‘Midday at the Z’ makes its debut on WXMZ

Ohio Countians have a new way to spend their midday.

“Midday at the Z” made its debut on 99.9 WXMZ on Monday with host Josh Wright.

Wright wants to continue to provide listeners with some of the same information they have grown accustomed to hearing over the years during the lunchtime show while bringing some new and fresh segments as well.

“My intentions for the show is for it to be informative – where our community has a place to go for information, for basic news, sports and community events. My main focus of the show is to promote our youth, our schools and what they are doing and promote positivity and have a little humor along the way.”

At the end of the day, he hopes to bring “a little bit of joy to people’s lives one hour a day.”

Midday listeners will hear new segments such as The Midday Hymn of the Day, Hillbilly Headlines and Today in History.

Wright will continue announcing the day’s birthdays as well as local news and obituaries.

Prizes will be given away and contests will be held periodically as well.

Local guests and business leaders will continue to be invited on a regular basis to promote events and businesses, and he plans to have a co-host on a daily basis.

While Wright said he never envisioned he would be hosting an hour-long radio show, he always enjoyed occasionally co-hosting the previous WXMZ lunch show with his father, the late Jerry Wright, who was the host of Lunch at the Z for more than a decade, as well as helping call Ohio County Eagle ballgames.

“Doing the ballgames (on air) has always been sort of my passion because I really enjoy doing that,” he said. “I look at (the midday show) as a little bit of a challenge for me.”

He said he has already seen that in a short period of time as he tries to outline topics for his show each day as it is much different than preparing to be on the air during ballgames.

“With ballgames, you have several days in between to prepare. With this, there is just 24 hours. It is going to be a challenge but I am excited about it.”

Wright said after only a couple of days on the air, he has already gotten a good, positive response from the community.

“I just love Ohio County and this is my way of giving back to them,” he said.

Wright signs off each day, “Wherever you are or however you are listening we want to remind you that faith, love and kindness always win – come aboard,” followed by the closing song “Love Train.”