Staff

Gary Butts - VP/General Manager

Gary Butts has been the general manager of WGOG since 2001. Butts is a graduate of Westminster High School in Westminster, SC, and has a broadcasting degree from Tri-County Technical College.

Butts began his radio career in 1982 at WBLW in Royston, GA. Career turns included a part-time announcing stint at WZLI in Toccoa, GA before coming to WGOG in 1991.

Butts was hired as Station Manager of WBCU in Union, SC in 2000, but returned to WGOG as General Manager when the station was purchased by Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting Company in 2001.

Butts has served as president of the Walhalla Rotary Club; he serves on the board of directors of both the Westminster and Walhalla Chambers of Commerce, the Leadership Oconee Board of Directors, and the advisory board for the broadcasting curriculum at Hamilton Career Center.

Butts is married to the former Juliana England of Walhalla, SC and has two boys, Aaron and Aidan.

Ann Wilson Anderson - Sales Representative

A lifelong resident of Oconee County, is the proud mother of three grown sons, and proud grandmother of four, with a fifth grandchild due in May.

Ann worked in banking for many years, and held a seat on the board of Directors at First Union National Bank.

After the sudden and tragic death of her husband, Bruce, Ann was a stay at home Mom for several years, raising their three sons.

Ann later worked at Walhalla Middle School, as secretary for the Assistant Principal, and worked as a licensed agent for Associated Employee Services.

In 1990, Ann attended Tri-County Technical College, majoring in Radio and Television Broadcasting, where she maintained a 3.90 average.

In 1991, after seeing Ann’s name on the Dean’s List, Marvin Hill, then General Manager of WGOG, called and asked her to come in for an interview.

Hired in April of 1991, Ann worked as an announcer for WGOG, three afternoons a week. Two months later, a sales position opened and Ann was offered the job. Her job includes sales, writing ad copy, producing ads, hosting remote broadcasts, billing, collections, and more. In April of 2009, Ann will have been with WGOG-96.3FM for 18 years.

Over the years, Ann has been active in many civic and community projects including helping get the very first Walhalla Oktoberfest off the ground in 1978; working with Oconee Community Theater; 15 year Garden Club member and past president; and volunteering at Oconee Memorial Hospital. Ann has emceed numerous Fashion Shows and has judged, as well as emceed numerous Beauty Pageants in Oconee & Pickens County.

An active member of College Street Baptist, Ann sings in the Choir, plays Hand bells in the Adult Hand Bell Choir, and performs with College Street Baptist Church’s Interpretive Movement Group.

Kris Butts - Sports Director, Weekend Operations

Kris Butts has been with 96.3 WGOG since September of 1994. A native of Westminster, Kris serves as sports director for WGOG and handles all weekend operations at the station. He is also host of The Weekly Country Music Countdown heard on Saturday mornings from 9:00 AM–Noon. Friday nights during the fall, Kris can be found in the press box broadcasting local high school football games on 96.3 WGOG.

In addition to his great passion for Country music, he is also a fan of jazz and Carolina beach and shag music. Kris's favorite hobby and one of his greatest passions is his favorite television show, The Andy Griffith Show. He is also a fan of the New England Patriots and the 2009 World Champion New York Yankees.

Outside of his work at the station Kris also serves as the Baseball voice of his alma mater, West-Oak High School.

Brandon Kessler - Sales Representative

Brandon is a graduate of Mauldin High School in Mauldin, SC. After high school he attended North Greenville University. Brandon holds a bachelors degree in Mass Communications and a minor in Marketing.

Brandon began his radio career in college sports broadcasting at North Greenville University. He worked as the Sports Director for the college radio station announcing NGU Football and Basketball games. He went on to win the Most Promising Radio Broadcaster award his freshman year and finished with honors in Mass Communications.

Local radio is nothing new to Brandon. After college, Brandon went on to work for 1150AM/103.3 FM WSNW in Seneca as the Sports Director and Sales Representative. He then went to work for Clear Channel in Greenville, SC in sales and found that local radio is where he felt at home. Brandon has been a part of the WGOG staff since September of 2007.

In his free time Brandon enjoys fishing, hiking, bowling, softball, basketball and watching college football. He is married to the former Brittney Bowling of Simpsonville, SC. They have two dogs, Ralph and Esther.

David Lyles - Afternoons

David is the afternoon board operator at WGOG. He also operates the board for many of the Furman Games and he is one of the announcers on our Friday Night Football games. He has been with us for almost two years.

David is a sophomore at West Oak High School where you can often hear his voice announcing ball games.

In his spare time David likes running, playing music, watching movies and camping.

Debbie Hardy Lyles - Office Manager

Debbie is the daughter of Ralph Hardy and the late Margaret Hardy and is a lifelong resident of Westminster.

She is married to her high school sweetheart, Jerry Lyles. Jerry is a former teacher at Westminster Middle School and has been pastor of Welcome Baptist Church in Westminster for almost twenty years. They have two sons, Rob and David.

Debbie is proud of having been a stay-at-home wife and mom and of home schooling her children until their middle school years. She has been at WGOG for two and a half years.

Rob Lyles - Afternoons

Rob is a junior at Clemson University, majoring in History and planning to teach. He has worked at WGOG for four years, running the afternoon operations and Furman football and basketball games.

He teaches the elementary Sunday School class at Welcome Baptist in Westminster with the beautiful Liz O’Kelley. In his spare time, Rob enjoys playing the guitar, old Nintendo games, and frequenting the Pickens flea market.

Dick Mangrum - News Director

Dick Mangrum has worked in radio news in four states, but his home is South Carolina. And his backyard is Oconee County. He arrived a few months before Armstrong walked the moon and has been recording Oconee County life pretty much ever since. At one time he wanted to do something other than to chronicle the local events, but he got “hooked” on news when, while learning broadcasting, got to see David Brinkley live with Chet Huntley and a Lawrence Spivak-moderated Meet The Press. At WGOG, he learned from three of the station’s legendary announcers: George Allgood, Jerry Dyar, and Marvin Hill.

Wayne Morton - 6-10am

A veteran of 35 years in radio, television, newspapers, and public relations, Wayne is a native of Westminster, SC. He is a graduate of Westminster High School (Class of '67), Brevard College, and studied journalism at Columbia University and public relations management at New York University.

Wayne has taught radio/television broadcasting at Tri-County Technical College. He is also a licensed minister and studied theology at Southern Wesleyan University. He also serves as assistant chaplain at Oconee Medical Center and served as a chaplain in the S.C. Army National Guard.

Wayne and Donna have been married 40 years and have two married daughters and four grandchildren.

Kate Whitten

In March of 2009, Rock Hill native Kate Whitten will have been with WGOG in Walhalla for 13 years.

Along with sales, Kate hosts the “Ask the Experts” show every Saturday morning from 7-8am.

She is married to Scott Whitten and has 5 children and 2 grandchildren. She loves to cook, work in her garden and enjoys landscaping their century-old farm.