But what a day.

What a day we have here.

So many of youve come out to show your support.

To celebrate Richard, celebrate this station, the Thank You Richard Winham Concert.

I just want to come celebrate Richard, I love Richard, and I've loved going on his show for the past ten years, the level of quality that the, the music he's exposed people to.

And not only that, but like the, the interviews, the guests he's had the like how the in-depth conversations.

Richard, thank you.

Thank you for playing our music and for making us all feel important and like our music has a place in the world.

I don't think we would have the kind of cultivated, community that we have if he hadn't been on the radio giving us that permission for so long.

I'm Richard Winham.

I have a somewhat, ill defined role here at, WUTC.

I started at WUTC, It was in the basement of Cadak.

And, it was just a big empty room.

There was no radio station.

In short.

Not really.

They hired me originally to host a music program, Then a couple of years in, I started hosting the morning program, and that's when we reall started to develop an audience.

Before that, we had been carrying the programing from Knoxville.

They were playing classical music.

And the guy kept talking about Knoxville, you know, so it didn' really have much of an impact.

But then they put me on in the morning.

And, well, the novelty of an English accent on the radio, that was the first thing.

I may look sophisticated, but this is it really?

Nine months old in that picture.

I was born in, Croydon.

And Croydon is about 20 minutes on the train from central London, That's early, infant school picture.

By the look of it.

A little taller there.

So maybe 7 or 8.

Thats with my mum in the garden we got a record player for Christmas.

Around the time that I Want to Hold Your Hand was released as a single, so we went and bought the single.

It was a really gray rainy day, and we got this single.

Everything's like all of a sudden everything's bright.

I mean, I you know, listened to the BBC, I liked it because you get to hear the music, but the only time they, played, pop music, as they called it.

Then was Saturday and Sunda morning for a couple of hours, How coul you not want to be a part of it?

This is where the action is.

This is where the energy is.

This is where life is happening.

the, real problem was where am I going to do it?

So I came to Chattanooga in the mid 70s.

I had no idea what public radio was.

I had no experience with it.

I guess I'd come to understand that this was the contemporary equivalent of what I had been doing, on FM previously on the commercial stations, where the understanding was that you're going to break all the rules.

Richard plays music that is good, whether it lasts 3 minutes or 8 minutes.

Richard plays a live versio of a song with the crowd noise and the energy of the band on stage that no other radio station is going to play.

So I think what the way Richard makes radio shows, is like the epitome of what public radio's supposed to be you know, I think that he's done a great job of through his work at WUTC in cultivating, curating his playlists that are really unique, that otherwise presented music and artists that we woul surely not have heard of before.

But you're never lost when you're listening to his show.

he is just that ambassador for the music across genres, for the people who are listening.

Sometimes I would get this feedback from inside the station.

What is that you're playing?

But people listening loved it, I think it was a sort of exhilarating mix of, oh, I know this, but I don't know that.

But that's kind of interesting because it's sort of sounds like the one I already listened to and I liked.

if the music was genuine and not cynical, I think Richard gave it a chance.

That's unusual.

And Richard wasn't swayed much by labels and what people wanted from him as a DJ.

He was swayed by his his gut feeling about what was wonderful.

when I came here, I said, this radio station can be kind of energy cente for the culture in Chattanooga.

And one of the ways we can do that is by bringing local musicians into the studio and present them just exactly the same way.

We present, musicians who, as an example, were coming to town to play at nightfall.

I think no one has done more to really, support, and expose and, do what he can to uplift the local music community, local artists in ways that really no one else has.

I think it's really beautiful to see somebody work so hard for so long, to lift a whole community up, And I think the artists know that and know that they have.

They have a friend.

when you're wanting to get your music out there, the one of the first people that you talk to is, hey, Richard, let me come talk to you.

And it was always a yes.

You it's a legacy of a huge, vast repertoire of people and musicians and folks that he's helped get to where they are today, just by being curious about them and wanting to give them a chanc to put their music on the air.

just to get something out of your private studio to people's ears is a step.

So Richard, being in tha filling in that slot that those that bandwidth was a gift and it still is.

When I would talk to Richard, people come up to me who I didn't know and say, I heard you on, Richard show.

And that doesn't happen any other way.

I think that he' just been a magnet for musicians across genres to flow into the station, And I think it's made WUTC kind of stand out as a place that truly cares about the artists in this community.

The ripple effect I think is the most impressive part of it all is like he's just being himself and connecting and uplifting individuals.

And it is having a lasting impact.

you can tell just by him announcing that he's retiring all the love on Facebook We all want to speak about him and the impact that he had in our life.

consistently showing up, consistently having a voice for our community and tolerate, tolerating us musicians, you know, it's like he always has the patience to and the the flexibility to make sure you got the blanket to catch you.

I don't think i terms of legacy, I really don't, I have spent my career, Making it up as I go along.

Following what interests me and trying to follow what interests other people too.

If I leave anything behind, I hope it's the model of, an open mind he's curious in the right way.

He's he's involved.

He's, he's connected.

when that's gone, people are going to realize something's different.

And hopefully that difference will be good and people will take all that plowing he's been doing over the years and plant something really amazing.

It's something we never heard before.

I think Richard's set an extraordinary foundation that I am so excited to continue to build on.

I want to continue reaching out to artists.

I want to continue to have them in our studios.

I want to continu to connect them with each other and to connect our listeners with them, continue to be the source of discovery for the entire community, And I think what all of us at the station are about, is just keeping that spirit of Richard infused through who we are and what we do as a station, the business we're in as broadcasters is, essentially to be a mirror of the culture in which we live.

And it's a it's it's a blessed role that we have.

the best you can hope for, is that people will come behind you.

You get what you do, and build on it.