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Renee Knies has a voice for radio and the patience and experience that makes her signature program, “The General Store”, on WPBK-FM a success. When WPBK went on the air live in early 2008, scheduling Knies and morning DJ Jayme Phillips back-to-back ensured that listeners tuned in early and stayed tuned all morning. One frequent caller to the program said that he listens to Phillips when he gets up, and at 9 o’clock the radio at work is tuned in to the General Store.

According to the station’s history, Knies, who is the station manager, was the first employee hired for WPBK-FM. She had previously worked for the station’s predecessor, WRSL, from 1996 to 2004.

Knies said that back in WRSL days, the General Store was hosted by Plough Jones and David Smith and was less business and more chat. “It was kind of like people sitting around a woodstove in a country store,” Knies said.

Though Knies does take time to chat with anyone who sounds like they need to talk, it’s usually all business when she gets behind the mike. “My heart goes out to people, like the folks who call in and say, ‘I’ll do any work, Renee,’” she said.

Knies said that sometimes the big traders tell her they are not too happy with her exchanging pleasantries with callers.

“They say ‘get ‘em on, and get ‘em off,’ but that’s not the tone I want to set for the show,” she said. Knies always stops to talk with people who want to chat, “Sometimes, you can just hear desperation in their voice,” she said.

Morning man Phillips said that people start calling the General Store during his program to get ahead of the line. “I just tell ‘em to call back,” Phillips said. But it’s when Knies gets behind the microphone that the studio lines really light up.

Knies generally starts the program with the show’s few rules; most apply to what businesses can and can’t do on the air, because the program is basically for private sales. One successful seller on the General Store said, “She’s really sweet, nice and polite, but I like her rules.”

When Knies begins taking calls she is completely focused. She uses earbuds vice headphones (they mess up her hair) and she works the phone with one hand and writes furiously with her right in shorthand that requires a cheat sheet to figure out. Instead of prefixes for local phone numbers she writes S, C and H for 365, 355 and 346 respectively, the prefixes for Stanford, Crab Orchard and Hustonville. L/F is “Looking For” and R/M is a “Riding Mower.”

The shorthand helps move the show along because Knies tries to take at least 40 calls an hour. “I try to take ten calls, then break for a commercial,” she said.

Taking a hundred calls in a day is not unusual, and in one marathon session last June she took 246 calls and raised almost $1,000 for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Knies’ on-the-air experience also benefits listeners whose ears might not be as ‘tuned in’ as hers. Doing what appears to be simultaneous translation, Knies can seamlessly decipher callers’ terms, like translating ‘ching har’ into ‘chain harrow’ for those who don’t speak country.

It’s difficult to estimate the impact of the General Store on the local economy, but there is no denying that a huge volume of goods and services are moved through the program. As tough economic times affect everyone, more and more people look for alternatives to buying retail. Though there is a steady fare of expected items like farm equipment and implements, hay for sale and puppies, there are unusual items that can add up to a real savings for buyers. Prom and wedding dresses that cost hundreds or thousands and were worn once, or sadly, not at all, can be bought cheap. Uunusual items, like parts for vintage cars and old tractors, can provide a rare find for people doing restorations.

A phone poll of sellers’ success on a recent show was revelatory. Of the first 10 callers to the show that could be reached, all but one had been successful in getting offers for work, selling the items they had advertised or giving away their extra puppy.

They all had another thing in common as well, they all enjoyed their experience on the General Store.

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