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Dear Friend,
It was a good run, and a whole lot of fun. However, as is often the case, sometimes things run their course, and come to an end.
When I started this show just a few months ago, I wondered what the future would hold. I have had ties to this area for most of my life. I remember when there was no Anderson Mall, and I-85 stopped just north of Anderson. I remember when Brown Road was a quiet little roadway, with almost no cars going by for hours. Clemson Boulevard was years away from any development.
As some of you know, I returned to this area back in early 2005. I had been away from the North Georgia/South Carolina region since 1998, though I had visited often with family connections. Since 1970, I have been in the radio business. In this area I have worked in various capacities for a number of stations, including WAIM back in 1973. At that time I dated a wonderful girl named Sherri. Circumstances would have us go in different directions. I went back to College, and when I returned to the region a couple of years later, I ended up in Toccoa, GA. There I met a gal named Delinda, and we were married later that year.
From 1976 to 1987 I worked in some of the best radio stations in the nation, and also moved into the realm of engineering. In early 1988, I accepted a short-term position at Toccoa Falls College. I only planned to be there about a year, but God had other plans. During my time at TFC, their radio ministry grew leaps and bounds.
In the early 1990's, I felt the call of God to pursue the pastoral ministry. I re-entered my studies, and was ordained in 1996. For the next two years I helped a few small missions, worked at the College, and even worked part-time at WRIX with Matt Phillips, a person I called a close friend for over 20 years. When Matt died in 1997, I was honored to be one of the three clergy to conduct his funeral.
In 1998 I accepted a call to a struggling mission in Sarasota, Florida. My wife and I moved to that region, and in a few years that church grew to beyond their wildest dreams. Everything in life was going wonderful, until my wife received a diagnosis of breast cancer in July of 2002. For the next two years she battled re-occurring cancer. She fought lung cancer and beat it back, but lost her fight with a sudden appearance of brain cancer in September of 2004.
Following her death, I became very lonely and despondent. It was too hard to continue with that church, so I left at the end of that year and decided to come to this area, at least for a while. Toccoa Falls generously provided me a short-term job to keep me afloat. Even with the insurance, the bills from that ordeal all but wiped me out, emotionally, and financially. In the midst of all that despair, I met Sherri again after all those years. She has been my source of strength and recovery, and is now my wife.
For a time I worked for several radio stations in this area and put aside my ministry. I even did an afternoon show at Talk 103, WRIX. In September of 2006 I accepted a one-year call to a church with a pastor in bad health. We resided in Fort Walton Beach/Destin Florida for that year. Also in 2006 I had the opportunity to acquire a sweat equity interest in a small radio station in Clarkesville, GA. When we returned to the area in 2007, we first went there to do a major re-build. When that was done we came here to Anderson.
When we came here it was my hope to get re-involved with talk ra,io and develop a weekday show. That simply never materialized, but I did get involved with WAIM to work on developing a website and weekend show. I never could get the position of fully operating all that goes with the Internet side, plus a Sunday show is a hard sell to get sponsorship. It has been a tough time.
Recently my Radio Station in Georgia was sold. The proceeds from that sale will help Sherri and I move forward to find our place in life. While I enjoy what I do here in Anderson, it is simply not enough to support our family. Besides, I'm also feeling that desire to return to my first love, the ministry.
After prayerful consideration I now know the time has come to move on. I will say much more than you will ever know was accomplished during our time here. After a dry period of seemingly no opportunity, I now must debate between a number of options.
I want to thank all of you that listened and supported this show; it has been a blessing for me. I wish I could stay and continue, but I need to support my family and do what I feel God is calling us to do. I'll miss all the fun and conversation. Perhaps by modern technology I can still keep a voice in this market, but that remains to be seen, but then again, who knows.
Let me know what you thought of the show, and keep in touch. You can email me at bob@yourweekendshow.com.
Sincerely,
Bob & Sherri Biermann
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