KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune listeners are waking up to voice of experience
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — When Ed Chandler speaks across the airwaves, you’ll want to listen. His smooth drawl pulls you into the story he’s telling as much as the anecdote itself.
Chandler has a voice for radio.
PHOTO: Ed Chandler joins The Picayune family as the voice of the KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune morning show. He gets listeners ready for their day 6-10 a.m. weekdays. Staff photo by Daniel Clifton
He’s also the new face — make that the voice — of KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune. Chandler helms the morning show 6-10 a.m. weekdays during which he’s often joined by Wade Hibler.
The longtime on-air personality brings a background that’s hall-of-fame worthy. In fact, he earned a nomination to the Country Music On-Air Personality Hall of Fame last year.
“For a radio personality, it’s a big deal,” he said. “People like Ralph Emery and Bill Mack, just legendary people in country music radio, have been inducted into the hall of fame. I’ve always heard the saying, ‘It’s just an honor to be nominated,’ and I thought, ‘No, it’s not. It’s an honor to be inducted.’ But, really, it is a tremendous honor to be nominated among all those other great (on-air personalities).”
Despite not getting inducted his first go-around, Chandler’s name remains on the list of possible inductees for future years.
There’s no denying Chandler’s influence on country music. If you’ve ever heard the duet “Good Hearted Woman,” sung by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, you can thank Chandler for that. The two singers recorded the piece separately, but Chandler took both versions of the songs and mixed them together to create a duet. RCA officials heard the mix and got Jennings and Nelson to record the song as an actual duet. The single soared to the top of the charts.
Chandler spent many years in major markets developing his skills and style. His latest role before coming to KBEY was at Kerrville’s The Ranch 92.3 FM. But when KBEY officials asked the veteran broadcaster to bring his talents to the Highland Lakes, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity, for both professional and personal reasons.
“I’ve been coming up to this area for years,” Chandler said. “I absolutely love the Hill Country, but when you have the lakes with it, it’s the best place in the world to live.”
Chandler saw a great chance at helping take KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune to the next level. The station has experienced strong growth over the past several years but still has so much potential.
“With the input we get from (The Picayune), it’s all fitting together to make this a great family,” Chandler said. “We’re going to focus on local, local, local. We’re not going to change the overall sound of the station, but we’re going to make the sound of the radio station better than it has been. And we’ll fine-tune the programming.”
Chandler will share radio duties with longtime local resident and KBEY personality Ben Shields.
daniel@thepicayune.com