Meet our family, the Merle FM staff.

Merle staff:

Ron Meredith

Ron Meredith, Owner and Operator, started his career in broadcasting in 1979 in LaFollette, TN.

He purchased WYSH in 1990 and has bought or built a total of 10 radio stations in East TN since then. If it has to do with radio, Ron Meredith has done, can do, or will find out how to do it in order to bring results to clients and listeners.

Jack Ryan

Jack Ryan is a native East Tennessean and attended Karns, Farragut, and CAK schools, and graduated from The University of Tennessee in 1997.

He has worked at several radio stations across the southeast. He is the 2009 winner of CMA Radio Personality of the Year and was recently nominated for an ACM award. He is a father of two and resides in East Knoxville.

Jack is the host of the afternoon drive 3-7 pm on Merle FM!

Big D & Bubba

Big D started in radio when he was 14 years old at a 1000-watt Christian radio station in Cookeville, Tenn. His first country radio experience was when he was 19 in Billings, Montana, where he fell in love with the country lifestyle. He is also an Instrument Rated Private Airplane Pilot.

Bubba was 14 years old when he became a disc jockey at the local radio station. Bubba went on to use radio to travel the world and worked at stations in places such as Guam and Tokyo and, just like Big D...he too is a Private Airplane Pilot.

"We know how crazy life can be....and we want to be your goofy chubby, best radio friend refuge from the harsh reality of being pulled 100 different directions by your spouse, kids, boss, coworkers, etc."

Big D and Bubba came to the Merle family in 2007.

Big Rick

Ricky Kitzmiller, better known as Big Rick. Big Rick is the evening personality on Merle FM 7 pm - 12 midnight. Big Rick also works on our sister stations, WYSH and WGAP. Rick loves working both on the air and with clients. He's married to Kim and has one daughter, Kyanna.

Phil Jarnagin

Phil spent the better part of 30 years in the TV business. Phil was the rep that handled the Merle FM account for the local CBS TV station. After a few years, we finally brought him to the good side and he has been with us here at Merle FM since Feb 2010

Garry Walden

Garry Walden has been in sales since 1973 and with our family since 1997. He knows how to make your advertising dollar go as far as possible.

Candi, the Merle girl

Candi the Merle Girl, also known as Jana Payne, has been with our family since 1997. Jana does on-air work and a great deal of production work. When you hear the great sounding commercials on Merle, you can thank Candi the Merle girl.

Walter Stair

Walter Stair is one of our on-air hosts. Walt has been in radio since 1973. He has been on air as a sports announcer, host of Trading Time, as well as promoting clients' businesses through creative advertising campaigns. He is married to Rhonda with one son, Adam.

Jasper Young

Jasper Young has over 2 decades of business to business sales experience, specializing in building media campaigns for a wide variety of clients. He is married with one daughter. He also serves as vice-president at the Claxton Optimist Club and is in charge of the youth basketball program.

Kelly Harris

Kelly Harris, Traffic and Billing. Needless to say, these are two areas that must be handled correctly. When you get your bill, you can rest assured a great deal of attention went into making sure it is correct. Kelly is the wife of Jim, and she understands the importance of making sure clients are happy.

Jill Green

Jill Green has called Knoxville home since she graduated from the University of Tennessee with degrees in English and History. Her experience covers everything in print from sales to writing to design and everything in television from purchasing and sales to modeling and hosting. After a few years at home with two precious angels, she joined the Merle crew as Promotions Director in 2011. She is an avid grammar geek and a compulsive and habitual volunteer. Don't be surprised if you see this socialite Merle Girl all over town.

Will Housley

Will handles the web site for Merle FM, handles on air shifts, and most everything else we ask him to. Oh, and he's a full time student at Tennessee Tech, studying Journalism - Public Relations. He plans to continue his studies in Public Relations after graduation. Before joining the Merle family, Will worked on our sister station, WYSH-AM, as a DJ for Trading Time and several other weekend programs.

Kevin Coiner

Kevin Coiner has 15 yrs experience in creating successful advertising campaigns for a diverse range of clients with focus on unique characteristics of each business. He has two children, Eli and Makenzie, and has called Knoxville home for over 28 yrs.

Jim Harris

Jim Harris, News and Sports Director. Jim came to our family in 1998. He worked his way from weekend announcer to play-by-play announcer to sports and news director. Jim is one of the cornerstones of the operation.

Jimmy Farmer

Jimmy Farmer has been involved in advertising for more than 5 decades. He has owned and operated his own newspaper, and knows the importance of taking care of customers. Jimmy joined our family in 1998.

Mary Byrne

Mary has over 20 years of experience in business-to-business marketing, providing successful results for them by reaching thousands of customers through print and radio mediums. She handles accounts for all of the stations in the Merle family. Mary's marketing skills can help you find just the right package for your budget. You'll see her friendly face at station events as well as community events. If you can tear her away from her work and her family, she likes to spend time on the golf course or trying out a new restaurant. Get to know this Merle Girl, you'll be glad you did!