He Was a 1991 Country DJ. Now He's Leaving Beasley Media Group

Mac Edwards will walk away from Beasley Media Group on September 4, closing a 35-year run that started behind a microphone at a country station in southeastern North Carolina. He leaves as vice president and market manager of the company's Charlotte cluster — one of the longest-tenured executives left at a radio company that has spent all of 2026 rebuilding itself from the balance sheet up.

The six stations he oversees are familiar to anyone who commutes on I-77 with the radio on: K104.7, Power 98, Country 103.7, V101.9, Kiss 95.1 and PLAYA 94.7. Together they span country, hip-hop, R&B and top 40, which is to say most of what Charlotte actually listens to when it isn't streaming.

The timing is what makes this more than a routine retirement note. Beasley posted second-quarter revenue of $44.1 million, down 9.6% on a same-station basis from $49.1 million a year earlier. It also has deals pending to sell two stations — one in Charlotte, one in Las Vegas — for $8 million combined. Edwards is stepping off the field mid-rebuild.

The Long Way From Lumberton to Charlotte

Edwards didn't arrive as a corporate hire. He came up through the building, the old-fashioned way: on-air shift, then programming, then sales oversight, then the corner office. That path barely exists in radio anymore, which is part of why his name keeps showing up on industry award lists rather than in press releases about consultants.

1988-2015: On Air, Then in the Manager's Chair

He started in radio in 1988 at Beta Broadcasting in Austin, Texas. Three years later he joined Beasley as talent and program director at WKML, the country station licensed to Lumberton that serves the Fayetteville area. By 1996 he was general manager of WFLB and WAZZ-AM. In 2001 he moved up to vice president of programming and operations, and in 2007 he took over the whole Fayetteville cluster as VP and market manager.

2016-2022: Handed a Brand-New Detroit Cluster

In 2016, Beasley bought its way into Detroit and sent Edwards north to run it. That meant absorbing WRIF, WCSX and WMGC — rock and classic-rock heritage brands with fiercely loyal audiences — and later folding in WDMK and the Detroit Praise Network. Integrating a just-acquired cluster in a top-15 market is the kind of assignment companies hand to people they trust. He stayed six years.

2022-2026: Six Signals in a Fast-Growing City

He came back to North Carolina in 2022 for Charlotte, and in late 2024 picked up regional VP duties covering Fayetteville too. Along the way he's been a repeat finalist for Radio Ink's Radio Wayne Award for best manager and a five-time winner of Beasley's own Market Manager of the Year honor. Radio Ink quoted his farewell line:

Beasley Media Group has been such an important part of my life and career

Why Beasley Media Group's Numbers Make This Sting

Look past the headline and the quarter was strange. Beasley reported net income of roughly $84 million, but that came from a $91.8 million non-cash gain on a May 1 debt restructuring that cut total debt by $95 million and sliced second-lien borrowings by 46%. Actual ad revenue went the other way. National business excluding political fell 21%. Local agency revenue dropped about 12%.

The one bright spot was local direct — advertisers who buy straight from the station's own sellers — which rose roughly 9%. That is exactly the revenue line a market manager controls. It's also the line that depends most on relationships built over decades, which is precisely what walks out the door on September 4.

What Charlotte Listeners Might Actually Notice

Honestly, not much on day one. Market managers don't pick the songs. But one of Beasley's Charlotte signals is part of the $8 million sale to EMF, the nonprofit behind the K-LOVE and Air1 networks, and that deal is expected to close within 60 to 90 days. Stations EMF buys typically end up carrying Christian music, which means one preset in the Charlotte area is likely to sound completely different this fall.

A Generation of Radio Managers Is Aging Out

Edwards is one of a shrinking group who joined a radio company before consolidation, before streaming, before podcasting, and stayed put. Beasley said in August that its digital audience has now passed its broadcast audience — a genuine milestone, and a sign of where the next generation of managers will come from. Fewer of them will have ever run a request line.

What to Watch Between Now and Year-End

Three things. Whether Beasley names a Charlotte successor or folds the market under an existing regional executive — a common cost move, and the company has flagged about $10.5 million in annualized savings. Whether the EMF sale closes on schedule. And whether the Fort Myers cluster sale, valued at $18 million, brings total pending divestitures to $26 million as planned.

If you listen to Charlotte radio, the practical move is simple: expect at least one frequency to flip formats before the holidays, and don't assume your saved presets survive it. If you work in the industry, watch how Beasley fills this job. Promoting from inside or centralizing the role will say more about the company's next two years than any earnings call did.