Fifteen Years of C.C.C. -- v. 1

Today, the 25th of April is the exact anniversary of fifteen years for Bill Cody on WSM, serving as deejay for the weekday morning show "Coffee, Country & Cody". This being Saturday, the on-air celebration was yesterday morning.

And what a celebration!

Please know, dear reader, that I've listened to Bill Cody for more than just 15 years! You see, I first heard him as "Buffalo Bill Cody" on San Antonio's KKYX-AM 680. I still remember how very surprised I was when we moved from Devine, Texas, to Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1994 (not being aware that Bill was no longer at KKYX, since I listened to Christian radio much more than country radio at that time) and I tuned in to WSM one weekday morning -- and there was Bill! I didn't listen that much to the station at the time -- except for Opry nites -- since I preferred Southern Gospel on my radio.

But since moving into Mercury Courts last August I have found it impossible to pick up the chief Southern Gospel station here, and so have "settled" for tuning in "The Air Castle of the South" most of the time. And listening to "Coffee, Country & Cody weekday mornings has gotten my day off to a great start most days! Part of the secret of the allure of the show is that Bill has a sidekick, WSM's sports reporter Charlie Mattos, the resident "Yankee" on the WSM staff. There is an endearing chemistry between the two personalities. Even tho' the show is okay to listen to on days when either Bill or Charlie is absent, I much prefer the two together and their usually very amusing conversations.

On Friday's show, to celebrate Bill's fifteenth anniversary with the station, there were numerous airings of congratulations from all manner of listeners and co-workers, and some fine in-studio guests. One was Sarah Buxton, a young lady with whom I was unfamiliar, but from her conversations with Bill the two have been acquaintances for a good long time. At one point Bill asked her about her first encounter with a "star" after coming to Nashville, and she told about doing something musically with Martina McBride and then being invited to Martina's home. Once there, Sarah realized that -- wow! -- she was in MARTINA's home, but the star herself was just being "so regular".

Another in-studio guest was Whitey Shaffer, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Like many songwriters, Whitey has also performed songs. And he was ready to sing and play guitar there in the studio, for Bill and the audience. But the song he was going to play is one that George Strait had recorded (and with which he'd had a hit), and Bill had already played it. So Whitey had to go with another song he had written.