The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 211

The Atlanta journal The Atlanta Constitution 1 ARTS Sunday, June 30, 1996 L3 WMLB to airwaves brines Americana Roots radio WMLB's range, rotation Be- sides such solid country favorites as Hank Johnny Cash and Tammy VI Wynette, I a typical By Bob Townsend FOR THE JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION There's an old-time gospel hymn called "Turn Your Radio On," sung by Rhubarb Red and His Rubes: "Turn your radio on, and you'll hear music" it goes. "Turn your radio on, and you'll be free." It isn't the theme song for tiny WMLB-AM (1170) in dimming. But it probably should be. Because as strange as it may seem, the daytime-only station perched on a hill in rural Forsyth County has suddenly become a ntf-tionally recognized standard-bearer for "Americana" a mutant strain of independent country, folk, bluegrass and rural rock that's the newest, and some would say the freshest, radio format in America. J.

Even more surprising: The station's recent programming change was engineered by a self-confessed "Yankee from New York," who had i i i GARRICK GIBSON Staff AM (1170) features cuts from a surprising mix of left-wing country, contemporary folk and rural rock artists. A few of the albums in the rotation: BR5-49, "Live" (Arista). Junior Brown, "Semi-Crazy" (Curb). Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson, "Ba- tl kersfield Bound" (Sugar Hill) Waylon Jennings, "Right for the Time'V" 3'1 Lyle Lovett, "The Road to (MCA). Bill Morrissey, "YouU Never Get to 1 JUSTIN WILLIAMS Staff Cumming to you: "AM radio, it's just the best thing," says country-folk singer Richard Buck-ner (left), with WMLB's Chris Marino.

"I grew up listening to a small-town AM station in California." Kimmie Rhodes, "West Texas Heaven" (Justice). (Dead Tammy Rogers, "Tammy Rogers" Reckoning). Dale Watson, "Blessed or Damned" never even ueeii maiuc a tauiu oiuiuu uciuic uc walked into WMLB's cinderblock building on Ga. 9 and asked to host a talk show. "I believe it's providence," is the way 35-year-old program director and morning disc jockey Chris Marino explains what's happened since owner Amy McCollum gave him creative control of the station two years ago.

Marino has quickly become an Americana maven. And for the first time since she bought WMLB in 1989, McCollum has finally begun to turn a profit. "It's a totally unlikely story," says Marino, a political science graduate from Tufts University in Boston. "I'm a Yankee. A crazy Italian from Long Island, no less.

But I've never had a prob-lem here. It's just If you live in metro Atlanta and you've never heard of WMLB, you're not alone. The station's dawn-to-dusk signal doesnt reach much below But above the Perimeter, from Roswell, Marietta and Kennesaw to the west, Stone Mountain and Lawrenceville to the east, and Canton and Dawsonville to the north, WMLB's familiar ID "Mountains Lake Radio the best country in the country" comes in loud and clear. As for Americana, listen to this public service announcement from the man who founded the format, an editor at the influential San Francisco-based trade journal Gavin: "It's eclectic country," says Rob Bleetstein. "But more important, it's about getting good music on the air." Bleetstein compiled the format's first chart on Jan.

1, 1995. He says the "Gavin Americana Top 40" simply legitimized a sound that was already taking shape at renegade stations such as KPIG-FM in Santa Cruz, Calif. (Hightone). Gillian Welch, "Revival" (Almo). Bob Townsend Marino didn't realize it, but he was perfectly articulating Bleetstein's concept of Americana.

And soon Marino began grabbing new artists on -their way to Atlanta, such as the Delevantes and Dale Watson, and putting them on the air live. As Forsyth County's only home-grown spot on the dial, WMLB continues to be an important outlet for community news and good old-fashioned gossip. All-time favorite programs continue to be two live call-in shows: "Party Line," where listeners send out birthday, anniversary and get-well greetings. "Swap Shop," where listeners offer used trucks, washing machines and even farm animals for sale. A frequent "Party Line" caller, 65-year-old Lil-lie Jett better known simply as Miss Lillie is by all accounts WMLB's unofficial historian and No.

1 fan. "Those guys up on that hill there are my special friends," she says. "I love them dearly." And what does Miss Lillie make of Marino and WMLB's new sound? "You know, we no longer think of him as a Yankee," she allows. "He's down here trying to infiltrate us. But I'll tell you what A lot of the groups he plays are better than some of this younger generation of country singers.

I turn my radio on to WMLB in the morning and it's nev- But what about little old WMLB? 'There's still only a handful of stations we can say are doing pure Americana as a full-time format," says Bleetstein. "WMLB is definitely one of them." When McCollum, who also owns a real estate company in Cumming, purchased WMLB, the station had been in operation for some 28 years. Its broadcasts mainly featured gospel music and religious programs. "When I first got it, it was just very unprofessional," she says. "They were having screaming preachers on at 8 o'clock in the morning, during morning drive time.

It was bizarre." McCollum introduced more mainstream country music and then, about three years ago, briefly toyed with a talk-radio format. That was when Marino came on board as host of an after-' noon show, where, as McCollum recalls, he often referred to callers as "maggots." Talk radio didn't last, but Marino did. "When I took over as program director, I decided to play the music I liked," says Marino. "Alison Krauss, Billy Joe Shaver, Tish Hinojosa, Kevin Welch. And we mixed in the older country artists our listeners were always asking for -Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Merle Haggard." er turned off until they sign off at night" p'1 Of course both McCollum and Marino would like longer hours, a stronger signal and maybe' even a spot on the FM band some day.

But as Mi-rino points out, bigger migttt not necessarily be better. The kind of nostalgia WMLB now engenders in listeners precisely because it's a throwback to the days when radio was guileless and free could easily be lost. 11 "This is the real thing," Marino says. "Fans of Garrison Keillor heed to tune in to 'Party Line' and 'Swap We don't make it up. We get calls like, 'If anybody sees a bull walking dowri Route 369, it's or 'If you can catch these chickens I've got down here, you can have Now that's real radio, baby." Jill it) V4.

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