Just a pair of country boys
Posted Jan 26, 2012 By Mark BerginEMC Entertainment - Eight years ago this March, Garry McColman and Wayne Mathews gave birth to one of the most popular morning shows in Kingston radio history. You know them as Big G and Mathews from radio station KIX 93.5.
"I'm at my most serious when I'm joking," said Gregory Peck in his role as the angel in A Bishop's Wife. That applies to Big G and Mathews. They cover a lot of territory and issues in their morning show. Much of the banter is hilarious, even on serious issues.
"He was my birthday present," said Wayne Mathews of McColman. "The present that keeps on giving."
Eight years ago, Mathews had just been laid off from a radio station in Belleville.
"They canned the whole staff," he said. "They said they wanted to go in a new direction. When I came home, my wife Joanne said, 'Why don't you give Big G a call, you haven't talked to him in a while?'"
McColmanBig Gpicks up the story here.
"It was actually Joanne who called me," he said. "I asked how Wayne was doing and she told me it was not a good day, that Wayne had been laid off. I told Joanne that was a plum falling into my lap. She asked why, and I asked her to put Wayne on. I said, 'Wayne, I guess you need a job. Can you start tomorrow?'"
Mathews arrived at McColman's office the next morning and learned that radio station 102.7, which later moved to 93.5, was going country within 30 days.
"You're my first employee," McColman told Mathews.
"I was extremely happy," said McColman. "I'd just grabbed one of the most talented country personalities in the country."
After moving into the space shared with K-Rock 105.7, the pair decided to try a show together, explained McColman.
Mathews interrupts, and, if you listen to their morning show, you'll know this isn't unusual.
"Here's what really happened," said Mathews. "He decides he's going to do the morning show with some guy. I'm sitting at home listening and wonder what the hell is this? It sounds like he's working out of a funeral home. I said, 'You know what? You and I should do the show.'"
"With the way the shift in country was going, it was an odd thing to do, two guys of our age" said McColman. "But we'd been on less than two weeks and everyone told us it was a hit."
This oddball team works, and they've clicked with listeners. And for the past few years they've watched country music ride a wave of popularity that actually started back in the 1960s when Ray Charles broke tradition and recorded a country album.
The music industry thought Charles had lost it and his career was over, but time proved otherwise. His album received critical acclaim and spawned such monster hits as "I Can't Stop Loving You."
By the new Millennium, country had become the new cool. Ray Charles, Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell led the crossover way a few decades back. Today, musicians like Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, and The Band Perry head the crossover pack, recording huge hits on both country and pop charts. USA Today even named Glen Campbell's new album, Ghost on the Canvas, as one of the 10 best from all genres in 2011.
The country scene is thriving. McColman said that after pop music took a negative turn with the misogyny and racism found in urban and gangsta rap, country took on a younger pop sound and the youth demographic moved over to country music.
"All these beautiful, young people are coming up," said McColman. "They're the new stars. People like Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert. Lambert, there's the new face of country music and she rocks. She kicks ass."
"We both have different interests in life," said Mathews. "With our likes and dislikes we cover the whole spectrum. Big G likes NASCAR and racing, I like hunting and fishing."
"I'd listened to Wayne for years on other stations," said McColman. "He really is the best there is. I was tickled pink to have him on our team. Even with the shift in country music with the new demographics of females 18 - 34 going through the roof it was working."
Mathews chimes in: "It's not easy being eye candy. Seriously, between the two of us, we had a lot of experience in the industry. We'd both worked in major markets all over the country. Garry's biggest line is that Mathews has been fired from the biggest stations in the country, not just rinky dink little places."
If you're wondering what they're like in real life, turn on the radio. What you see is what you get. You've got a pair of grandfathers who love country music and their families. Each has raised five kids and has several grandchildren. Each loves his family and the local community.
"We're normal slobs," said McColman.
"If we don't agree, we air it out," added Mathews. "We wear our hearts on our sleeves. Our life is an open book and we don't hide behind facades."
"That includes the sad stuff," said McColman, whose daughter-in-law died in a motor vehicle accident on Highway 401 last November. "The lowest part of my life was losing Rebecca. She was a daughter to me. That was a very sad time for us. Having a big family helps at times like that."
"We're tight in the studio and outside the studio," said Mathews.
They're not going away soon.
"When people ask me when I'm going to retire, I tell them why retire from something you enjoy doing every day?" said McColman.
There are still some things they'd each like to accomplishtheir bucket lists.
"I'd like to see Chris Raabe in the U.S. NASCAR circuit," said McColman. "That's my big number one. The kid really has the talent. And it was nice to be a part of it when he first started."
Mathews, we'll he'd like to go whale watching. And one more thing.
"I'd actually like to hit something with my rifle," said Mathews. Seriously.
mbergin@theemc.ca
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