By Laurent Clow
Jazzy Big Daddy glides around the tiny studio, nimbly grabbing CDs off the wall behind him. At the same time, he's loading commercials into the tape deck, checking baseball updates on the Internet and keeping an eye on how much longer B.B. King's "The Thrill is Gone" will play.
"You cannot have gaps," he says.
As the song ends, he pops in a new CD and readies a few commercials. He settles down on a simple black stool, snaps headphones on and turns on the mic.
"It's 8:52 and you're listening to WRXB, your station for the best gospel and R&B," he says. His mellow voice is smooth and soft with a slight rasp.
By day, Jazzy Big Daddy is Wayne Facyson, a 46-year-old software developer from St. Petersburg. But every night from 7 to midnight, he plays a mix of R&B, jazz, soul and blues on WRXB, 1590 AM. The station is one of 17 radio stations that broadcast out of Pinellas County, according to the Florida Association of Broadcasters.
With such companies as Clear Channel controlling many of the radio stations across the country, stations like WRXB and DJs like Facyson are becoming scarce. The station reaches an estimated one million listeners in the Tampa Bay area, according to WRXB sales manager Donza Drummond. While the Metropolitan Radio Group, a Missouri-based company that owns 13 other stations across the country, owns WRXB, the station doesn't have to conform to a strict format or corporate-mandated play lists.
"To me, (radio) is more commercialized. All the stations sound the same," Facyson said. "You hear the same stuff every hour. You won't hear the same music every hour here."
Facyson calls WRXB "old-fashioned radio." While many radio stations are run entirely by computer, Facyson has to do everything by hand at WRXB. There's no computer database of the station's music catalog, so he has to hunt along the racks of CDs on the wall for the song he's looking for. Facyson has to cue all the music, keep an eye on the commercials and take listener requests.
"Lots of stations have computers running all this equipment," he says. "I make it sound just like a computer's running it."
The station went on the air in 1976 and was owned and operated by Eugene Danzey and his family until Metropolitan Radio purchased the station in 1999. The Danzey family left the station after the sale, but WRXB is still run locally, according to Drummond. She calls the station "community oriented" and says WRXB sponsors events like food drives and Father's Day celebrations in St. Petersburg.
WRXB is divided into parts. The station maintains administrative offices at 2060 First Ave. N. The studio is situated in a tiny blue building located just off 38th Avenue South. CDs line the back wall of the small studio, arranged mostly in alphabetical order. A computer, mixing board, two CD players, a tape deck and other equipment take up the rest of the studio. In the middle of it all is Facyson, a large, chocolate-skinned man with a thin mustache who says he tries to let the music carry the show.
"I try not to talk as much," he says. "I don't want people to say, 'I'm sick of his talking.'"
Right now, he says listeners are demanding to hear the newest single by American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino. While Facyson tries to keep new music in the rotation, he prefers to play older songs by artists such as Luther Vandross and Johnny Gill.
"You don't have the talent you used to have," he says.
Anyone can go into a studio now, record a few tracks and over-produce the music so it sounds good, Facyson said. The artists "don't love the music" and leave the business once they make enough money.
"There won't be no Aretha Franklin, no Luther Vandross. Those artists are long gone," he says. "I can't see myself listening to 50 Cent 20 years from now."
Facyson's parents influenced his musical tastes. They listened to blues artists such as Muddy Waters and the Bobby Blue Band.
"We are a product of what our parents listened to," he says.
Though he's by himself in the studio every night, Facyson says he doesn't get lonely.
"You have to imagine [the listeners]" out there, he says. "I'm their eyes and ears on the road. I've got to give them the time, give them the weather."
He says he also has "loyal listeners" who call into his show. One woman, he says, has called in every night for the last two years and requested the same song: "Brandy" by the O'Jays. Tonight, he plans to play it before she calls.
"I'll beat her to the punch," he says.
Facyson says it's important for local radio stations to connect with the community. During his show, he makes announcements for Meals on Wheels and a local community center offering swimming lessons. And while he doesn't talk on the air too much, Facyson said he plans to start talking more.
"I want to get engaged in the [presidential] campaign coming up," he says. "People do listen to what you say."