A small town station that had a 20 year run

WYAP's community service included concerts, local sports, and against-the-grain political agitation

Unlike the community radio stations in the rest of this blog, the story of WYAP 101.7 in Clay, WV has a beginning, middle, … and end.

Let us imagine the middle first. It’s the early 2010s. A crowd of 1,000 people is gathered for July 4th celebrations in the town of Clay, near the Elk River and between the tightly packed hills of Clay County. WYAP secured some funding to buy a trailer and a nice stage with a curved roof. A band is jamming on the stage, kids are running around, and then at dark, the fireworks. One-eighth of the county’s population is there. And for those who aren’t, it’s all aired live on WYAP.

For five years, Andy Waddell organized live concerts every Saturday night between Memorial Day and Labor Day on a parking lot in Clay — the biggest flat space in the area. Most weeks would draw 50 or 100 or maybe 200 people for a bluegrass or country mix. The big holidays drew bigger crowds.

WYAP also used to air high school football, baseball, and basketball games. These broadcasts by far drew the largest audience. They also drew the most sponsorships, accounting for half of WYAP’s operating budget.

The rest of the schedule was a curious mix. At night, different genres of music — gospel on Sundays, easy listening jazz on Mondays, blues on Tuesdays, etc. Fridays consisted entirely of artists with a West Virginia connection.

During the day, 10 hours of progressive public affairs shows like Democracy Now and Thom Hartmann. These never gained much of a following in a county whose politics are emblematic of West Virginia. In 1996, 58% of Clay County voters went for Bill Clinton. In 2020, 80% of them chose Donald Trump. (This WV subreddit has a pretty good explanation of this phenomenon.)

The beginning

Andy Waddell has very little respect for authority.

Back in the 1990s, before he helped start WYAP, Andy started The Communicator, a rival newspaper to the existing Clay paper. “All I did was go to all the local meetings and report what those dumb fucks said,” said Andy. When local officials got caught with their hands in the till, Andy didn’t hold back. And when a local politician tried to post the Ten Commandments in the courthouse, Andy got the state ACLU to take on the case.

Adding a radio station was a way to extend that journalistic mission. And Andy also saw that the county needed an instant source of information. If there was a real emergency like a dam breaking upstream on the Elk River, the Charleston stations barely reached Clay and cared about it even less.

Andy had heard and appreciated Allegheny Mountain Radio (which I recently wrote about). Gibbs Kinderman from AMR donated some equipment and lent expertise. Once they got their LPFM construction permit from the FCC, a core group of six Clay folks (Andy included) got WYAP on the air in a single day.

Another part of the middle of the story

Money to run WYAP was always tight. Their annual operating budget never topped $4,000. Andy told me there are only about 30 businesses total in the town of Clay, and they get hit up for everybody’s fundraiser campaign.

And how was Andy received, being a contrarian? “The word ‘asshole’ comes to mind,” Andy said. “That was part of the problem getting sponsors. But I wore it with pride. No one else was actually reporting stories.”

“In my 29 years with the newspaper and almost 20 with the station, I only got sued three or four times,” said Andy. “It got costly, but it was a whole shit pot of fun.” Andy won every case.

With minimal budget, WYAP never was able to develop the infrastructure to stay on-air during emergencies.

“We could have been really useful during the [2012] Derecho or the [2016] Great Washout,” said Andy. “But there was no electricity. We didn’t have a generator and we couldn’t have afforded to fuel it for two weeks even if we did.”

WYAP’s ending… and maybe a new beginning?

On November 16, 2023, Andy turned off WYAP. Of the six founders of the station, he was the only one still alive, and he was retiring.

Andy talks at length about the depressed economy in Clay County. More than a third of county residents receive SNAP benefits. An astounding 34% of schoolchildren are homeless - living in unstable settings with people other than relatives. There is a huge need for good-paying jobs. Andy is excited about the brand new Rail Explorers rail tour company, as well as the extension of the Elk River Trail System into Clay. He wishes he could support these and future economic development projects with the radio station.

Andy has donated WYAP’s equipment and license to Clay County Schools. In 2023, the high school launched Panther Nation Radio, a digital stream & media brand, so it seemed like a good fit. But that stream has not yet begun broadcasting on 101.7 FM, and the teacher that started it has just left Clay schools.

“I wish I had groomed someone to be as stupid as me to volunteer to take it on,” said Andy. “I didn’t realize how much I’d miss it. I’d turn it on every morning to make sure it was on the air.”