For the last 29 years, listeners in the Montgomery area have been “Waking Up” with Mel Marshall. But, as a farm kid from Shorter, Alabama, Mel never imagined he would end up in the radio business; he says it “just happened.” However, he got his first taste of the industry as a teen when he and some friends started working part-time at a local station.

A few years later, the colleges came calling when recruiters learned of Mel’s athletic skill. He attended Stillman College and played on the basketball team, but transferred a year later to Tuskegee on a football scholarship. Initially, Mel thought he would coach, but he became more interested in communications, especially after he found out there was student-run station on campus.

After graduating, Mel spent two years in the Army and returned to civilian life and the radio business in 1974, working as a full-time announcer and assistant program director at stations such as WQIM-FM in Prattville and WBIL-AM in Tuskegee.

Life took an unexpected turn in 1977, when an old friend, Ronald LaPread, contacted Mel to do promotions for his band that had hit it big: the iconic 1970’s R&B group, The Commodores. During that time, Mel was backstage with some of the 70’s greatest stars, legends like Luther Vandross and Diana Ross. He also began to formulate the idea of a radio station that would only play the music he and his contemporaries enjoyed.

In 1983, this dream became a reality when Mel returned to the radio industry and played a significant role in the launch of WVAS-FM, a public jazz station located on the Alabama State University campus. Mel has worked at the station ever since and is the one and only early morning announcer in the station’s history. He was named Program Director in 2007.

However, Mel’s true passion at WVAS has been teaching students from the Alabama State communications program. Many of his students have gone on to establish successful broadcast careers around the nation, and some have even achieved stardom; he can count actress and comedian Aisha Tyler among his former students.

Mel’s other passions include his work as half-time show announcer for the Alabama State University Marching Hornets and spending time with his family.