Thirty-five years.
Stop there for a second.
Thirty-five years with one radio company.
In an industry where some people don’t make it thirty-five months before the ownership changes, the format flips, the budget disappears or somebody decides the entire organizational chart needs to be “optimized,” Mac Edwards has spent essentially an entire professional lifetime growing alongside Beasley Media Group.
That extraordinary run is now coming to an end.
Edwards, Beasley’s longtime executive who currently oversees its Charlotte operation, will step down September 4, bringing a career with the company that began in 1991 to a close. And the timing makes this departure impossible to separate from another enormous change happening in Charlotte: Beasley is preparing to sell the 95.1 WNKS signal — the longtime home of Kiss 95.1 — to K-LOVE Inc.
So this isn’t merely a retirement announcement.
It feels like two pieces of Charlotte radio history changing at exactly the same time.
Before There Was The Executive There Was A Program Director
We sometimes introduce people by their final title and accidentally erase everything it took to get there.
Don’t do that with Mac Edwards.
Before Market Manager…
Before Vice President…
Before Regional Vice President…
There was WKML.
Edwards joined Beasley in 1991 as Program Director of Country 95.7 WKML in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He remained in that programming role through 1996 before moving into station management.
That matters.
Because Edwards didn’t learn radio exclusively from spreadsheets.
He programmed it.
He dealt with music.
Personalities.
Promotions.
Ratings.
Listeners.
Competitors.
And all the beautiful insanity that comes with trying to make a radio station win.
That programming background eventually became the foundation for something much larger.
Then Fayetteville Became His Classroom For Leadership
By 1996, Edwards had moved into management with WFLB and WAZZ.
From there came broader operational responsibilities.
Eventually, in 2007, he became Vice President and Market Manager of Beasley’s Fayetteville operation.
Think about the transformation happening around him during those years.
Consolidation.
The internet.
Satellite radio.
The iPod.
Facebook.
Smartphones.
Streaming.
Podcasting.
Digital advertising.
Radio websites evolving from little electronic brochures into significant content businesses.
Edwards didn’t simply survive those changes.
He kept getting promoted through them.
Then Beasley Sent Him To Detroit
And this was no small assignment.
When Beasley completed its acquisition of Greater Media in 2016, Edwards was selected to leave the market where he’d spent a quarter-century and take control of the company’s newly acquired Detroit operation.
And we’re talking about serious radio brands.
WRIF.
WCSX.
Detroit radio.
Rock radio.
Heritage.
Big personalities.
Big expectations.
Different market.
Different culture.
Different competitive environment.
The company had just completed a transformative acquisition, and Beasley needed somebody it trusted to walk into those stations and lead the transition.
They picked Mac Edwards.
That tells you something.
Imagine That Assignment
You’ve spent 25 years in North Carolina.
You know the staff.
You know the advertisers.
You know the market.
You know where everything is.
Then somebody hands you the keys to Detroit.
Not some sleepy collection of stations nobody notices.
Detroit.
One of America’s great radio cities.
And Beasley was integrating legendary former Greater Media properties into a completely different company.
Transitions like that can go sideways quickly.
Employees are nervous.
Competitors are watching.
Advertisers have questions.
Listeners don’t care about the acquisition and simply expect their station to sound right tomorrow morning.
That’s leadership under pressure.
Edwards stayed in Detroit for years.
And Then The Journey Came Back Home
In 2022, Edwards moved to Charlotte.
And there was something wonderfully circular about that assignment.
He had grown up near Charlotte in Belmont, North Carolina.
He later explained that taking responsibility for stations he’d actually listened to growing up — including heritage Country powerhouse WSOC-FM — made the opportunity particularly meaningful.
Come on.
That’s a radio story.
Kid grows up listening.
Kid gets into radio.
Kid becomes programmer.
Programmer becomes manager.
Manager runs multiple markets.
And eventually…
He gets handed the stations he grew up hearing.
You couldn’t script that much better.
And His Responsibilities Kept Growing
Beasley later created a regional management structure, and Edwards was given oversight of Charlotte and Fayetteville — reconnecting him with the market where his Beasley career had begun decades earlier.
Again:
Full circle.
Fayetteville helped build Mac Edwards.
Detroit tested Mac Edwards.
Charlotte brought Mac Edwards home.
Then Beasley essentially connected the beginning and ending of his career under one regional leadership umbrella.
That’s pretty remarkable.
But The Timing Of This Departure Is Impossible To Ignore
Because Charlotte radio is changing dramatically around him.
Beasley has agreed to sell WNKS 95.1, the signal currently associated with Kiss 95.1, along with KXTE in Las Vegas. The company’s latest financial filing places the combined cash transaction at $8 million, subject to regulatory approval and expected to close during the fourth quarter.
The buyer is K-LOVE Inc., parent of the K-LOVE and Air1 Christian networks.
That means 95.1 itself is leaving Beasley.
But the Kiss story is a little more complicated.
Beasley Isn’t Simply Throwing Everything About Kiss Away
One of the most valuable pieces of WNKS — Maney and LauRen — is remaining inside the Beasley family.
Their morning show is moving to sister K104.7 WKQC, allowing Beasley to preserve the personalities and audience relationship even as the 95.1 facility changes hands.
And here’s something worth remembering:
Mac Edwards was part of growing that show’s footprint.
In 2024, when Beasley expanded Maney and LauRen beyond Charlotte into Augusta and Fayetteville, Edwards was among the executives championing the program’s ability to connect with audiences.
So as 95.1 leaves Beasley’s portfolio, one of the signature personality franchises associated with it survives.
That’s important.
And Maybe That’s The Bigger Story Of Mac Edwards
Stations change.
Frequencies get sold.
Formats disappear.
Companies restructure.
But people and relationships are what endure.
Edwards spent 35 years managing those relationships.
With employees.
With advertisers.
With communities.
With personalities.
With listeners indirectly through the products his teams created.
And there is evidence that community involvement wasn’t simply corporate language attached to his biography.
During his Fayetteville years, Edwards served with organizations including the Chamber’s Small Business Council, United Way, Salvation Army and Methodist University Foundation.
That’s local radio leadership.
Not merely running stations located in a community.
Participating in the community.
Radio Needs To Pay Attention To How Much Institutional Knowledge Is Walking Out The Door
Here’s the alternative perspective.
We have spent years discussing radio’s talent reductions.
But there’s another generational transition happening quietly.
The managers who learned radio before consolidation are retiring too.
Think about what somebody like Mac Edwards remembers.
Radio before the Telecommunications Act.
Radio before websites.
Radio before streaming.
Radio before social media.
Radio before centralized digital departments.
Radio before every sales conversation included six different advertising platforms.
Then he also learned how to operate through all of those things.
That means Edwards possesses something increasingly difficult to replace:
experience on both sides of radio’s technological revolution.
Thirty Five Years With One Company Almost Sounds Impossible Now
Seriously.
Imagine telling a 23-year-old entering broadcasting today:
“You’ll join this radio company and still be there in 2061.”
They’d probably ask what a radio company is going to look like in 2061.
Fair question.
But that’s what makes Edwards’ run extraordinary.
He joined Beasley when George H.W. Bush was President.
There was no commercial World Wide Web as we understand it today.
There was no iPhone.
No Spotify.
No Facebook.
No YouTube.
No podcast industry.
And through every disruption that followed, Edwards remained inside the same company.
Not in the same job.
Growing with it.
That’s the distinction.
Beasley Changed Dramatically During His Career Too
This wasn’t the same company in 2026 that Edwards joined in 1991.
Beasley expanded.
Acquired.
Divested.
Entered major markets.
Integrated Greater Media.
Built digital businesses.
Reorganized management.
Sold properties.
Adapted.
Edwards’ career moved alongside all of it.
Fayetteville.
Detroit.
Charlotte.
Regional responsibilities.
Programming.
Operations.
Management.
Thirty-five years.
That’s not simply tenure.
That’s institutional history.
September 4 Should Not Be Just Another Friday
We hope the company celebrates this one properly.
Tell the stories.
Find the old pictures.
Dig out the airchecks.
Call the people who worked for Mac in Fayetteville.
Call Detroit.
Call Charlotte.
Bring back somebody he hired twenty years ago.
Let younger employees understand what 35 years in broadcasting actually means.
Because radio moves so quickly that sometimes we’re terrible at stopping long enough to recognize the people who helped build what we’re standing on.
Thirty-five years deserves a moment.
And Charlotte Is Going To Look Different After He Leaves
That’s unavoidable.
Mac Edwards steps away September 4.
WNKS is headed toward new ownership.
Maney and LauRen are moving to another Beasley frequency.
The Charlotte portfolio is changing.
Leadership is changing.
One of the market’s best-known contemporary radio signals is changing.
That’s a lot of transition at once.
And it raises the obvious question:
Who gets the keys next?
Who leads Beasley Charlotte into this smaller, reshaped portfolio?
Who manages the transition after 95.1 leaves?
Who protects the heritage of WSOC?
Who develops K104.7 as its role grows?
Who works with the remaining personalities and advertisers?
That’s going to be an important appointment.
An On The Dial Perspective
Mac Edwards’ departure is bigger than another executive retirement. Thirty-five years with one broadcaster means Edwards helped navigate Beasley through virtually every major transformation modern radio has experienced. He started as a programmer, became a manager, led Fayetteville, was trusted with Detroit after the Greater Media acquisition, returned home to Charlotte and eventually received regional responsibility that brought his journey back to Fayetteville again. Now he leaves at another pivotal moment as Beasley’s Charlotte portfolio changes with the pending sale of WNKS. Frequencies change ownership. Formats change names. Corporate structures change. Careers like Mac Edwards’ remind us that the real continuity in radio has always come from people.
Mac, congratulations.
1991 to 2026.
Program Director.
General Manager.
Operations executive.
Market Manager.
Detroit.
Charlotte.
Fayetteville.
And thirty-five years carrying the same company name on the business card.
There aren’t many broadcasters left who can tell that story.
And there probably won’t be many more.
So when September 4 arrives, don’t call this simply another management change.
Stand up and applaud the run.
Because thirty-five years in radio is impressive.
Thirty-five years with one company?
In 2026, that almost qualifies as a broadcasting miracle.
Beasley Media Group
#OnTheDial #MacEdwards #BeasleyMediaGroup #CharlotteRadio #FayettevilleRadio #DetroitRadio #NorthCarolinaRadio #WNKS #Kiss951 #WKML #WSOC #K1047 #ManeyAndLauRen #RadioLeadership #RadioManagement #RadioExecutive #RadioVeteran #RadioHistory #HeritageRadio #LocalRadio #RadioPeople #RadioCareers #Broadcasting #RadioIndustry #RadioLegacy #RadioStillMatters