Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Scott Mims | Community Columnist

There’s something satisfying about putting on a vinyl record. I do not own very many of them, mostly due to the increased cost relative to a CD or digital music file, but I have an appreciation for the classic, reliable format.

Music lovers today cannot truly say that they “own” a copy of their favorite albums if they merely listen on their phones. A vinyl record is a real, physical product that you can hold in your hands. Then there’s the experience of placing the needle on the record and hearing those first few pops and cracks—it is nostalgic and magical.

Speaking of nostalgia, just a few years ago I had a childhood memory return to me thanks to a kind individual. Alabaster radio personality Dr. Dax Davis, who hosts an eponymous radio program that airs on Chilton County’s WKLF 95.5 FM, invited me to his home for an interview.

The majority of the music heard on Davis’ show is played from records and analog equipment in his Alabaster home. Like Davis, my Dad (known on the air as Craig Rogers) is a deejay who hosts a couple of shows on WKLF. Back when I was a little kid, my Dad would let me cue up a record and press the button to play it on his program.

Davis has something that is attached to that memory. He and engineer Robert Williams restored the old control board my Dad operated at WKLF from early 1973 to 1987. I immediately recognized the different colored knobs on the front panel. And, much to my surprise, Dr. Dax let me play a record and operate the board. We played The Cascades’ 1962 hit “Rhythm of the Rain.”

There seemed to be a childlike sparkle in Davis’ eyes when he saw me sitting at my Dad’s old board. I think that shows an important part of why certain people love what they do—they like to share the experience with others.