No-Frills Station Broadcasts Bluegrass From a Van

April 10 -- If you had a dream to start a radio station that played mostly homegrown country music featuring real instruments and unembellished voices, you'd have to get pretty creative.

In the radio business, that music — known as "roots" or "mountain" music — hasn't had much airing. Or much financial backing.

But Tony Lawson of Clinton, Tenn. was determined. He couldn't raise a lot of money, so he started 200-watt WDVX public radio — in a 14-foot RV camper.

Where the bunk beds used to be is now Studio A. The warehouse is where the restroom used to be, the broadcast equipment fills the space once occupied by a refrigerator, and microphones can drop from the ceiling whenever a live band stops by to play. There are 3,000 CDs tucked into every nook and cranny in the camper.

And while the occasional thunderstorm can provide some tense moments, life is basically good for Lawson and his renegade staff. Five years after it went on the air, WDVX is flourishing.

"We just went on the air doing something we felt good about," says Lawson, who does a number of shifts as a DJ at his station. He has a handful of staff now and an annual budget of $150,000 — pretty impressive for someone who couldn't convince commercial radio that the music had an audience. But with the popularity of the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? and its Grammy-winning soundtrack of old-time tunes, Lawson is looking rather prescient about now.

"It was like, hot dog, you know, that's us boys," says Lawson of the movie, which featured a 1930s era radio station. Back then, it wasn't unusual for folks to just stop by a station with a fiddle or guitar and play for a while live on the air.

That happens all the time at WDVX, although it can get pretty crowded when a 9-piece band comes to play.

"We put 'em on the sofa," says DJ Freddy Smith. "Down in Studio C."

No Corporate Shackles

Studio B is a mere foot and-a-half away, at the camper's kitchen table. And studio A, the announcer's booth, is 2 feet farther. The cozy quarters suit the DJs, especially the red-head who goes by "Red Hickey." While she concedes the camper's square footage can be constricting, the freedom the station's independence affords is liberating.