Moonlighting as a DJ on a Mississippi Blues Radio Station
WABG and the surrounding plantation
One thing you’ll notice as you road trip through the Mississippi Delta is that
listening to the radio can be a problem. There are country stations, pop stations and
talk stations—but finding a blues station takes a bit of work. Which is silly, because
the reason you’ve come to blues country is to hear the blues, right?
Luckily, one station hears your pain: WABG, aka The Awesome AM, based in
Greenwood. You can listen to it on 960 AM or online at awesomeam.com, where it plays blues and
classic rock. Not that it’s always been that way—at launch in 1950 it was a “farm/talk/country station” and when the present owners bought it in 2007 it was all talk.
But the very best thing about WABG is that it’s open to visitors. “Poe," the sole DJ and one of three owners of the station, spends half his life
in the little whitewashed shack in a field in the middle of a plantation on the outskirts
of Greenwood. And what may be bad for his social life is great for you, because it
means that if he’s around when you pop by (and he most likely will be), he’ll invite
you in, give you a little tour of the station, interview you about your travel plans
live on air and even, if you're well behaved, let you indulge in a spot of DJing.
The mighty "Poe"
This is how we first met Poe, two years ago. We were driving along, looking for the Tallahatchie Flats and Robert Johnson's grave (or rather, one of three Delta "graves" that are supposed to contain the legendary bluesman), and he was mowing the grass outside the station. We asked for directions, he said "Welcome to the Delta" in his best DJ voice, and invited us on the radio the following day. This time, he drove round half the Delta with us, showing us places we didn't know about. He's kinda the best ambassador Greenwood could have.
To find Poe, the station and your DJ dreams, head along County Road 518 towards Money, and it's on your right, about two miles out of Greenwood.
[Photos: juliab for Jaunted]
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