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89.3 a hometown radio station for Waynesville

Chris Lash, general manager of 89.3 Hybrid FM radio, in the station's studio in Waynesville, Ohio Tuesday Sept. 15, 2009.

Pat Auckerman/Staff Photographer Chris Lash, general manager of 89.3 Hybrid FM radio, in the station's studio in Waynesville, Ohio Tuesday Sept. 15, 2009.

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer 1:25 PM Thursday, September 17, 2009

Chris Lash believes every town, no matter its size, should have a radio station. And for a while, Lash was out to fulfill that mission, one town and one station at a time.

Now, Lash said he has found his final stop, as his dulcet tones stream through Waynesville every morning on 89.3 FM, the only radio station on the air dedicated to the small town he now calls home.

“Waynesville is where I want to be,” said Lash, a 30-veteran of the radio industry.

Lash began his radio career making after-school broadcasts on a CB radio, to the chagrin of truckers trying to use the line for conversations. His father got him his first job at a Christian radio station in the Pittsburgh area where he grew up.

After many years of travel, Lash thought he would settle down in Florida with his wife. But her untimely death from breast cancer drew him to seek a new beginning. A friend of Lash’s had a permit to start a radio station in Waynesville and invited Lash to visit.

Lash said he was initially hesitant to start a radio station in Waynesville, worried that the town’s tourist base would render a radio station unnecessary. But Lash’s business sense was overruled by his heart. On a visit to the town, he said he fell in love with Waynesville and decided he would make a radio station work.

After four months on the air, 89.3 FM Hybrid Radio is already stretching its roots throughout the community. Lash said the station will cover every Waynesville football game this season. The station also hosts a coaches show Mondays at 7:30 p.m.

Lash said he will also market and do live remote broadcasts from every Waynesville community event. He is planning on doing two, eight-hour days at the Waynesville Sauerkraut festival Oct. 3 and 4.

The name Hybrid comes from the wide variety of music played on the station. Lash said he will play everything from adult contemporary to country, often interspersed with each other.

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