Local Yokels log 15 years

By Jeremy Weldon
Fifteen years ago when Ricky Swindle had an advertising ploy to sell some CDs, and maybe push his tire shop a little, he figured a six-week run would do just fine.
Tomorrow morning when his radio partner and producer Johnny Pace pushes the button and the red light comes on, Swindle’s little plan, now grown into a full-fledged music and humor show with a loyal, and ever expanding audience, will have another birthday.
It all started March 22, 2003, when Swindle aired a promotional show on WBLE with the help of then-owner John Ingram. He had a made a CD of his country favorites and some originals and thought he might sell some with a radio show. Plus, he could plug the tire and muffler shop he runs with his brother Mike.
Ingram agreed to help him produce a half-hour show each week for six weeks. By then, Swindle thought, he would be able to sell his CDs and a few for his friends, too. He had been playing in country bands off and on for years and loved music of all kinds. Several of his buddies had also cut CDs and he had enough music to fill up the slots he bought. A six-week show would be fun.
Those plans were quickly ramped up when local merchants began calling him after three weeks, asking to sponsor the show. Swindle was amazed, but decided to carry it on a few more weeks. After all, he was having a super time each Saturday playing music and telling stories.
A month stretched into a year, a year into five, then 10, and now it will be 15 years old Saturday.
Ironically, he didn’t get around to making a commercial for Mike and himself until years later. It’s always been about the show’s original sponsors and the many others that have come on board over the years.
And what’s the plan for the 15th anniversary Local Yokel Show?
“Plan? What plan? I have no idea what’s going to happen, and I never have,” Swindle said. “It’s always been off the cuff. What happens, happens. The only thing I make sure of is my checklist of sponsors. I know I’m going down the list making sure I get them all on.”
His listeners don’t know to expect, specifically, from week to week, but they do know Swindle and Pace will give them a true variety show. There’s always something for everybody, it seems.
“We play music of all kinds,” Swindle declares, and he’s not kidding. “We’ve played a little rock-n-roll, a lot of country and a lot of gospel. And one rap song.”
That’s right, a rap song. Actually, it was a hip-hop/contemporary gospel effort that had a local connection – so it met Swindle’s requirements for the show.
“I had some folks call and ask I if had lost my mind,” he said. “I told them that was Jimmy Smith’s grandson and Jimmy Smith is my friend. And that’s what the Local Yokels is all about.”
It’s this laid-back, homespun style that has built the show’s following and earned Swindle a permanent place in Batesville history.
To his fans he’s Jerry Clower with a guitar.
“The first six shows were mine,” Swindle said. “I paid for them and they were mine. But, after that, the show ceased to be mine. It belonged to the people, to the community. And it always will.”
The show is Southern Americana, if not hillbilly hi-jinks. The local talent is tremendous and carries the bulk of the program each week, but it’s Swindle’s commentary on life’s ups and downs combined with Pace’s professional production, that make the show a hit.
People love the show, and Swindle, because he lays himself bare before his audience each week. They love the show because it’s two hours of comfort food for the soul, served up in song and memories. He gathers with his listeners each Saturday to remember the good times, celebrate the present, laugh a lot, and sometimes cry a little.
They’ve been there for his marriage to Leigh (my beautiful wife), listened to him raise his girls, welcomed sons-in-law, and then grandbabies. They shared his anxiety when the sons-in-law went off to war, and rejoiced with him when they came home whole.
When Mike and Ricky’s beloved mother passed a few years ago, her home-going was shared and mourned with by the Yokel faithful, along with the Swindle family.
Mrs. Annie is responsible for the archives of the first 257 shows – she had the foresight to tape everything from the start (on cassettes, no less). Later, of course, Local Yokel shows were preserved on CDs, and now digitally.
Through the show and over the years, Swindle has borne his listeners burdens and they’ve helped carry his. Some Saturdays are a little gloomy, usually due to the death of a community old-timer, or when misfortune is visited on their friends, but the Local Yokels program has a way of righting the wrongs of the week and soothing the aches of an otherwise hectic life.
“I feel like folks have enough to worry about all week long working and everything,” Swindle said. “On Saturday they can set back and relax and hear a funny story or something. And they music is just great. There’s a lot of really good music made around here.”
“I’ve told so much junk over the years I’ve about forgot it all,” he said. But, it’s those stories that have endeared him to his faithful following.
“There’s been a lot of good natured ribbing with different people over the years, and sometimes I’ve had to pick up the phone and apologize to folks for something I said on the air,” Swindle said. “Sometimes things are funny between friends, but not necessarily funny for the whole town to hear.”
It’s precisely that kind of honest humility that makes Swindle so popular. That and the pure joy that audiences can feel radiating over the airwaves and bandwidth from a studio on Hwy. 51.
About a year ago the future of the show looked bleak when Swindle and Pace lost their slot on WBLE. But, the program was quickly restored when Chad Martin of Senatobia offered to air the program on his popular Undefined Radio internet radio station.
Swindle bought some equipment and local insurance agent Josh Hawkins at Boren & Hawkins offered space for a new studio.
His fans pitched in, and very shortly the Yokels were back in business, better than ever.
Phillip Alford and Joey Cain headed up the construction part, Kizer Flooring donated the carpet, Batesville Quality Carpet soundproofed the room. The insurance company doesn’t charge for the room and Swindle’s fans paid for renovations. It’s not surprising, though, because they are, after all, just one big family.
Dubbed the “padded room” because of the soundproofing, Pace (the only professional radio personality of the bunch) also uses the studio for his 6 to 8 a.m. show Monday through Friday.
That program also a steady following as Pace is there each morning to wake his listeners, giving them the day’s news, obituaries, along with well-rounded and diverse music selections.
The little studio will be packed tomorrow morning with musicians and singers of all sorts – the Local Yokels who have entertained for Swindle’s fans the past 15 years. The majority are friends (often children of his friends now) playing guitars and banjos and singing, always singing.
“It sure has been a lot of fun, and I sure have made a lot of friends,” Swindle said, recalling the past 15 years. “And the sponsors have been so great from the very start.”
The first ones were Stanley’s Auto Sales, Performance Marine, and attorney Gaines Baker.
How long with the show last? “I don’t know, but I can tell you this. The day I stop having fun is the day I’m done.”
The Local Yokel Show airs every Saturday morning from 9 to 11 a.m. on Undefined Radio, an internet application site that streams programs from computers, cell phones, and other devices.
Listening to the show is easy. Simply go to www.undefinedradio.com and follow the instructions. Most phones and computers will automatically begin to stream the site.
Although the show is usually packed with music locals have submitted for the week, Swindle and Pace still take requests. Call, or text, (662) 647-SONG (4664).