Have you experienced the Time Machine yet?

Is there a song that takes you back to a specific memory in your life?

Maybe it played as you drove friends around soon after getting your driver’s license.
Maybe it was from prom night. 
Maybe it was the first dance at your wedding.

For most of us it only takes a few notes of a certain song to instantly transport us to another time. For Out of the Box host and long-time local radio personality Paul Shugrue, it’s a classic by singer and songwriter Don McLean.

“Well, “American Pie” always reminds me of my mother. We took a long road trip together when that song was on the radio all the time and we both loved it. I think it was the first time our musical tastes intersected,” Paul explained.

It’s these types of memories he hopes to evoke through music in his role as music coordinator at WFOS - The Time Machine Radio Network. WHRO Public Media took over operations of the station last year when Chesapeake Public Schools announced it would stop funding it. The station has been a long-time favorite of many local residents, and WHRO staff have worked hard in the last year to ensure it remains a vibrant listening experience — a station that locals can rely on to be the soundtrack to accompany their lives.

Perhaps there is no one better suited for the job than Paul both in terms of experience and in a passion for the music. “I’ve been working in radio since before the dawn of the CD,” he explained, “and I have been either music or program director at most of the stations. I worked here in Hampton Roads at The Fox and The Coast and in Richmond at XL-102 and WVGO.” He said he enjoys programming music for both of his popular shows Out of the Box and A Shot of the Blues—which he will continue to do—and he sees his role with WFOS as just an extension of this responsibility on a larger scale.

Another radio host who is no stranger to local listeners is Jerry Carter. His show Blues Traffic Jam has been a long-time favorite on WFOS and continues on Time Machine Radio. To him, time spent on the microphone is personal; it is about the relationship he has with the listener.

“The first thing that I learned as a broadcaster was when you're on the mic, talk as though you're talking to one person, even though everybody's listening,” Jerry explained. “I try to be that person that you spend the day with, whether you're in the car or at the beach or at home, whether you're in the hospital or whether you are homeless. And then I back it up with the music, by playing the songs.”

He said early in his 54-year career he learned that the job was more than that of a “DJ,” simply playing music. “I realized that by working overnight at one station in another market that I was talking to people who were lonely, had lost their home, lost their spouses, lost their job, and they were just totally lost. They just wanted somebody to talk to,” he said.

He will sometimes hear from these listeners and then play a song for them. He may relate a story about their situation or how they are feeling—anonymously of course— and then find an encouraging song for them and anyone else who may be experiencing something similar. “Believe it or not, you'd be surprised by how many people are going through the same thing.”

On Time Machine Radio Network listeners can hear Perry Como, ZZ Top, Barry Manilow, the Rolling Stones and the Village People along with a mix of big band, rock, soul and blues. It is a musical journey through the decades, but what it is not is just another oldies station.

“It’s something that’s never been tried here before,” Paul explained, ”a public station devoted to rock, soul and pop. There are endless possibilities to what we can do with this great collection of music and it’s exciting to be a part of it.”

“The Time Machine represents evolution,” Jerry said. “We evolve. It's the Time Machine, it's going to take you through five decades of music. So to the listener, they suck that in. They say, well, I can go to this radio station to hear the music that reminds me of when life was good. When I was young, when I was in love, when I met the love of my life, or when I freed myself from being in the situation that was not healthy for me, mentally.”

He has seen that evolution in his own taste in music, he said. As a teenager, Jerry recalled sitting on his front porch swing with his grandmother and hearing neighborhood boys singing Doo-Wop beneath a street light—he was hooked immediately. “And then in the sixties, Motown came,” he said. “I fell in love with that sound. I fell in love with rock, and now I'm still searching with blues.”

Jerry and Paul said they hope to provide listeners with the same experience each time they tune in — a ticket to past events and memories. “What we play on WFOS is designed to constantly jump through different musical eras, just like a time machine,” Paul said. “It’s always a fun ride!”

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