BROWNSBURG — Shane Ray’s family was friends with a radio DJ when he was young. His life changed when he visited him at the studio.

“I thought it was great you could get paid to sit there and, at the time, spin records,” Ray said.

It was enough to convince him to get into radio himself. He did just that after graduating from high school in Mayfield, Ky.

“It was a fairly loose format, a small-market radio station,” Ray said of his first broadcasting job.

He went to work for a bigger station a couple of years later. That, he quickly discovered, was completely different.

“They had a script for me to follow,” Ray said. “Play this song at this time. Do not exceed four seconds before the next song. Don’t play anything that’s not in the Top 40. I worked one night and the next day said, ‘I don’t think I want to do this.’”

The response, he said, was ‘too bad; if you want to work in radio this is what you have to do because that’s where it’s going.’ Ray vowed to never work in radio again.

Fast forward 15 years. After dabbling in music for a while Ray moved here in 2001 and got married. He saw the local radio station, WKLU 101.9, bought by a big media conglomerate and moved to Indianapolis.

“It left a lot of people here with a gap,” Ray said. “We still need a radio station. This is a big enough town with enough going on that people still need to know what’s happening.”

It’s why Ray is starting XRB 1610, otherwise known as Radio Brownsburg. The AM station will broadcast a 24/7 mix of classic rock & roll from the 1950s through the ’80s. He’ll also conduct a morning show and have news updates throughout the day. Radio Brownsburg will be mostly automated the rest of the time, but Ray promises, “I’ll try to keep things lively.”

This being a one-man upstart, the station only has a signal strong enough for a three-mile radius, at least initially. Ray has negotiated with Beanzie’s Gourmet Coffee in Avon to put a transmitter on their roof — good for two more miles. He hopes to do the same in other parts of Hendricks County. But no more.

“I definitely want to keep this in the county,” Ray said. “I’m not interested in the big market, as far as Indianapolis.”

Those outside Radio Brownsburg’s broadcast area can still listen online at www.radiobrownsburg.com.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in Japan, you can hear me and hear what’s going on in Brownsburg,” Ray said. “If you leave here and still want to know what’s going on, tune us in.”

Ray’s reason for leaving the business before was his disgust at the corporate mentality that pervaded the industry. A handful of companies gobbled up all of the mom-and-pop operations, simultaneously homogenizing the formats and eradicating virtually any of the local color. Playlists were suddenly determined by company bean-counters instead of the people who actually played the music.

A longtime music collector, Ray promises he’ll raid his vault to play gems you probably haven’t heard in a while, at least on the air.

“I’m going to try to play songs the larger stations don’t because they focus only on stuff that was in the Top 10 or 20,” he said. “There were a lot of good songs that only made it to the Top 30 or 40; some didn’t even chart. But you’d know the singer.”

That includes music made before The Beatles Revolution. Believe it or not, there was rock & roll before the Liverpool Legends put their stamp on it.

“There were others out there, they’re just not getting played,” Ray said. “People still like Johnny Rivers and Chubby Checker.”

A look around the Radio Brownsburg studio, inside The Payroll Department building (owned by Ray’s wife), gives the impression of a man bringing his music collection to life. New technology collides with old, including a turntable and reel-to-reel machine. It enables Ray to utilize almost any format. Posters of Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, and the requisite Beatles already adorn the walls.

But more than just a one-stop shop for rock & roll wonks, Ray also wants Radio Brownsburg to be a community forum. Besides local news he hopes to broadcast town council meetings and have call-in shows featuring local government officials. There are also talks of covering Brownsburg High School sports.

Even with technology making the world seem more connected than ever, Ray still sees an important niche for community radio like this.

“I just want Brownsburg to be happy with what I’m doing,” he said. “If they’re happy, then I’ll be happy, as long as I’m playing music. I want them to be informed with what’s going on in this community.”

For more information on Radio Brownsburg, call 852-1610 or visit the website at www.radiobrownsburg.com.



Just the facts

WHAT: Official launch of XRB 1610 AM, Radio Brownsburg. Food, giveaways, and live announcements during the festivities.

WHEN: 1-3 p.m. July 12

WHERE: 701 N. Green St., Brownsburg (at The Payroll Department building)