‘The Crossover Show’ celebrates shag, beach music across the airwaves

A radio show in North Myrtle Beach has crossed into new territory: its one-year anniversary this month, playing a variety of beach music for ears locally, regionally and around the world.

“The Crossover Show” airs live 10 a.m.-noon every Tuesday at shagcityusa.com, and plays weekly through syndication at terrestrial stations in six places across North and South Carolina, including WVCO-FM 94.9 “The Surf,” at 6 p.m. Sundays.

With every weekly radio show done at Zeus Digital Marketing, as host Jim Quick, frontman for the band Coastline, said, any special guest might walk in and join the fun in a happy, casual setting.

During a studio session last month, Quick introduced Ms. Jody’s “You Got Your Hooks in Me” for its first spin on “The Crossover Show.” The music Quick chooses for each show defines the “Crossover” name well, with a blend of old and new, with various artists who might not first come to mind when thinking of the rhythm and blues known as beach music across the Carolinas.

On an early day in July, the playlist included Simply Red’s “Fake,” Robert Cray’s “Side Dish,” Joe Louis Walker’s “Lost Heart,” and a duet that kicked off this show, “It’s On Me,” by the late Floyd Taylor and Mel Waiters.

Country fans who caught the show June 30 might have recognized Savannah native Billy Currington’s “All Day Long,” from his “Enjoy Yourself” CD four years ago – and perhaps best known for the hit “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer” – as well as other styles through Bonnie Raitt’s “Unnecessarily Mercenary,” Delbert McClinton’s “People Just Love to Talk,” and Allen Touissant’s hookup with the late Chet Atkins for “Southern Nights.”

Many topics to discuss

Nothing is rehearsed for Quick’s banter on the air with Bo Gilbert, sales and markering director. The topics could range from a recent concert at Deckerz in downtown North Myrtle Beach to the breathtaking suction power of the self-serve vacuums at a newly opened car wash in town.

Quick, who began as a disc jockey as a teen on the radio in his native Laurinburg, N.C., said music has driven his life, and that pairing remains in overdrive, especially with a dozen albums, most with the Coastline Band, and his latest, a solo effort, “Down South.”

Planning this show every week and coordinating the tunes – a process that Gilbert showed is totally digital, for each song is downloaded for easy, computer access – Quick covered how his appreciation for the variety of artists featured only deepens his love of all music, as a fan who takes the music to the masses on stage so many nights every year.

“It certainly has broaden my spectrometry from just R&B and soul to traditional singer-songwriter and Americana music,” he said. “I love the roots of all American music genres.”

A father-son tandem behind the scenes help keep the needles on the dials moving for every show, with Jeff Gilder, executive producer, as his son, Dustin “Big D” Gilder producer and engineer, runs the sound boards and watches Quick and Gilbert from an adjoining room through a glass window.

Gilbert said that after every live show online, Dustin Gilder repackages the production for relay to a network of stations across the Carolinas. It’s not simply a replay of the original program, but a wholly re-edited, two-hour airing. Gilbert said Gilder even records all the songs in their exact order for the most optimum segues between the music and the Quick-led talking moments.

Various cities air program

Options abound for anyone traveling across, or with family and friends living in, the Carolinas, to hear “The Crossover Show” on stations in the Columbia/Batesburg, Johnston/Augusta, Ga., Laurinburg, Rockingham/Hamlet, and Winston-Salem areas.

Every show is broken down into eight segments, with four per hour, each with two or three songs and some chat time. The syndicated shows include slots, if the host stations choose, for dropping in local ads. If the show airs as is, then the listeners will get a taste of local sponsors for places to go.

Grand Strand support for “The Crossover Show” has stayed strong and steady from the start, said Gilbert, grateful for so many local advertising sponsors. Quick said adding more stations to carry “Crossover” remains the goal, including such identified destinations as Charleston and Wilmington. He also said beach music knows no bounds with the Carolinas, for fans touch base from other parts of the country, including Texas, which has its own long coast on the Gulf of Mexico.

Expect to laugh when hearing any broadcast, for Quick likes to weave in jokes and merriment, and friends might stop by just to watch the show at work. He said presenting beach music in this context also appeals to anyone around the world who wants to connect with that special Carolinas sound, and he values being an ambassador, for anyone tuning in online globally.

Doing this show always leaves Quick energized, which he called “a perfect way to start off a perfect week” with this array of music, before touring with Coastline. The band has a date in the North Myrtle Beach “Music on Main” free summer series, 7-9 p.m. Sept. 10, outside in the city’s Horseshoe, at Main Street and Ocean Boulevard.

Deb Transou, a local longtime Jazzercise instructor, sells ads for Shag City USA’s Beach Music Scene Magazine, a free, quarterly publication in its second year, and edited by Jeff Gilder. She reclined in a chair last month, right outside the perimeter where Quick and Gilbert worked their magic among the music.

Transou said beach music in general, including the fare featured in “The Crossover Show,” adds to listeners’ memories, especially tourists on the Grand Strand.

“They’re bringing home memories from their vacation,” she said.

This story was originally published August 7, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "‘The Crossover Show’ celebrates shag, beach music across the airwaves."