Station brings Memphis tunes to virtual airwaves

Feature story for The Memphis Daily News

Aug. 30, 2011

At first glance, it looks like any home office anywhere: two flat screen computer monitors with towers beneath the desk, a coffee pot to one side and a black-and-white cat that desperately wants to be let out.

But then the microphone is noticed, and the rack of CD cases and the posters touting rock ‘n’ roll bands. Suddenly it seems like a 17-year-old’s home office.

This is the broadcast studio of the brand new Radio Memphis, an Internet-only, original-music-only, Memphis-only radio station.

“It’s a radio station that is not like any other, that’s for sure,” said founder Ric Chetter. “We’ve broken the corporate mold by getting away from trying to just please our shareholders. Not that we have any, it’s just me and the people that have stepped in to help put this thing together and make this thing a reality.”

Chetter knows corporate too. He has spent most of his life in the corporate environment, most recently with media mastodon Clear Channel Communications (WEGR/Rock 103), where he held various positions including morning drive time host with the late John “Bad Dog” McCormick. Chetter was laid off from Clear Channel in February … (read more)