A visit to Electric City Broadcasting is a lesson in old style radio when on-air requests and live reads were the rule rather than the exception.
In a digital age where artificial intelligence has replaced local disc jockeys in many markets across the country, Bud Burdette has found a home as the morning show host of Electric City Bluegrass on WRIX in Anderson – 104.7 FM and 1020 on the AM dial.
For the past five years, Burdette has filled local airwaves weekdays from 7 a.m. until 11 a.m. with the best in bluegrass and bluegrass gospel. And he’s built a local following of bluegrass enthusiasts from music lovers to musicians.
Matter of fact, it was bluegrass pickin’ that got the Iva native into the radio business after a long career as a professional truck driver for Wal-Mart.
“I’ve been playing bluegrass for a long time. It’s part of our family,” said Burdette, who plays mandolin, banjo and guitar. “We’d have family reunions and it’d be all about playing bluegrass music and gospel music.”
It was almost five years ago that Burdette’s band was the opening act for The Little Roy and Lizzy Show at Breazeale’s Grocery Bluegrass on Liberty Highway near Pendleton.
“That’s where I first met (WRIX owner) Rob McClure and his wife, Liz,” Burdette recalled. “We talked and that’s when I began working with WRIX radio. I’d sell spots and go around and meet a lot of people, and it was most enjoyable. But after that I got into the morning show as the morning show host from 7 a.m. until 11 a.m. Monday through Friday.”
While Burdette has that baritone, radio voice, he had to learn to operate the sound board and the art of multi-tasking that includes answering dueling request line and cell phones, doing live reads and cuing up the next bluegrass selection.
And while he can cite chapter and verse about most any bluegrass band or song, Burdette sometimes learns a little bluegrass trivia that he didn’t know from a loyal listener.
When he’s not on the air, you might find Burdette restoring an old Volkswagen or Harley-Davidson motorcycle. And when COVID restrictions ease, his band, Crystal River Bluegrass, hopes to get back to playing bluegrass music every Tuesday night at a nursing home somewhere in Anderson or for his friends in the special needs community.
“Bluegrass is songs about day-to-day life,” Burdette said. “It’s just good wholesome music.”
