They say that the greatness of a community is measured by the actions of the members of said community. One man who has put forth the effort to make Waynesburg a great community is Doug Wilson. Wilson has been a part of the community since he went to Waynesburg College in the early 1990s. After he graduated from Waynesburg with a degree in English he never looked back.
After graduating in 1992, Wilson started at local radio station WANB. “Initially I was hired to only do the Oldies Show,” Wilson said. “After graduating, I sent out resumes to specifically oldies stations and didn’t hear from any of them, so I threw out a broader net and reached out to WANB, and as luck would have it, the last one who had been the host of the show was let go and they were looking for a new host.”
Wilson just celebrated 30 years as the host of the show, so it is fair to say that it was a good fit. Wilson also assumed the role as an evening host only a few weeks after getting hired, which eventually turned into the morning show he has today. The oldies show is the one that he has been with since the beginning, and he has a fantastic time with it. “One of the things I really like is at 10 every night I play a song from what I call the vinyl vault and I actually play a song from a record and for me that’s pretty cool.”
Wilson later worked all the way up to operations manager for WANB and has been in that position for several years.
In the mid-2000s, Wilson took on another opportunity by teaching at Waynesburg University. He initially started teaching a radio course for one singular semester in the fall for a professor on sabbatical. After not teaching in the spring, he was offered an opportunity to teach again. “At first it was one course for one semester and then over the summer they reached out about teaching another course and I thought, ‘I had fun, yeah, I’ll do it,’ and I’ve been teaching ever since.”
Outside of his journey in radio and the different places it has taken him, Wilson is also a big history buff. He vividly remembers being in fifth grade on family vacation and asking to learn more about history. “It got to the point that on vacation we would be traveling, and I would make my parents stop at landmarks and take photographs.” During high school, he thought about getting involved in reenacting, but other activities prevented him from that. So, it was later in life that Doug and some of his friends decided to start their own re-enacting unit. They started the 140th Pennsylvania Volunteers Company A Greene County Rifles Unit, and today Wilson is one of the commanding officers. Sergeant Major Wilson tries to make it to as many events as he can because he believes that every event is important. “We actually have events lined up from the end of April, through May and then through the first part of June for every single weekend.”
Wilson has become very well known for his attendance and contributions to many local events, and he is often called upon as a host for various events in Greene County. If you go to any kind of an event in the county, there is a good chance you will find Wilson there in some capacity. Wilson has done remote broadcasts for the radio at the Greene County Fair and has been the Master of Ceremonies at Rain Day for several years and will be again this year. “I have had the honor of being the Master of Ceremonies for the last several years and they have invited me to come back again this year and I’m really looking forward to being a part of that as it’s a very special event.”
Another annual event that Wilson is highly involved with is the 50’s Fest & Car Cruise in Waynesburg. “Crazy Dougie Wilson” can be found on the courthouse steps for that occasion, covering tunes from another era gone by while spectators stroll along and check out the classic cars that line the streets.
While most people know all about Wilson’s community involvement and WANB, many probably don’t know that Wilson himself has made music! After playing in some bands and being an amateur songwriter at a younger age, later in life he wanted to try out making a song. “I didn’t want to look back on it and be like, ‘I wish I would have gone into the recording studio.’ So, in my senior year of college I wrote out some lyrics and sent out cassette tapes to independent record labels.” MFN Agency, a record label in Texas reached out, and one of the labels they owned called Pristine Records were the only ones to write back on the demo. They got two songs recorded and put out on an actual record. The two songs were called “Bad Boy Blues” and “Take a Chance”. The song, “Bad Boy Blues” actually charted in the top ten on a station in Belgium. “It was a lot of fun to do and every once in a while I’ll go on eBay and I’ll type in Doug Wilson Bad Boy Blues and every once in a while someone’s got a copy of it for sale.”
Doug Wilson grew up as a literal “son of a preacher man,” and his life has been centered on family, love, and music. He and his wife, Amy, who may also be known to WANB morning show listeners as “She who must be obeyed,” have raised their family in Greene County, and they are both respected and admired by friends, family, and neighbors. In a time when people oftentimes will say how busy they are as an excuse, Wilson manages to find the balance in life. Not only is he the operations manager, morning host, and host of the oldies show for WANB, he teaches five days a week at Waynesburg University, he is on the board for First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Greene County, he is a Civil War reenactor, an active member of his church, he is a husband, father, and grandfather, and involved with countless events in the county. For Doug Wilson, being busy is just another day and never just an excuse.