Kris Meade, General Manager
I grew up in the small town of Moncks Corner, SC. Music has always played a huge role in my life. In middle school, I was heavily influenced by alternative rock. For me, music helped me deal with the pain of my parents’ divorce. At that time, I did not have any knowledge of Christian music. I later met my youth minister, Chris Millard, who introduced me to bands like MxPx, The O.C. Supertones, and Five Iron Frenzy. During my freshman year in high school, I listened to my friend’s testimony about becoming a Christian. When I heard him speak about knowing Jesus like a friend, I realized that I did not have that kind of relationship with Him. I asked the Lord to come into my life; I wanted to know Him like a friend.
After my salvation experience in high school, I attended North Greenville College from 2000-2004. During that time, the Lord gave me a vision to start a college radio station. I had no idea, nor knowledge, of how to start a radio station. So, I sat in my radio professor’s office every day and asked him questions on where to begin. In the beginning, I received quite a bit of opposition. However, after 3 years of hard work and prayer, we launched WNGR-LP 95.5FM. I relate my radio ministry to the story of Nehemiah in the Bible. During my senior year in college, I faced the end of the sidewalk. I had two options, I could work at Entercom in Greenville, or begin another radio station targeting young people. The Lord called me to choose the latter.
I moved to Florence only 30 days after graduation. I only knew one person and started working in youth ministry part-time to pay for the bills. The first year of my ministry, I had $9 to spend each week on entertainment, dining out, and anything extra that came up. I met a network of local youth ministers and began sharing my vision with them. Those youth ministers soon became my first board of directors. In the early days of Radio Free, our goal was to launch our very own FM frequency. However, our strategy changed once we saw the new potential in Internet radio streaming.