Today marks a very special milestone for me and The Underground. It was 20 years ago today that my incarnation of The Big Radio Program launched. My life has been forever changed since that night. This is the story of how it all began and how we ended up at this point today.
The Underground initially started in the spring of 2022 with J-Love and Buzz, a couple of youth pastors from Rankin County, on the now-defunct WHJT Star 93.5. These dedicated youth pastors saw the show as an extension of their ministry and often brought music from their own collections to play on the air. With a built-in audience from their youth groups, the show was an instant hit for the Jackson area.
I was a part-time employee at the station working full time hours. I was doing everything from answering phones, producing commercials, and putting football games on the air alongside many other responsibilities. My introduction to the show came whenever the station was in need of a substitute to sit behind the board that night – pushing all the buttons, playing all the music, and clicking on all the right icons at the right time. As I sat in on that show that night, my musical tastes were instantly broadened. What I was hearing (and playing) was some of the best new music around, and yet only so few people knew it existed. My definition of what Christian music was and what it was capable of being was completely blown away. “People have got to know about this”, I said to myself as I left the station that night.
As youth pastors often do, they move around a lot. J-Love and Buzz were no exception. About a year after the launch of their show, they both told the station that they felt they were being called to move to new locations and that they would no longer be able to continue the show. Not content to let a good thing die, the station immediately began thinking of who could take over the hosting and producing duties. Meanwhile, I was about to complete college (WHJT was a college station) and I was anticipating my next move. After much contemplation and prayer, I decided to pursue a master’s degree which would allow me to continue working at the station for another couple of years. It was during this time that the program director approached me with the proposition to take over The Underground. In that moment, I realized that The Lord had answered my prayers. He provided clarity and opened doors as the next chapter of my life was about to begin. I immediately jumped at the chance at this new opportunity. Having my own radio show had been a dream of mine since high school. That dream was coming true.
On April 26, 2003, The Underground premiered with its new hosts I-Max and Rush. As 8:00 approached that night, I was excited and nervous at the same time. I had no clue what was about to take place. I wish that I could say that the transition was a smooth one, but I’d be lying. For the first few weeks, we would get callers asking us where J-Love and Buzz were. I could understand the listeners’ frustration, but I could tell that they weren’t warming up to us like I thought. I can’t remember the exact moment that the tide began to turn, but eventually, the audience accepted us as the show’s new hosts. Through a bizarre turn of events, the Underground crew expanded to include Trisket, our Underground News reporter, and his sidekick Ritz. From there, we were able to build an even bigger audience, make connections with area youth pastors, introduce our own comedy bits, and occasionally bring a live band into the studio with a full set up. We were doing things that no other radio show (or station) in the Jackson area was doing. I was having the time of my life. The highlight of my week every week was getting to turn on that microphone and produce a new, live show.
Tragedy struck in April 2006. Almost three years to the day of taking over The Underground, the station management abruptly cancelled The Big Radio Program. There was nothing I could do to save it or make them reconsider. To add insult to injury, I lost about 85% of the show’s music library whenever we were cancelled, due to the majority of the music being owned by the station. I was crushed and distraught. I used to look forward to Saturday nights. At this point, I dreaded the arrival of Saturday nights. I would sink into a deep depression, feeling that I wasn’t where I needed to be, doing The Lord’s work anymore. I spent the following four years rebuilding the Underground’s music library, which was not an easy or cheap thing to do. As I went about re-collecting the music, I considered what my next move would be — could I possibly get the show back on the air somewhere, or did God have other plans?
After much stress, strain, and turmoil, a station down on the coast in Gulfport agreed to pick up the show. I was so excited. I could finally do The Underground again and hopefully pick up where we left off. Rush was brought back into the fold, along with newcomer Swirley. This version of the show launched in August 2010. This time around brought its own challenges and hiccups, but nothing that could not be overcome. Then, that October, only six weeks after the show launched, I got a call from the general manager who said that the station was going under. It was about to be taken over as an AFR affiliate, and the station itself was going to close. I couldn’t believe it. God had brought me through so much adversity up to this point. I couldn’t understand why this would happen now. Once again, the plug had been pulled, and I had some tough decisions to make.
By this time, The Underground had been through two cancellations and had accumulated a lot of emotional baggage for me. I had tossed around, and even briefly explored, a few ideas of what to do with the show next. One of those ideas was to convert it to a music video show for local cable. I had talks with some people who could make that idea a reality, but ultimately, nothing materialized beyond those discussions. I was frustrated, sad, drained, and completely exhausted. At this point, I had set a deadline for myself. If nothing happened with The Underground by a certain date, I was going to pull the plug on it once and for all. The day came and went completely unnoticed. After several months of stepping away from its development, I had completely forgotten about the deadline and I officially terminated operations on The Underground. Before that day arrived, I thought it was going to be a very sad, emotional, and heart-wrenching moment. In reality, I felt a sense of relief. In fact, I had put some mental distance between myself and the show at this point, so I was moving on to other things anyway. When the sun set on that day, it also set on The Underground. It was time to move on. For the first time in eight years, I was ready to put it behind me and declare that chapter of my life over. I was not going to return to The Underground ever again…or so I thought.
Fast forward a few years later. I was living life and finding fulfillment with another job. I was dedicating myself to media ministry at my local church. Life for me was going well. While I was attending that church, the youth pastor there inadvertently introduced me to this newfangled contraption called Spotify. I was intrigued immediately. I began exploring this new advancement in digital music for myself. This new app was very impressive with its capabilities. Then…I had an idea. I started tossing around the idea of using a Spotify playlist to share the music I used to play on The Underground. This time, I told myself, it would be different. I cannot get cancelled, no royalties to pay. I started exploring this idea more in-depth. About six months after my introduction to Spotify, The Invite was born. The concept was to test to see if listeners would visit a website to stream a Spotify playlist once a month. If the test worked, the plan was to expand it into a streaming station in the Jackson area. The Invite didn’t do much outside of the prototype phase, but it did show me what was possible with streaming technology.
Meanwhile, the city of Pearl launched its own radio station – WPBP 104.5. (now 104.3). The station, ironically, used to belong to Crossgates Baptist Church, which was where the majority of our listeners from the Star days attended. When the city took it over, they turned it into a community station that runs general music throughout the day. As I listened to the station, I kept hearing promos for something called “Pirate After Dark”. I had no idea what it was, except that it was on overnights. Late one night, I tune in to check it out. I was amazed at what I heard. Pirate After Dark was six hours’ worth of Christian Rock and Hip Hop – many of the artists the same ones I played on The Underground! I couldn’t believe my ears! Somebody was doing it! Somebody had taken up the mantle! Over time, I would check out this new discovery and was overjoyed that somebody saw value in the music I used to play.
One day, I had the good fortune to have a chance meeting with Frank, the general manager of the station. As I talked with him about the station, I mentioned Pirate After Dark. I told him that I was not only a fan of the genre, but that I used to do a show that featured that type of music. He replied that he has been looking for someone to take over PAD and totally revamp it and keep it current. He asked me on the spot if I would be interested. I jumped at the chance and told him “absolutely’. We exchanged contact info and the waiting game began. For the next couple of years, we played phone tag trying to follow up on the conversation. As I continued to get my ducks in a row to helm this new project, I wondered to myself what I would call it. For a while, I was leaning heavily into “The Invite”, so as to expand the work that had been done online. My wife kept telling me I needed to call it The Underground. I resisted the idea very hard at first, then I started warming up to it. After a lot of soul searching, praying, and taking inventory of the material I had in my studio, it just made sense to name the show The Underground and treat it as a reboot. I finally realized that enough time had passed between the first two iterations of the show that I could return to it with a fresh vision and a clear head. The baggage that was associated with the show was no more, and it would be a fresh start. Plus, I was working with a station this time that had my back and wanted to see it succeed. Not only that, but the general manager also possessed the same vision of the ministry aspects of the program. He saw the good that could come from it.
At long last, Frank and I finally reconnected with a phone call and the gig was mine. For the following few months, we did test shows to reveal the capabilities and the limitations of their system. We did have a few bumps along the way and few setbacks, but we learned every time we ran a new show. Finally, the big day came. In August 2018, The Underground 3.0 premiered. It was a significantly scaled back version of the show: no co-hosts, no segments, just blocks of music hosted by yours truly. I was so thankful that God blessed me with another chance and another opportunity to do the show again at long last.
When the show started, I barely had enough music on hand to cobble together a three hour show each week. Each show was virtually the same. Not only that, but the music had some age on it, and I knew I couldn’t keep playing the same handful of songs that I had been playing since 2003. It was then that I set out to get music from the record labels. It hadn’t always been an easy task, but The Lord has provided new music consistently since 2018. He has allowed me to have continued success in this area of the show year after year. In 2022, The Underground attained reporting status. This means that I report to the Christian music charts all the new music that gets played each week. This report influences the chart, which influences the labels who send out even more new music. This momentum has been going on for quite some time now. I see this success as confirmation that this is something The Lord has called me to do.
Today, the mission of The Underground is a simple one: Connection. I hope to see listeners connect to today’s cutting edge Christian artists, to connect with faith-based non-profits in the community, to connect with a local church if they need one, and ultimately, to connect with God. Now, as twenty years have officially gone by, my prayer is that The Underground will see another twenty years. I truly believe in the purpose behind this show and the good that it can do. Over these twenty years, I have experienced exhilarating highs and devastating lows. For some reason, God saw fit to bring it back every time. Each time, it got stronger and better than ever. The Big Radio Program has truly been a labor of love for the past twenty years. I didn’t go out looking for The Underground. The Underground found me.