from artists, I don't know. Uh, and then right back to like a Bonnie Rai song. So what, what's that mix? How do you come up with that? 

Roy Prescott:

It's, uh, it's sort of, it's sort of taking music. Well, I think the AAA format, which I always say Skip Sherman invented, even though there was no aaa format per se until 1993. But I think that Skip was challenging his listeners right from the beginning. And sometimes they didn't get it, but they stayed tuned because, okay, you might not like this song, but you'll love the next song. And then I'll bump into somebody and they'll say, oh, I hate that song. But did you like the song before it? Well, yeah, well, that was the song somebody else hated, you know? 

So it's really kind of a, you can't, you can't please everybody. But there's so much great music out there. And we, we play music from literally the fifties to what came out today. But we don't just do it. We're not top 40. We don't look for the hits. If anything, we're a station that doesn't look for the hits. We want really good music. We've broken a lot of emerging artists over the years. Bruce Coburn, John Hyatt, uh, Bonnie Rai, of course, he's had some success, um, on, on the big stage too. But there's just a lot of, um, a lot of music that is, is special that people love when they tune in. 

Dan Egan:

And you know, that, that's part of the mix, right? It, it's old school radio. So you've got community, you've got a really cool sound. You've got all these different, uh, genres and time periods coming together. And you once gave me the stat of like how many times something gets played on this station as compared to a, a cookie cutter station. Give that to me again. 'cause I find it interesting. 

Roy Prescott:

Okay, well, you can take a top 40 station and let's go back to the sixties when we were kids. Yeah. And listening to like WRKO in Boston or or MEX or WBZ. Yeah. Great stations, top 40 stations in your face, rock and roll. We've got the number one hit. You know, and, but that's what radio was kind of all about. It was taking these songs and then playing them so much that you had them in your head. And then you'd go out and buy it, the 45 of the Beatles or whatever. And then you would go home and play it at, on your record player, little phonograph. 

And then you'd still listen to it on the radio. So that, I get that, I get that thought of how radio is supposed to work. It's, it's supposed to sell music essentially, and the bottom line and advertising <laugh>, which pays the bills, which Greg can talk about a little bit later. 

But when you are, when you, when this day and age and, and one of our sister stations is the top 40 station magic 1 0 4, and that fits that demographic. It's more for the kids and stuff. And they listen and they know all the words and everything. But then when you come to our station, the most you're going to hear are hits, so to speak, is once every nine hours. On rotation. So you might hear it at six o'clock one morning, and then nine hours, then nine hours. So that'd bring it around to maybe nine o'clock the next morning, then nine hours and nine hours. So it's, it's called Day Partying. 

And we, I just don't want that in the head. And I get, people say, well, you, you repeat your music all the time. I said, I can, I have a list. I can tell you that I have not played whatever song it is in nine hours. Yeah. You know, and, and, but, but we want you to hear the song and to maybe learn it and, and have it in your ear and hum it maybe when you're in the shower or something like that. But we don't want to beat you over the head with it. 

Dan Egan:

No, that's amazing. Right. So the hits are getting sort of injected every nine hours and in between that, it's everything you can imagine. Right. Right. Pink Floyd to the dead, to to right. Up to today. Right. 

Roy Prescott:

Exactly. And that's, that's part of the beauty of it is, is that we have such a vast collection. As a matter of fact, I I just, um, printed off my, uh, list of all the songs that we have that we can play on WMWV. Now, a lot of stations, even AAA stations, well, let's say top 40 stations, they're spending maybe 400 songs, you know, total. That's where you get the repetition. And then a lot of AAA stations, they might have 2,500, 3000 songs. <laugh>, I just printed out my list. It was two inches Stick on Tractor paper, paper, 8,200 songs. 

Dan Egan:

8,200 <laugh>. 

Roy Prescott:

8,200 songs. 

So we, we had a, uh, a consultant come in at one time and he's like, well, how can you be playing that many songs? Nobody ever gets to hear their favorite song. I said, yeah, they do about once a month <laugh>. And then when they hear it, they go, oh, wow, man, you know, 

Dan Egan:

I love that song. 

And they kind of forget that it had been a month since they heard it. Yeah, yeah. You know, 

Dan Egan:

So that, that says a lot. Right. That's an amazing amount of rotation. Amazing amount of, and you, you said, uh, you report to three different charts. Tell me about that. I do. 

Roy Prescott:

There are charts for all of the genres of music, and there's different companies that, well, now they're taking, they're doing, getting their accounts pretty much from streams, which we do stream@wmwv.com. But for many years we didn't. Um, so as we, for just the new songs, not, not the, not the, uh, songs in regular rotation, as we call them, our heritage artists and such, but I have, uh, 55 new songs in rotation in four different categories. So category A is, uh, once every nine hours, those are the big hits. And then category B is once every like 11 hours. 

And category C is maybe once every 14 hours. And then Category D is once a day that they get aired. And that's categories for the emerging artists. So lots of times we'll start playing someone in that category, and all of a sudden I report to a media base and to John Barton Entertainment in this new, um, that's CDX. It's brand new. And all, all of a sudden, you know, I'm seeing every, the top 50 every week. And all of a sudden, maybe one of my songs that I put in d is starting to crawl up, so I'll take it outta d then somebody else has to go, and then I can add some more new, new music. 

Dan Egan:

I love that. So that, that's a really cool way to look at it. And, you know, I think what's happening now with new media is people are falling into patterns and genres and listen, but they're not really going beyond that. So it's a little bit harder to hear new things if you're sort of set in your ways or you're listening to the Bruce Springsteen channel or whatever it is. But you don't go beyond. 

Roy Prescott:

Right. And I find, um, once a week, I take music calls from the industry promoters, people from record labels that are promoting the new big hit, which there aren't any in aaa, but we laugh about that. But they, um, they suggest music to me. They say, you know, there's, and, and the thing about this is like in the big pop world, there's no faithfulness to the music. The but in this world, these, these guys, they and girls, women, they are, they want these people to succeed. So they introduce us to them and their, their salespeople, they make money on how many ads they get. 

You know, how many radio stations would add their songs. But there's a whole website called Play MPE that I go to. And they actually pay to have songs put on there. They suggest to me, I sit down when I get a minute or two and listen to the new songs. And sometimes it's like, yep, boop, bang right in. And then sometimes, well, I don't know, but I can give it a week and listen to it a few more times. And if it grows on me a little, I hope it'll grow on you. And then maybe we'll give it a try. 

Dan Egan:

So just how unique is this in today's landscape that this station is still one in business and two has such a eclectic format and it's still surviving, gimme the landscape of what that looks like around New England, around the region and around the country? 

Roy Prescott:

Well, it's around the world really too, because, well, fortunately, our little island here of, of the Mount Washington Valley, formerly known as the Eastern Slope, um, there are people that come from all around the world here. And they, there's radio people out there, people like radio, and they, when they come to a town, they want to hear about what's going on in the town so they can feel like a part of it. And then they have a wonderful time. They ski, they bike, they do whatever they do to shop, have a blast, and go to restaurants, and then they go home. But on the way they've hit 93.5 on their dial, maybe do two, someone suggesting it around town, Hey, you wanna hear a cool station? 

Or they just kind of stumble over it as, you know, hitting, hitting the dial and stopping it on, on just search. But then we, uh, they fall in love and they take us home and then they can listen online anywhere in the world. I get emails from all around the world. The people listen at work every day, not to their station in Boston or New York or Cleveland or Australia, but they listen to WMWV because they love this area so much. 

Dan Egan:

I love that. And <laugh>, there's just so much history here, Roy. And, uh, this week and this episode on the 6 0 3 podcast, we're gonna bring in other people to tell us more about it. So who's gonna come in first here at the station? And, and, uh, it's gonna be George. 

Roy Prescott:

I think it'll be George because, uh, George Cleveland, who has been at the station for many, many years, and then he left, um, to run the Gibson Center for Senior Services as their executive director for 20 years. Retired from that. And, uh, then he came back as our news director. So he, he's, um, he's a, a voice to people who've known around here forever. And he is part of the history. He was the program director when I started in 1999.

Dan Egan:

Oh, that's great. 

Roy Prescott:

So I think, um, I think he'd have some interesting things to add. <laugh>, 

Dan Egan:

Let's bring him in the studio, 

George Cleveland:

Dan Egan:

Uh, and so welcome to the podcast George Cleveland. George, how are you? 

George Cleveland:

I am really well. Thank you for asking me to be here today. It's great. Really, really looking forward to this. 

Dan Egan:

We, uh, we can't just skip over this, uh, your last name. Cleveland. Tell me about the heritage of that and, uh, who was your grandfather? 

George Cleveland:

Well, my paternal grandfather was President Grover Cleveland <laugh>. And he, um, he settled in Tamworth. They had to leave the Cape. They had a wonderful summer place on the Cape down near Bourne. And they built a Cape Cod canal through the front yard. And they just, it just began to get a little crowded. And there were a lot of sad memories 'cause they had a daughter who died in a diptheria epidemic in 1903. So they were looking for another place. And very good friends said they were looking at the Adirondacks and the good friends said, oh, we know this great place Tamworth, and there's all this great hunting and fishing, which is what he really loved to do. 

So they came in 19-three and then a lot of us just never left. 

Dan Egan:

I love that. And, you know, when you have heritage, uh, generational heritage like that, um, do you feel more connected to the place and the importance of your role as the, as the news director? Is there a tie there for you that you're, what you're bringing to the, to the mic every day? 

George Cleveland:

Well, there's, there's definitely sort of, you know, a feeling of vibrations coming out of the granite. There's no question about that. And, and, you know, also, 'cause not only is there that Grover Cleveland connection, but my aunt and uncle Allison Francis Cleveland co-founded the Barnstormers Theater in Tamworth, which is still the oldest professional summer theater in the, in the United States. So there's, you know, that's been going since 1931. 

Dan Egan:

And when did you first come here to WMWV?

George Cleveland:

Um, let's see. I sent you, I actually first came here when I was, but a mere youth. It was in, I think, late 1973 or 74. And I'd always wanted a job in radio, believe it or not. And it just so happened it's, you know, it's, it's who you know. And the Skip Sherman, the former owner, um, knew my father vaguely through St. John's College in Annapolis, and then out in New Mexico where my, my father was involved with the board. So I guess Skip figured that, well, you know, if somebody's related to somebody from St. John's, it has to be okay. Faulty thinking maybe. But that's, that's how I got, that's how I got here. Needless to say, I loved it. I had, you know, a stint here of 25 years and then a 20 year break, and now I'm back again. 

Dan Egan:

And how do you describe the, the station? 

George Cleveland:

We were eclectic when eclectic wasn't cool. Um, skip Sherman had the theory of his musical theory was the Duke Ellington theory. If it sounds good, it is good. So we would have, back in the old days before they, you know, gave this format a name. So-called aaa. Um, you could have a set that would have Bonnie Rai, you know, count Bassy, Dyna Washington and Harry Chapin, you know, and in one little music set. And it worked. Skip was always looking for a formula. 

And then this triple A, when that became kind of official, it really kind of fell into Skip's formula a lot. And now, you know, Roy is, is carrying it on. It was Skip then me, then Mark Johnson for a number of years. And, and now Roy is, uh, you know, holding the banner high. 

Dan Egan:

And this, this formula, this, this format. It's the glue. What, what, what makes it the glue? Why, why is it so sticky? Why do people love it so much? 

George Cleveland:

Because it's good. <laugh> 

It's, we play, we play good music. It's not, you know, we have, there is a station here that we play, you know, top 40 hits, um, on our Magic 1 0 4 station. But here we've always looked for singer songwriters that have something to say and say it in a way that sounds good. And it's really, it's, it still works. And, um, there's a lot more people doing that kind of music. And, you know, Roy talks to, to all the representatives. We get a lot of the artists in here, which is really nice. 'cause we're kind of on a, we used to be, we suddenly found ourselves on a highway from Burlington to Portland. 

So when people knew that we were, we were here in the middle, we'd get all kinds of things. You know, I remember getting a, you know, having a, a concert with Patty Larkin where they were sitting three feet away from me, things like that. And, um, it was wonderful. And now we have, we have a lot more live venues in the area now, most notably Stone Mountain Art Center in Brownfield, Maine that has top-notch people. The Lyle Levits, um, Judy Collins is Steven Stills, that kind of thing. It's really an amazing performance. So it all, it's all tying in everything. 

The rest of the world is catching up with us now. 

Dan Egan:

 I love that. And, uh, of course, all of that's happening with the local tie. And one of the most unique ties to the local feel is the weather <laugh> and how you rate the weather. You take me through it because, you know, today, is it a 50 cent?

George Cleveland:No, It's Thirty's 35 cents today. 

Dan Egan:

35 cent today. <laugh>. Yeah. 

George Cleveland:

Well, we thought it might be a little, well, there's a few clouds out there today. 

It's, oh, it's a really simple thing. It's, they were looking, they the, the staff way back when and, and what was then White Mountain Bank were looking for some kind of tie in to have a morning weather show. And we talked to the Summit Mount Washington, which was telephonically very tricky back in the old days. 'cause you never knew if the phone line was gonna work or if, you know, and Woodchuck had eaten the wire. Um, and then, then we would talk with originally the infamous Joe Dodge, known as the mayor of Porky Gulch, who kind of put the a MC really on the map in the modern era. 

And, uh, he was colorful is the word we use in italics. And, um, then after Joe passed away, a local weather observer, Briggs bunker took it over for how many years? Roy? Uh, 

Roy Prescott:

Let's see. Joe died in 1973, and I think Briggs did it till 2005.  

George Cleveland:

 Right,Briggs. But yeah, Briggs Briggs started right, right before I came here, and then every single day. And it was just kind of like talking on the phone. It's, it exactly was talking on the phone with your neighbor. Briggs would tell us who was visiting his house and how his golf game was <laugh>. And you know, I mean, sometimes we could go on maybe a little longer than we should have. Um, but, um, you know, and then, you know, when Briggs retired and, and now it's, uh, ed Bergeron and he's an engineer and he's outside a lot, and he's on the Mount Washington committee. He's chairman of the Mount Washington Commission now. Um, so, you know, he's, and let's face it, weather makes a big difference. 

<laugh> in what goes on here and the, the economics, because, you know, so much of what we do is dependent on the outdoors. The question you'll always see, and now you see it on Facebook all the time where coming up for the weekend and it's supposed to rain. What can we do? So, um, you know, you, you get that a lot. 

Dan Egan:

So did Joe start the, the 50 cent rating system? Or how, how did that, how 

Roy Prescott:

Much? Yeah, I think Joan, Joan Sherman, 

Joan Sher, yeah. 

She was the salesperson for White Mountain Bank. And Joan and Joe got together and they decided they'd do it between a nickel and 50 cents on the nickel. And then you'd keep track as of today with 35 cents added, we have $70 40 cents that we've accumulated this year, <laugh>. And it usually comes to about 130 to $140 a year. And some people, the idea then was to, they had little piggy Banks. They had the little piggy banks. Yeah. Which some people still have in the back of their, you know, kitchen drawers. 

And you'd put your nickel or your quarter in, and at the end of the year, you'd have about $140 to go Christmas shopping. But I think actually they want you to donate it to a, to a food bank 

George Cleveland:

That. But it was also, it was to encourage, it was to encourage savings. And I mean, it was, you know, it was a little kid looking piggy bank and everybody did it. And, you know, and every year, I know to this day, Christmas time comes around the end of the year and somebody's got an extra 130, 140 bucks to, to spend in change 

Dan Egan:

Wow. And so how did, uh, a very rainy June this year, uh, what was, what was the June total must have been? 

Roy Prescott:

I don't know the total full month, but we had three 50 cent days. 

Dan Egan:

We had three 50 cent days 

Roy Prescott:

In the whole month.Yeah. So we're not adding too much money to it this year. But it, it's funny with the, it's inflation proof. So lots of times people say, well, why don't you make it a dollar now? Well, no, it's a nickel of 50 cents. And that's the way it's been. That's way 

George Cleveland:

A 50 cent day. It's not a dollar day. It's a 50 cent a day. 

Roy Prescott:

And if it was something different than Tuckerman Brewing Company who put together a 50 cent day IPA. Right. What would they do with their IPA? 

Dan Egan:

Well, I was, I was hiking up, we were going up the film, uh, up in Huntington Ravine with Brooks Dodge. Oh yes. Right. And, uh, big Mountain man, big strong guy. He's carrying the camera. He is got his skis, he's got the tripod. He's beating me up the path and he just looks around and goes, it's gonna be a 50 cent. Right. And, you know, that sort of is part of the lingo around here. Right? Mm-Hmm. < 

George Cleveland:

And I, you know, and that's good that he was doing that because I think Joe was also the Hutt master. Yes, he was for a long time. Yeah. So, and back in those days, there weren't helicopter drops were few and far between <laugh>. So if you were working the huts, if you're in the Hutt crew, you were carrying 50 to 60 pounds up there, you know? Yeah. In order for everybody to survive that, that came through the huts 

Roy Prescott:

On the wooden backboards. 

George Cleveland:

Right, right. <laugh>. And it's still, it's still, you know, the, the mountains are such, they're such a crucial part of our life. Not only do we see them every day or not see them, which, you know, gives you the instant, the weather forecast. But, you know, we have a climbing community here, um, that is out of this world that, to say world class doesn't even begin to cut it. You've got at at least several Everest Summiters who, who live here, you've got people who have made first a sense of impossible rock faces all over the place. 

All their names are all over the cliffs in New Hampshire. <laugh> that's been, it's been named after, after them. And, uh, mountains are important. And my family used to have a thing saying, you know, are mountains more important than people? It was, you know, 'cause people would come up to see, come up and say, well, the mountains aren't out today, <laugh>. Um, you know, and I get the most blessed drive here to work every morning. I have to come on a little back road. I come out between the two Chicago Lakes. So I get to see, you know, is is the mountain out or not? It's, it's a wonderful thing. So 

Dan Egan:

George, how do you do it with the news? How do you take world news, regional news and local news and mash it 

Together? 

George Cleveland:

That's really easy. I have absolutely nothing to do with World News whatsoever. <laugh>. We let, um, we let the network do that, which is probably pretty good from, from my mental health and local house, uh, local news, you know, just because of the state of local news in, well, not just in New Hampshire, but northern New England, probably the whole country is, you know, people had to cut back on staffs. So now we all kind of rely on each other. And, um, we, we reuse other people's stories with, you know, accreditation of course. But, um, but from a variety of sources. 

And, you know, the newspapers have to have to do that too. We have a daily newspaper, which, when that happened, nobody ever believed when the Conway Daily Sun started that that was gonna go. And now the, there's a Daily Sun. And I think at least there's about four or five of them now. Um, and, uh, you know, they had to cut back. They're facing the same thing. Everybody else is, you know, getting things to press and getting things on time and having staff and, you know, and Covid was a big problem. But now you can, you know, you can go to your school board meeting by Zoom if you really so desire. 

Dan Egan:

And so, you know, Roy, with over the years, uh, what have you learned from George? What have you learned from this man right here? Well, 

Roy Prescott:

I've learned some very colorful language, but, uh, <laugh>, 

George Cleveland:

Which I never knew until I met Roy <laugh>. 

Roy Prescott:

Yeah, right. But, um, well, George and I go back before I worked at the radio station. We were friendly in the eighties. And, um, and actually the radio station had a sports talk. 

George Cleveland:

Sports talk was, that was the thing that did sports talk program. We had an amazing sports program. I just had that, you know, the thing that made it so good was, first of all, we had good people doing it, but one of them was a guy named John Roberts, whose father was executive sports editor of the Globe.

Dan Egan:

 Wow. Okay.

George Cleveland:

 So that when John would very nicely sort of call up his, you know, his father and say, do you think you could get us so-and-so's phone number? And, uh, who, I can't remember who it was the hockey player, but he lived in Climax Saskatchewan. Oh boy. And I became such good friends with his aunt. 

And uh, 'cause he keep calling up and saying, do you think we could talk that? I said, well, he's not around right now, you know, but I must've talked to her three or four times. But we had, you know, four a small teeny town in New Hampshire. We had amazing people. And Roy was one of our biggest ones. Roy would get in big fights because we also had another regular participant in the show who claimed that professional wrestling wasn't a real sport. And Roy did not agree with that 

Roy Prescott:

No, I did not. So it was, uh, John Roberts, rich Gray and Wayne Watson were the hosts. Right. And WWF was gigantic at the time. <laugh>. So we came up with this persona thanks to Steve Eastman of the Mountaineer to, for the ugly bartender. I was a bartender at the Mountain Valley Court Club, the club, as we call it. Right. And, uh, the, they had an ugly bartender contest, which was a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis. I had an aunt who had MS. So we came up with this wrestling persona. It was the grand lizard. And <laugh>, the grand lizard would go in. And he actually bought Wrestler. 

Big Bill Schmidt, yeah. Came up one time, 6’6 3 and a quarter guy was huge. He was a a tag team guy. But anyway, uh, so I had this little persona that we would bring on and, uh, Dick O'Brien, the late Dick O'Brien, huge Yankees fan, um, would, uh, we would go back and forth. It was really fun wrestling. So that was my initiation into on Air. Right. And that was in the eighties. Right. 

George Cleveland:

the market, you and I would do those lunch on air, live on layer lunch specials every day. 

Roy Prescott:

Right. I had a market in Madison <laugh>, so the only advertising we did was with the radio. Other than that, none. Right. With WMWB. So I would, George George and I would chat and talk up the specials and kind of dump on each other and have some fun. And, and 

George Cleveland:

When Roy retired from that, because of his radio advertising, you know, he had to put another addition on his garage for the extra Mercedes. He has 

Dan Egan:

 But that, that would, that's sort of how you get into Radio Roy. And how did you learn the craft? How did you get the smooth voice, the friendly voice, all those sort of things that it's your signature? 

Roy Prescott:

Well, that, that I'd wanted to work in radio since I was a little kid. It was something I, I dreamed of. And I, many times I would go to radio stations like WCOD down in Hyannis and they had this, the jock set up in the window and we'd sit in the church parking lot across the street and watch. And I'd say, I'm gonna do that someday. And that was in the seventies. But as, uh, as it seemed that I, they kind of thought that I maybe had a little something, skip, maybe thought I'd had a little something. I started coming in and doing a couple part-time shifts. But I think as George will ag agree with, is that Skip wanted us to be your friend. 

George Cleveland:

You were at the kitchen table with everybody. That was the way he would look at it. You're sitting around the kitchen table and learning the craft part. Um, you had to sort of figure it out. 'cause I remember the first time I was ever on the air, skip said, all right, now push this button. Do this. Make sure you do this at the right time. And, uh, I'll be back <laugh>. And he let, and he left the building. He went out to get coffee <laugh> 

Roy Prescott:

And no computers. I mean, 

CD cart 

Turntables, 

George Cleveland:

Something, something didn't work. You. Oh my God. What is it? You know? And at that time we were, we were also plugged into a 300 foot tower. Right. Which in thunderstorms was really fascinating. Yeah. 'cause you could see St. Elmo's Light going up and down the guy wires and, you know, you're basically sitting here with your headphones plugged into the largest lightning rod in, in Carroll County. And, um, there was a guy and we, the, and the transmitters looked like something outta the movie Metropolis. They were terrifying. And the AM transmitter had this big switch, like in Sing Sing when, you know, they'd like turn on the chair <laugh>. 

We had, yeah. We had one announce that was here before my time Bill Clap. He used to use a huge, I think it was a baseball glove in order to turn that thing on and off because it was so scary. 

Roy Prescott:

But Skip's thing was be we were friends with the audience. Right. They, they, you, you'd never want to yell at them. You never wanted to do that. So that was, that was his biggest thing. 

George Cleveland:

Never talked down. Right,

Never be condescending. We're all in this together. And that included, you know, whatever the case may happen to be, if there was a big, a big event here, we were part of it. We, it's like we weren't necessarily observers. We were there, you know, for 10 years. We had 74 to 84. We had the Volvo International Tennis Tournament here, which was, you know, major league, Jimmy Connor's, Arthur Ash type of people. It was the top of the pops. And it was just kind of, other than the fact it did completely change Mount Washington Valley forever. Um, it was, it was still a pretty big deal, but it was all, you know. 

Yeah. It was great having all these movie stars and tennis stars running around. And then for two years, I think we had the Volvo Cup, which was, uh, one of the on Bob Addie's tour. 

And um, and that was great. 'cause we had, you know, all the world class skiers here as well. And, um, it would love to see that, you know, that kind of caliber of event come, come back again. This area had a chance to go one way or the other. And maybe be careful how I say this. So the local people listening to this podcast, um, we had a chance to kind of go a little more what I call Ogun, a little more artsy fartsy. But we instead we kind of said, okay, it's easiest to go the outlet route. 

So that's why we're now the factory outlet, you know, capital of, of New Hampshire. And, um, and that tennis tournament, anybody that was in the banking business then will tell you, they could tell you right off X number of second homes were sold solely as a result of that tennis tournament. And that is one of the things that I say was the major turning point of the second half of the 20th century in this part of New Hampshire. 

Dan Egan:

So,It's really interesting in today's media, you know, where, where people are just picking sides. Right. And, and there's a lot of sort of entertainment through opinion. Uh, you guys still remain, uh, at the kitchen table. Mm-Hmm. 

Roy Prescott:

Good point.

 Dan Egan:

And, and that's important, right? It, it's, that's what I think part of the, uh, the glue is. And what, when you're out and about in the community, what are people's response to that? What, what do you hear about that? 

George Cleveland:

I, I think Roy and I get the same thing. You run into people in the supermarket and they say, oh God, I really love hearing you on the, hopefully they tell you they really love hearing you on the radio. But they may have said, you said something that was so funny the other day. Oh God, that was amazing. Or I can't believe it. Roy and I do a very unusual show every Thursday morning called fiction or Fact from George's Almanac, which is sort of a trivia show, sort of a commentary, sort of sophomoric <laugh> <laugh>, if the truth be known by design. But, but yeah. By design. But, but it's by design. But because we can pull it off, we do, Roy and I can do that. 

And, um, you know, we have the, i the key, we have fun. We have fun. And I think that, you know, this is a, can be a fun place to live except on rainy days in the summer <laugh>, um, when you're trying to go from point A to point B hundred yards away. 

Um, but we have fun. And that shows this is, we're supposed to be here for fun. We do fun events when we do, I mean, this weekend, uh, this weekend in, in July when we're recording this, you've got this seek the peak on, um, for the fundraiser, Washington fundraiser for the Mount Washington Observatory. And I mean, and look at the observatory. There is an institution of international importance. The work that has been done up there since the 1930s, incredibly important defense work, government work, understanding cold weather. I mean, they, you know, they throw things out and climate change everything. 

Leave there all winter and see what happens to it. And, um, but that's how, you know, a lot of things we wear, a lot of things we put around us in our houses have been tested at one time or another on Mount Washington. And they don't just sit up there and look at the anemometer all day. Yeah. But they do that too. <laugh>. 

Dan Egan:

And, And with all of this history and, and all of this, you know, being able to survive in today's climate, George, what does the station mean to you personally? What, what's, what does it mean to you 

George Cleveland:

Other than a paycheck? Yeah. Um, it's fun. It's be plain and simple. It's fun. There, of course, there are challenges. It's challenging to, to be able to do something enjoyable. And there, there are times, you know, when when we have serious, tragic local news, we're all in it. And we treat it very carefully. Um, because you've got family members that are listening and, you know, and we, you know, I think we all have an innate respect for that fact, that it is the community and that we aren't gonna be overly sensational about it. 

And, um, we love the people that we, that we serve. 'cause they love us back. Just the amount of requests we get from music, the, um, the, the people who want tickets when we give away tickets to, to large musical venues that are outside of the area or in the area we get. And you know, and now we've got, like I said, we've got a lot of live venues, which is great. You can over for the July weekend, all I did, I must have heard five different bands from Bruce Hornsby, you know, right down to local level people who've been at it for years, who were, but who are still excellent. 

Dan Egan:

And with your background and, and, and passion for history, uh, you know, New Hampshire is a unique place. Uh, it's, it's, it's, people are unique. We're different, we're different from Maine. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, we're different from Vermont. How do you sum that up? How, how do you, how do you kind of point an a compass at what New Hampshire is? 

George Cleveland:

You just kind of live with it and you tell the, tell you tell the stories. I mean, New Hampshire is smaller than, you know, it's smaller than Maine. We're right side up as opposed to Vermont being upside down. If you, if you, you know, consider from a a, a geometric standpoint, um, you just find the stories and you tell them, I mean, you know, one of the most beautiful roads in the state, uh, route 3 0 2 through Crawford Notch, you know, that started as a, a cow path really. But then they had the importance of widening that. Why was it so important to widen that cow path? They had to get the rum barrels up through the notch to the people who were working up in Jefferson and up in there. And so it had to be wide enough to be able to do that. And people would do that, you know, in the wintertime and, you know, storms in the notch. 

If you've ever been to a storm in the notch, you don't have to explain a storm in the notch, but it is a scary thing. And they would do that year round. There's plenty of great history stories about that. I've frequently given, um, history tours to, to, to groups from outta state at, at hotels and on motor coaches. And, um, and it's great to say, oh, you know, over here this happened and that happened. And things that they, for example, the Concord coach is one of my, my my favorites. And there's several on display that you can see if you go on some of these tours. 

But this is, this is the stage coach. This is what people grew up watching on black and white TV with gunfights was, you know, made by Abbott and Date Downing in Concord, New Hampshire. And, um, and people are amazed at that. 

They were amazed at, you know, the old man in the mountain. I kind of, you know, I definitely miss him. There's no question about that. That was one of those, I always remember where I was, uh, when I heard that Dr. Peter Crane, Dr. Peter Crane from the observatory told me when I was on an ephemeral spring ephemeral walk in May underneath Humphrey's Ledge. And so it's one of those things you always remember, but there are so many little people, people, I mean, the first modern alien, um, event, you know, occurred on the other side of the mountains. And it was a, there was a local, um, artist who, um, sat in on the, the hypnosis session that Betty and Barney Hill went through and drew their description of the Aliens, which is our first look at the, so-called Modern Alien. 

Um, so there's all kinds of little things in there, you know? 

Yeah. George Washington may not have slept in 900 different places here, but cool stuff happened. You know, the, the great, uh, what's his name? Potter, I can't remember. There was the great African American, um, magician who lived in Potterville that people don't realize that, that that was their, you know, and our slavery history, um, people here that, you know, that yes. Had slaves. But then also, you know, we were a a, a way up on the Underground Railroad as well. And 'cause the other thing that you have to remember is the geography of this state going east west is really hard to do, even to this very day. 

Um, so there's, you know, some of those roads, for example, the sandwich you see, you shouldn't afflict that switch. <laugh>. You've got, you've got this little road that goes from Sandwich New Hampshire over to Thornton, the sandwich notch road. 

That's right. Which is barely open in the summer. Um, but it cuts an hour and a half off driving over the Canga. Uh, and that was considered to be, there's rumors of pirate treasure being buried there, because that was when you came in from the coast, that was your east west route on that little trail. And they say people had to bury some of their, you know, chests of gold along there. But it's just, it's just such a beautiful thing. And our hills are calm, they're rolling, they're, you know, it's kind of like, you know, the, the Rockies are all sharp and pointy and all that kind of thing. 

We're a little more gentle and rolling and it's, um, it's nice. And New Hampshire has the best fall foliage in the world, possibly only rivaled, I am told by northern Japan. And Vermont has just too many maple trees. It's overwhelming. Maine has too many pine trees. We're, as Goldilocks would say, just right. <laugh>. 

Dan Egan:

Well, thanks George. I appreciate all that. That's awesome. 

George Cleveland:

Speaker 4 • 42:41 - 42:43

Careful when you ask me questions. 

Dan Egan:

That's Great. I'm gonna, I'm gonna put you on the history podcast, <laugh>. Great. Alright. Well thank you. 

George Cleveland:

Thank you very much. So fun. A pleasure. Indeed. 

Dan Egan:

Roy. I mean, when, just when you look at that and you hear that, you hear the history and the passion, and this is the signal for all of that, right? This is the packaging. It's more than the music. 

Roy Prescott: I agree. Uh, the music is very, very important. That's probably what draws people to us. But when they get to listen to us, become friends of ours as Skip Sherman, so Well taught us. And he also said, never Be Dull. That was one of his quotes. So that was, uh, one of the great teachings that I took away and 23 years later I still think of every day is, uh, I've had people, you know, just say, well, you have such a soothing voice and it's just 'cause I'm just speaking with you and, and embracing you and, and making you a part of our community. 

Dan Egan:

And so how has the station embraced technology while staying loyal to its roots? 

Roy Prescott: 

It, that's a awesome question because as a radio purist, I think computers totally ruined radio. I think they, they wrecked radio when I came in. I was fortunate enough to still be at the point where we were still cutting and splicing tape for commercials. Uh, we had carts, the commercials were on like eight tracks. We still had a turntable, although we do still have a turntable. I break out every once in a while we played music off CDs and we were live, like you, we had to be hands-on, you'd lock the door of the studio and you'd go in and you'd do your work. But, uh, with the advent of computers, I kind of get it, it did make making commercials easier because you can have an editing system and cut and paste that way and just take care of that. 

So what it, it, and the quality is excellent. Sure. Is it easy to have the system that you're looking at right here with all the songs right on it? We have to record those onto the system, and then we have to put them in two different computers worlds, and then they, the com commercials and the music merge together and come out with a day's worth of product. And so yeah, sure. But, but then now all you need to do is quick F 10 or something, and then the songs play and you can, 

Dan Egan:

So did it take the energy out of it, do you think? 

Roy Prescott: 

Well, not necessarily, because you have to be aware still, but you can multitask. That's part of what it does. So while you're, while you've got 15 minutes of music playing, unfortunately I don't get to sit and listen to it all the time. I know the songs well, and I, and I, and I do listen, there's sometimes when I drop everything and crank it up so that the windows rattle here, I'll say after a big song, everybody's looking at me and I'll say, call the Glass Company. I just blew the windows out of the studio here, <laugh>. So I, music is still like, so important to me, but the computers, I get it. It's time saving. 

It's, it's cost people jobs. I mean, it's just, but it's the way that it is. And it's, it's good when it works, 

Then when it doesn't, it's not so great. 

Dan Egan:

But that's, you know, so it's a merging of, of those two things. Right? It's, it's the formula, it's the format, it's the knowledge, it's people all mashed mash together. And you can hear it online and 

Roy Prescott: 

You can hear it online@wmwv.com. And as I mentioned earlier, people all around the world tune into us. And on Wednesday evenings, I have a blues program called The Blues Summit, which, uh, Mark Johnson, our former music directors, uh, started back in 1993. And that was another way how I got my start in radio is that it was on Sunday nights at the old farmhouse. And it was only two hours at that point. And then I would, uh, come, come and hang out with him. And he showed me how to run everything and showed me how to play the commercials always important. And, uh, he, in 1999, his life sort of changed a little. 

And before I started full-time here, I came in on Sunday nights and did the Blues summit. And it was 24 years this April that I took over the show. 

Dan Egan:

Oh, that's awesome. 

Roy Prescott: 

That's A lot of blues. 

Dan Egan:

I love. That's a lot of blues. 

Roy Prescott: 

 People sit home and listen to the Blues Summit And that is such an honor. I mean, I take it very Seriously. 

Dan Egan:

Yeah.

Dan Egan:

They schedule it. 

Roy Prescott: 

I really do. It's, it's to have you as part of what we do here and embrace it. I, I think it's an honor to be here, to be able to do that. And I, I think that's what radio's all about. 

Dan Egan:

Nice. So who's gonna join us next? I 

Roy Prescott:

Think, uh, our owner, Greg Frizzell. 

Dan Egan:

Nice 

Dan Egan:

Greg how you doing?

Greg Frizzell: I'm doing great,

Dan Egan:

 So, uh, a radio station. Yeah. What are you crazy? 

Greg Frizzell:

Yeah, a little bit <laugh>. You'd have to be, 

Dan Egan:

When did it start? When did you, uh, take it over? 

Greg Frizzell:

Uh, well, uh, WMWV or the creation of Mount Washington Radio and gramophone started in 2001 September. Um, and, uh, my father and I purchased it, uh, off of Skip Sherman. Uh, we went in, uh, half Seas together, 50 50. He was an old radio guy and I'd been in radio for a while. So, uh, it was a good opportunity to, uh, he was retired and I was looking to do something, uh, on my own, and it worked out great. 

Dan Egan:

And why, why do you think it's working still and with all the market challenges? Is it, is it the location, is it the, is it a combination of things or why is it still working? 

Greg Frizzell:

I think it's a location of thing. I mean, location of things. Uh, it's a combination of things, basically. Um, radio is working still in many markets because of localism. Uh, really tending to your local market and making sure that the information you're providing as well as the music caters to your local market, um, and making it very specific to the area you live in.  

Dan Egan:

And, uh, how does New Hampshire play into that specificity? How does that work out? Does that a compliment to WMWV? 

Greg Frizzell:

Well, I think, yeah, obviously there's a certain lifestyle in psychographic to a station like WMWV. It's kind of an outdoors, kind of station connects with people outdoors, um, living, you know, up in the mountains and, and doing things. It's very experimental and very interesting, uh, and it's not boring <laugh>. So I think that helps people really, uh, you know, keep on track with it 

Dan Egan:

Love it. And when you, uh, selling advertising and keeping the bills paid here, are you embraced by the business community or is it a struggle? What, what's the current situation? 

Greg Frizzell:

Absolutely embraced. Uh, I had worked in, uh, a bunch of stations in Portland, Maine, uh, before I came here for seven years doing some sales and, and management and stuff. And, uh, there was so much competition in the market. You had 16 radio stations, four TV stations, the internet coming on, newspapers, weeklys, dailies, uh, and when you get up into North Conway, you really don't have a lot of media. And the media you have now because of the internet, it's either kind of national media over the internet, or you only have a few local sources. 

So if you are one of those local sources, people will, uh, listen to you. And the advertisers are very interested in being on, because they can reach the locals and the people who are visiting, uh, tourist town like this. Um, and it keeps it, uh, very, um, uh, very local where they can get information that they want to hear about the area. 

Dan Egan:

Yeah, 

That's great. And it's a relationship business. 

Greg Frizzell:

Yeah, absolutely. Um, you want to have a relationship with your clients and do the best you can for them. In terms of, um, I always say, you know, we're only as good as our results. Um, we don't practice anything else but results here. When we work with our clients, you know, we go in, we work hard to figure out what their challenges are, and we work hard to solve those challenges for them. Whether it's they don't have enough, uh, business at lunchtime at a restaurant and they wanna build that up, or it's a bike store that just opened and they want people to know that they're there. Um, you know, we go in and we find out what we need to do, and we, we get that done and we do it really well here. 

Dan Egan:

And you have a mix, right? You have a mix of corporations and outlets and entrepreneurs. You've got breweries, you've got independent restaurants, you've got chains. What's the mix there? And does everybody play or is it, do you find more of the entrepreneurs and the local businesses support it? 

Greg Frizzell:

Uh, definitely. It's a little more of the local businesses. Uh, we do have some national business that comes in, in North Conway because it is, uh, a big vacation area and there is a lot of volume to what some of the national companies are doing here. So we do get some of that. But overall, it's probably 80% local businesses and working with our local people. Um, some of them are regional, maybe, you know, new England companies we work with. Um, and that's probably 10 or 15%. And then, you know, really just locals who own their own shop and their own store. 

And there's still a lot of that here in North Conway. And it works really well. 

Dan Egan:

You know, north Conway is so interesting to me because on in the whole state, this is a, a clear recreation destination. People have moved here for this place. Uh, I think really more so than most places around the state. You can say that people have moved to the coast of this, but when you come to Conway, you're committed, uh, you're committed to the lifestyle. There, there was something that drew you here, um, rock climbing, skiing, snowmobiling. 

It's all here. How do you describe the community of, of, of Conway? 

Greg Frizzell:

Uh, I think, like you said, it's uh, a place where people end up for a reason. Uh, you so many people come up here to visit and then they go, oh my goodness, what would it be like to live here? This would be pretty cool. And the fact is, it is pretty cool to live here, <laugh>. So they, I mean, the number of people we've, I've heard that, uh, tell me, you know, oh geez, you know, we used, we just moved up here, or we moved up here a few years ago, or what. And they say, well, I used to come here as a kid, or I've come here as a young adult and I used to hike or ski or climb, and I've always wanted to live here. 

I've always wanted to come here. And, uh, people just seem to have had it set in their minds that this is a place that if they can find it, uh, in their situation to move up to North Conway, uh, they do. And, uh, like you said, it's for a reason. And it's, it's just a beautiful area and there's so much to do. 

Dan Egan:

I mean, of course, I, I think you're right. I mean, the generational memories of Conway are, are crazy, right? My mom riding the ski mobile at, at Cranmore, right. I mean, there's that, it's becomes part of the family lore and the attraction to the place. 

Greg Frizzell:

Absolutely. And, and so many people that live here currently have some connection that brought them here. As they always say, there are very few people from North Conway <laugh>. Um, but, uh, and you have to live here, I think, what is it, about 50 years to become a local. I'm not even sure if that counts anymore.

Dan Egan:

 It could Be, it could be generations here. 

Yeah. I think it's generations. 

Roy Prescott: 

It'll be 45 years for me in October, and I'm still a flatlander. 

Dan Egan:

You're almost there, right? You're almost there. 

Roy Prescott: 

I'm still a flatlander, <laugh>, I'm a local now, but I'm never be a native. Right. Right, 

Greg Frizzell:

Right, right, right. So you can, you can work your way into local status, but, uh, but uh, yeah, there is just such a, a deep, deep, um, you know, generational pattern here for sure. Um, and people have those memories and they move up here because they were, this was a special place for him. And again, if you can find the way to be here, it's a little tough to find a job here. Uh, it can be, um, especially if you have a specialty. Um, because again, there are just certain, uh, businesses up here that do things. Um, so, but it is getting larger every day and the community's growing. 

So it's definitely a place where, uh, if you're looking for a job, you can find it here now. 'cause there aren't a lot of people working. 

Dan Egan:

You know, Roy and I were just, uh, chatting about sort of the, the meshing of the foundation of the station with the technology of the day. And as a, as the business owner, how much of that is a focus for you, and how do you manage it? 

Greg Frizzell:

Oh, I, I think a hundred percent of what we do here is trying to mesh technology with, uh, creativity and music. I mean, it all starts with music, and that's what we really focus on here. And again, we have three different stations, uh, with different genres of music. But everything we do here is produced out of this, uh, building right here. Um, we don't subscribe to services to fill our time or people out of state to be on the air and pretend they're local or anything. I mean, we employ locals, people live here, we know what's going on. Um, but yeah, technology has come a long way in how radio stations survive. 

Um, and, um, especially in terms of going, you know, having the stations online now. I mean, that's something that's so critical. So much of our listening has turned to people listening online, um, instead of just on, uh, terrestrial FM radio. 

Um, and it really has come along, you know, obviously because of the internet. And, uh, you think of the old days where people had their desk and they had a little radio there, and they turn on their radio and listen to their music, and now it's, they don't have those, uh, people turn on their computer and that's where they get their music from. So we have to adapt and we've had to pay attention and say, okay, we need to be online. We need have a presence there. We need to have a good signal that people can listen to. Um, we need to find a way to still be relevant, um, where people can access us. 

'cause access is getting more difficult. So 

Dan Egan:

Does Alexa find you? Yes, <laugh> 

Greg Frizzell:

 She does  you can just ask. 

Greg Frizzell:

She gets it. Yeah, she gets 

Heard. Does she like it? Yes. Yeah. Oh, that's 

Roy Prescott: 

Great. Dan, I have a funny, I have to have Greg, tell us a funny story, please. Um, about when he and his dad, Ron were buying the station and his dad, Ron didn't quite understand what WMWV was all about. 

Greg Frizzell:

Yeah, it was a, it was a little interesting. I mean, I got my start in radio at, at Colorado State University. Uh, I worked for the public radio station in Fort Collins, Colorado, uh, back in the eighties, which was programming a very similar type of music to what WMWV was doing in the eighties. Uh, very acoustic, very eclectic. Um, I was one of the programmers of the station when I left. Um, and, uh, I came from this genre and loved this genre. I mean, I was seeing people, uh, like Bruce Coburn out in Colorado back in 1989 at the Lincoln Center, you know, um, and just that kind of music I was really into. 

Then I progressed into larger companies with more generic music. Wasn't about the music for me so much then it was about the money, <laugh> <laugh>. And when we moved here and, and bought these stations, uh, my father had been in radio for a long time and very good programmer. 

He knows, you know, how to look at an area and say, where's their void for people who wanna listen to music that they can't get? Um, and he came in and listened to WMWV and said, who would listen to this? This is very odd. He's like, I don't get it. I don't recognize anybody on this station, so we should make this a top 40 station. And I said, well, if you do that, I'm leaving <laugh>. He said, I'm outta here. I'm not, I'm not signing the paperwork. I said, no, this is a very special station I had just to it up here, uh, whenever I visited and everything, and knew about it. And it's the the main reason I decided to say yes, to come up here. 

I was, uh, and commit to this. 

Roy Prescott: 

And I thank him every day. 

Dan Egan:

Yeah, well done to, to see that. And, and so how's it make you feel that you made that call then and it's still rocking today? 

Greg Frizzell:

Ah, it's great. And it's really a team effort. I mean, it doesn't have anything to do with me, really has to do with the people that came before me. Skip Sherman started this station and basically had the theory of let's play the music. That's good. Uh, which is not very complicated when you think about it. <laugh>, let's play music that sounds good. Let's not play music that people want us to play. Um, and he, he started that culture and taught it to everybody who was in the company. Um, when I took over, and obviously I believed in the format very much what we were doing and said, nothing really <laugh>. 

I didn't really do anything, Dan. I, I gotta be honest, I just kind of am still sitting here going, yeah, everyone knows what we're doing, <laugh>. 

Dan Egan:

And so, you know, with that, you've got the, the Blues Summit, you've got the Great Wind, it's a Grateful Dead Show play 

Roy Prescott: On Saturday evenings, um, 10 till Midnight with host Dennis Quinn. It's a show called Scar Boone's Radio, and Dennis started that show a week after Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Oh, wow. And he's got an incredible following all around the world. Yeah, 

Roy Prescott:

Absolutely. And people tune in to hear that. They 

Dan Egan:

Yeah. So between, you know, the programming and the, the special evenings, it, it's one thing to do it, but it's another thing to keep doing it. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> that, that's sort of the goal, right? A lot of people can do things, but can they keep doing it? So for you, you know, what's it gonna take, you know, what's the next 20 years look like? What technology, what's, what's the future of W--N-W-V? 

Greg Frizzell:

Uh, I think, you know, very, very similar. I mean, what we're doing is still working and playing new music that's coming out as well as the music that we've always played and loved, and mixing that in with the new music. So we're keeping up with what people still want to hear on radio, and in fact, bringing music that, again, not many other channels are gonna bring you, but, um, it's really still working great. The, the concept. And people always say to us, uh, you know, of course I hear all those great songs I always love, but I learn so much when I listen to your station. 

'cause I hear all these great new artists, and then I go and I look 'em up and I find out about 'em, and I learn about 'em and I hear 'em on your station and I get more information or I go to their concert, or, I mean, we're almost like a learning tool for music. 

Dan Egan:

Nice. And, and you know, Roy, have you, do you guys reach out and keep in touch with the other stations that are still doing this around the country? 

Roy Prescott:

Actually, I do. I, I am able to get into, um, it's called Media Base, and I can go in and get the playlists for ev actually every station in the country. But I go to AAA and I can see what they're playing in Boston or outside of Boston. I can see what they're playing in Portland, see what they're playing in Burlington. I can see what they're playing in Bozeman, Montana. They've got a really cool station there out west with Cape Pig, which is like a legendary San Francisco station, and I can see all their playlists and interestingly enough, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming has a really cool AAA station too. And interestingly enough, we're all pretty much on the same page. 

It does change somewhat like urban sound of the cities, New York or Chicago, or Texas, Austin, Texas. But on the whole, except for maybe a little bit of more urban or maybe we're a little more singer-songwriter still as we have been forever, um, we're in the ballpark. 

Dan Egan:

Absolutely. It's awesome. Oh, it's, it's clearly in the ballpark and, uh, good job. I mean, awesome. It's, it's great. I, I know that people love the station. I love the station, but more importantly, you guys, it's just so obvious what you're doing that you guys love it. 

Greg Frizzell:

Uh, it's for sure a passion. I mean, uh, you know, radio is something, and music really is what, uh, drives us. I mean, it's definitely one of the things that, you know, I believe in music so much in terms of how it can make you feel, how it can change your emotions, uh, how it can bring you to places you were at one point in time. I mean, you can hear a specific song and literally go back in time and you can smell the smells that you heard when you first heard that great song, and you can picture the room you were sitting in and the people you're with. 

And, uh, music just has so much power. Uh, and I just believe in it tremendously. And I think that, uh, you know, what we do here is we bring that, that music power to people and what they, you know, a way to, a way to love it. 

Dan Egan:

It's 93.5 WMWV music without boundaries, pretty much says it all. 

Roy Prescott:

You need a job. You sound good, <laugh>

Greg Frizzell:

Yeah, 

Absolutely. 

Dan Egan:

Uh, thanks so much guys. Thanks for joining us here at the 6 0 3 Podcast. 

Greg Frizzell:

Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. 

Roy Prescott:

Thanks, Dan.