LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) – People who drive around Stanton every day around 10 a.m. are likely tuned to the same radio program where they hear the familiar phrase, “Good morning, eastern and central Kentucky, and welcome to Tradio.”
For more than 40 years, WSKV-FM has been the home of Tradio, an on-air swap shop.
Tammie Watson is a long-time listener and sometimes a seller.
“It’s a show that’s very much community-oriented and you never know what you’re going to hear,” said Watson.
On a recent morning, callers offered up everything from hearing aids and chicken coops to DVD movies and antique postcards.
Angela Oldfield Osborne, the station’s program director, said Tradio is her favorite show to host.
“It seems and feels so social,” she said. “I feel like I’m hanging out and talking on the phone with my whole family.”
Osborne basically runs the store for 90 minutes, jotting down phone numbers and reading texts as fast as they come in.
This station is known as Pickup Country and you never know what you might be able to pick up.
“Livestock and garden plants are big in the spring,” Osborne said. “In the fall, there are a lot of calls for firewood.”
Tradio streams online and the station is able to track where listeners are located. Surprisingly, there are regulars all over the world.
“I think many of them are people who used to live here and like to hear voices they recognize,” Osborne said.
Station Manager Ethan Moore said, “We’ve actually verified that service members are listening and that’s one thing that’s really neat because they’re looking for a touch of home.”
Moore also takes turns behind the mic when Tradio is on the air. He said they average about 100 to 120 calls each day. The show used to be on for one hour, five days a week.
“We expanded it to 90 minutes Monday through Saturday a few years ago,” Moore said.
That’s 468 hours of wheeling and dealing each year.
Radio formats change all the time, but WSKV has no plans to discontinue its most popular show. “They’d be out here at our front door, banging on it, (shouting) ‘bring Tradio back,’” Osborne said.
Tradio connects people who know each other by voice, and love the sound of a good bargain.
