Barnes returns to the airwaves

Main Street Media is adding a familiar voice and a seasoned veteran to its growing team in the coming weeks.

Jeff Barnes, a longtime radio personality with nearly four decades of experience, will join the Main Street Media family as the radio programmer for all 10 of the company’s stations.

For Barnes, the move marks a homecoming of sorts. Though he has spent the past two and a half years working for the Warren County Government in the Finance Department as a bookkeeper and accounts payable clerk, he never fully stepped away from the world of media, contributing to local coverage in Warren County as a sportswriter and continuing a long tradition of storytelling and community connection.

Barnes’ connection to local athletics goes back further than writing, having called sporting events for White County, Cannon County and DeKalb County, becoming a recognizable voice for fans across the region.

“Oh gosh, I've been in radio for 38 years,” Barnes said, reflecting on the winding road that brought him back to the booth. “I went to MTSU and then I talked to a lady named Patty Murray, who was at WKDF when that station used to play rock in the 1980s, and she turned me to a guy who was retired, but would train you for about a year in the radio business. So I went down there and trained for a year, then got my FCC license and started my work in radio.”

His career since then has stretched across Middle Tennessee, including stops in McMinnville, Sparta and Smithville. Now, Barnes is ready to step back into the studio, blending decades of experience with a renewed sense of motivation.

“Well, I'm nervous and excited at the same time,” he admitted. “I've been out of radio for two and a half years… I've loved the county experience in accounts payable, but I'm excited to get back.”

Barnes credits Main Street Media leaders Chad Graves and Scot MacDonald for helping reignite that spark.

“I had that talk with Chad and Scot and they kind of stoked the embers in me a little bit,” Barnes said. “I'm just excited to be back, to learn the equipment and talk to everybody in the community again. I'm excited to let everybody know I'm coming back.”

With Barnes now taking the reins of programming for all 10 stations, and preparing for an on-air role soon to be unveiled, Main Street Media is gearing up for an even stronger, more community-connected broadcast presence.