WEFM is celebrating 25 years as a mainstay of reliable information, entertainment and impactful conversation. In commemoration of the station’s 25th year of operation, we take a look back at its beginnings.
WEFM began its operation as a radio station on April 18th, 1997, where persons who had grown up in a time where there was monopoly on air craved variety, with FM frequencies being introduced to the Vincentian public at that time.
WEFM represented a significant amount of that alternative that people had been looking for; bringing a fresh view of news, information, entertainment and culture.
On the topic of the station’s inception, we take a look at the earliest days, with one of the men that made it possible, Dr. Cleve Scott, as he takes us on a trip down memory lane, even before the operations started.
“When WEFM was conceptualized, Jules Williams, Willis Williams and myself, we were all members of the band Touch; in fact we went way back before that. Jules and I went to the St. Vincent Grammar School, we sat side by side and one would expect that we made a lot of mischief during the Grammar School days”
While Dr. Scott spoke of his and WEFM’s Managing Director Mr. Jules Williams’ early troublemaking days at the St. Vincent Boy’s Grammar School, he also made mention of the early troublesome days of WEFM’s operations.
“The early days of WEFM were terrible…terrible, terrible. The station would go off air frequently and I would have to accompany Jules up St. Andrew, sometimes four or five times in one night, and sometimes he said “okay, we wouldn’t go back up, leave it until in the morning”, that was in the early days. But eventually we overcame those early hurdles and WEFM got flowing” Dr. Scott said.
Mr. Junior Bacchus, someone who has been involved with WEFM since the early stages, talked about some of the early discussions that took place concerning the start of WEFM 99.9.
“I got involved with WEFM even before WEFM became a station here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We were involved in discussing how to get this station moving; I became a very good friend of Willis and Jules Williams, they were very much involved with the band Touch, of which I was the Marketing Manager and out of that our relationship moved towards this whole idea of creating a radio station once the open air was provided and the license granted”
According to Mr. Bacchus in extending congratulations to WEFM, said that it is not just a station but a community partner with all the people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as the wider Caribbean and world.
Throughout its 25 years, WEFM has been home to groundbreaking and influential programs such as; Shake Up, Issues at Hand, Feedback, Sunday Classics, Sunday Cruise, Your Health Matters, Calypso College and Scriptural Search, and more.
A man whose name is synonymous with the Shake Up program is none other than the late Glen Jackson. To shed light on the type of work that Mr. Jackson did through the Shake Up program is Mr. Burns Bonadie, who has been long time participant and now one of the hosts of the Shake Up program.
“Glen would take the program on the road. I recall we had some problems with the developers in Canouan and the Shake Up program is the avenue they used to talk about their grievances and so on and so forth. I arranged and invited Glen to go to Canouan, on the spot; we hosted a program on WEFM”
This account given by Mr. Bonadie shows that historically, WEFM’s programming has always been community driven, where we saw the Shake Up program not just speak to issues affecting the community but to confront the issues head on.
Many legendary voices have graced the studios of WEFM since its inception, voices of men such as the late Evans Bernard John, popularly known as E.B., who played a pivotal role in various aspects of the station; from the initial setup, to the Issues at Hand program and WEFM’s News Department.
This is but a sample of the vast roster of names that have passed through WEFM in various capacities throughout its 25 year existence.
We here at WEFM, as we celebrate 25 years of operation, pledge to continue to bring to you the quality programming you’ve come to expect from us since our inception.
