The night before he opened with The Williams Brothers' "Cooling Water," and liked the chart-topping R&B Gospel song so much that he played it twice in a row. He recently saw the group's video on television and picked up the CD the next morning to feature the song for his audience. He gets that enthusiastic about good music when he hears it.
Chavis is a walking musical history book whose chapters range from a vast knowledge of the music heard on his show to music not included on air, such as the 'straight-ahead jazz' and rock genres, that he worked with in earlier stages of his career.
Having grown up in a home that deeply treasured music, Chavis was a natural at 18 when FM rock was born to deliver the music on air. Chavis' first radio job in 1970 was with ABC Radio's fledgling, WDVE, in Pittsburgh, where he worked late nights after his day job at WQED TV. He was floor director for a number of locally produced television programs, including "Newsroom" and "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood."
Chavis' current day show mirrors his ability to choose the songs as he did in 1972 when he left WDVE and took his deep voice and his good ad lib and at ease speaking ability across town to the 'freeform' rock station, WYDD FM. Ratings for his afternoon show there soon beat WDVE's afternoon programming.
Former WYDD Program Director and DJ Steve Downes referred to those long ago days as "radio Camelot in Pittsburgh." The one common denominator that he, Chavis and the other on air staff had was "an overwhelming love for the music, and the view that what we did on the air, every day, was an art form unto itself."
At WYDD, Chavis was christened by fellow station DJ 'Mad Dog' Doug Malone as 'Rockin' Ron', a radio name that still sticks today along with his Nighttime Dog handle. He joined a group of talented on air personalities such as Downes, Mitch Fuchs, Bill Bruun and Malone who today are recognized as some of the very best in Pittsburgh FM radio's rich history.
"Rockin' Ron was in my view, the quintessential FM jock and someone who had a major influence on my career," said Downes, who now works at WDRV, a major market Chicago station, after hosting the nationally syndicated 'Rockline' program in the mid 90s.
"He was a rebel and an artist. His charisma was obvious in person as well as on the air," Downes said, as he described an unforgettable scene at the Stanley Theatre 30 years ago. Chavis brought out a stool, sat and chatted to the audience as if he were in his living room to introduce the Jefferson Starship.
"I was so impressed with his 'performance' that night that I think of it every time I've gone on stage since then," Downes said.
Jimmy Roach of Froggy FM calls Chavis "one of my favorite guys" and recalls when they worked together at WDVE.
"It's pretty amazing to watch women when they hear him open his mouth. I've got a pretty deep voice, but Ron makes me sound like a 5th grader," Roach said.
After WYDD, Chavis found himself living and working in Georgia, gaining "number one ratings" at the Atlanta powerhouse WKLS FM. Next stop was Seattle's major rocker, KZOK FM, where he stayed until he returned to the Pittsburgh area after a fire destroyed his mother's home here. For the next 7 years, he worked different jobs in Christian broadcasting, journalism and some radio programming at WAMO AM before starting Pittsburgh's first 'Quiet Storm' program on WAMO FM in late 1987.
In addition to advocating for a return to radio of quality music lost with all the corporate station buyouts and monopolies, Chavis also found himself in the midst of two racial discrimination cases against former radio station employers. He then found himself in a possible position to advocate for racial equality in broadcasting. After winning a $250,000 settlement against WRRK and settling out of court with B94, he advocated for black DJs relegated to overnight and weekend radio shifts.
"I attempted to right the national shame by crusading on behalf of black announcers who haven't had the good fortune I have in breaking the color barrier in radio," Chavis said.
In Pittsburgh, the world famous birthplace of commercial radio at KDKA in 1920, he believes that there have been only three other blacks besides himself working desirable fulltime radio shifts at stations playing non-urban/R&B formats. "Eighty-five years of discrimination is too long and ugly a show," he stressed.
Chavis said he started to conduct research in the 1990s and discovered the situation is historically the same in other radio markets across America. He received help from a University of Pittsburgh statistics professor and an attorney from the nation's capital to bring the issue into the national spotlight. Disappointment soon followed when the FCC dropped its requirement for stations to report the numbers and positions of minorities on staff.
"This meant there was no way to gather official statistics," Chavis explained after the FCC reversed its reporting requirement policy. He would be a happier man if more qualified blacks and minorities were hired fulltime for more weekday or weeknight radio jobs instead of weekend or overnight shifts.
Chavis would also be a happier man if his show makes its way to syndication or onto internet web radio. Radio industry data obtained by this writer show that ratings for his time slot have dramatically increased since his show premiered on WLSW last fall.
When he first brought his show to WLSW, initially he took calls from upset fans of the oldies tunes that previously were played in his time slot. He appreciates that many of those people stuck around and gave him and his show a chance. He receives quite a bit of email and phone calls from listeners, usually quite positive in nature about the job he does and the music he plays.
"I'm very proud to have him on board," said Wall, WLSW owner. He said he would welcome the opportunity to have Chavis' show go to internet web broadcast while WLSW remained the flagship station for the web cast.
"The station has taken off. Every night his show is more popular. He has a nitch all of his own. He has a great show, different than anything out there. He is professional from the word go," Wall said.
At age 53, Chavis would like his business, Chavis Sterling Media Partners to continue to thrive and one day perhaps have his son, London, work with him. As the voice of Bowser, Pittsburgh's auto dealership giant, Chavis has made about 500 radio commercials for that businesses' eight franchises and has voiced all of its television commercials since the affiliation began in 1987.
"He's a very creative person," said Gary Bowser, Jr. The auto store owner said that he gives "bullet points" to Chavis that list details he wants included in the commercial. In turn, Chavis writes the script for the commercial and hires recording artists to make occasional jingles. Bowser said that Chavis can easily make revisions in his home studio to a commercial should the auto manufacturer later announce mechanical or promotional changes.
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