Frankie Lax was a mainstay on local conservative talk radio for years on Forever Communications and the TJ Network.
He left in November of 2016, just after Donald Trump was elected U.S. President, for a potential Presidential appointment that would’ve been prohibited because of his presence in the media.
Six-and-a-half years later, Lax is returning to local conservative talk radio, and a station is flipping its entire format to make way for his return.
WTJS-FM 93.1, which is owned by West Tennessee Media Group (formerly known as Grace Broadcasting) announced in March the pending change to its station format from Christian contemporary music to conservative talk and will now be known as Super Talk 93.1.
The Frankie Lax Show will air 4-6 p.m. Monday through Fridays on the station and be the local anchor show for the daily format that includes two other local shows in the morning and a lineup of national and regional conservative shows throughout the rest of the day.
The new format and lineup makes its debut on Monday.
“I’m excited to be back, because as much as I love running my business, I’ve missed being able to talk about issues going on in our country and talking with listeners and other conservative voices about those issues,” said Lax, who owns Maxxguard Security. “I’ve been out for six or seven years, and there’s been a lot in the Trump Presidency and the current Biden administration that I wish I could’ve been on somewhere discussing.”
According to a statement released by West Tennessee Media Group on March 21 when they initially announced Lax joining the group, owner Lacy Ennis saw a need for conservative talk to replace its former Christian music format.
“With the ever-changing climate in world politics, it was felt there was an urgent need for a Conservative News Talk station – which would reach all counties in West Tennessee,” the statement said.
The other two local shows are The Y’all Show with Jon Rawl from 6-9 a.m. and The Patriot Pastor with newly-elected Jackson City Councilman J.P. Stovall from 9-11 a.m.
Todd Starnes, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly make up the bulk of the rest of the program surrounding Lax’ afternoon drive-time show.
Lax is bringing back long-time partner Bob Digornio with him to return in his role as producer.
“Radio has been in my blood since I started spinning records as a music jock,” Lax said. “And now as an adult, I see the need for conservative talk shows to give the other side that a lot of the liberal shows and mainstream media always leave out in their reporting.”
And people in Jackson and West Tennessee will be able to join in that discussion.
“People in Tennessee are a lot smarter than people in Washington and even people in Nashville give them credit for,” Lax said. “And with the shape our country is in and is getting in further, this show will be a place for people to sound off on what’s going on and hopefully maybe we can show people that conservatives are the silent majority and we can have an impact if we realize there are more of us out here than a lot of news organizations would lead us to believe.”
Monday’s debut show will feature guest appearances from both Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, a personal friend of Lax for years since before Hagerty campaigned for his position in 2020.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news