VALDOSTA — After years in construction, Cody Fender left building structures from the ground up to building the kingdom of God out of thin air.

For more than a dozen years, Fender has owned and operated WTHV 810AM. The radio station dedicates most of its airtime to playing Southern gospel music, but programming includes area preachers, a herbal health show, and the popular Mike Davis sports show 7-9 a.m. Mondays through Fridays.

In an age when most radio stations are one piece of a media conglomerate, Fender is a lone wolf. He runs an independent radio station. Partnership offers have come his way, but Fender has turned them down.

“I’m kind of a maverick, you might say,” Fender says, seated in the office of his station off Jaycee Shack Road. “I do just fine being by myself. I’d rather not have to answer to someone else. I’d rather be a one-man show than a two-man mess.”

Through new technology, Fender can start his morning programs with a simple 6 a.m. phone call no matter his location. Still, he arrives at the station most mornings between 6:30-7 a.m. Same mornings, he’s already in the station before airtime.

Outside, penned fences surround his station where he keeps his Tennessee Walking horses. Had he co-opted into a radio conglomerate, a partner may not know what to make of Fender spending part of his morning or afternoon riding a horse.  Fender plans to join Pastor Carlton Allen of Calvary Baptist Church in a prayer-request show soon. Allen already has a 9:30-9:45 a.m. Monday through Friday time slot on the station. On Wednesdays, Fender and Allen will add 15 minutes to the show starting at 9:15 a.m. to take callers’ prayer requests.

WTHV 810 is a daylight station, meaning it goes on the air yearround at about 6 a.m. but must sign off each day two hours after sundown. This means the station could run as late as 10:45 p.m. during the summer but as early as about 7-7:30 p.m. in the winter. Throughout the summer, the station signs off at 9 p.m. each day and will continue doing so for the next several weeks. Come winter, the station will sign off at 7:30 p.m.

Fender likes his hours. He enjoys his work. He enjoys the freedom of running his own business and being a one-man show. He loves Southern gospel music.

In the late 1990s, the radio station became the answer to his prayers.



WORK ETHIC

Born in Thomson, Ga., Cody Fender grew up the third child of six in the Lowndes County farm family of Al Fender and Jeanene Waller Fender. He had one older brother, an older sister, and three younger brothers.

Fender children learned to work at an early age. Their parents set the example. Al Fender worked at the paper mill and farmed his land. Cody Fender recalls working several chores while still a small boy. “Dad taught us to work from the get go,” Fender says.

Cody Fender didn’t attend college, but he applied the Fender work ethic to construction. He rose through the ranks, earning promotions by the sweat of his brow, an ability to put in long hours, and a willingness to go where needed.

In 1978, in his late 20s, Cody married wife Phyllis. Cody describes the family they built as a “hers, mine and ours.” She had son Michael from a previous marriage. He had son Clint from a previous marriage. They had son Corey together.

Work took Cody Fender away from his family. He traveled throughout the United States for his construction jobs. On some jobs, he could return home Friday nights before flying or driving back again late Sunday afternoon. Many jobs only allowed him the chance to fly in for a weekend twice or even once a month.

He recalls missing his sons’    ball games. He was always away from home. With Cody gone, Phyllis managed the household.

After 27 years of construction, Cody Fender had enough.



BIG CHANGE

From Fort Dodge, Iowa, he called Phyllis and said he was coming home for a July 4 holiday. He let her know that he had a two-way ticket with a one-way plan to stay home.

“I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what I was coming home to do,” Fender says.

For the first few months, “I piddled a bit. I worked here and there.”

A Christian, Fender had a love for Southern gospel music. Learning the radio station was available, he financed it through the previous owners.

“I had no radio experience. I had never been in a radio station,” Fender says. “But I felt a call from God, and if not for Him, I wouldn’t have done it.”

In March 1998, Cody Fender took over the WTHV, number 810 on the AM dial. Though he’d never worked in radio, he applied the same work ethic that had made him a success in construction. Five years later, he bought out the previous owners and was on his own.

“It’s nice to come to work and be by myself,” he says, comparing his radio career to his construction days, “without 200 workers wanting something, or having clients wanting to know why a project is behind schedule.”