During a wedding reception, there’s a little bit of pressure on the DJ.

 

“As much as people believe that food and décor are most important, when it all comes down to it – after guests have eaten and the toasts have been made – boom – they turn around and you have control of the entire celebration,” said Ed Morrison. “It’s right in the palm of your hand.”

 

Seeing the reactions and guiding his playlist accordingly is the No. 2 reason Morrison has loved serving as an area DJ for the last 40 years.

 

The No. 1 reason is that – well, he just likes music.

 

And though tunes have certainly changed over the last four decades or so, there are some classic oldies that are still requested at weddings, reunions, birthday parties and other occasions for which Morrison spins tunes and works the microphone – and the crowd.

 

“At weddings, even after 50 years, people want ‘Unchained Melody’ by the Righteous Brothers. If I don’t play it, I get requests for it,” he said. “Something else that’s pretty neat is that old ‘70s funk is coming back.”

 

In fact, Morrison said if he has "Unchained Melody," "Uptown Funk" by Bruno Mars and "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, he can please about everyone. Add in some shag tunes and he's as happy as the rest, he said. 

 

It was mid- to late-1960s tunes that played a big role in Morrison getting into the DJ and broadcasting business. His love for music and performing started when, as a young teen, he was part of a band called “D and the Malibus.”

 

“We put a group together and Don Fowler was leader of the whole thing,” Morrison said. “I played sax and did vocals.”

 

That band, which played gigs in former hot spots such as Maple Lake and Lake Floyd and the Nutter Fort Fire Department, morphed into one called “Iron Cross” and ultimately “The Upsetters.”

 

“Those were the great days of music. There were bands playing everywhere,” Morrison said.

 

After his 1968 graduation from Roosevelt Wilson High School – where he also played in the school marching band - Morrison went to broadcasting school at the Career Academy in Columbus, Ohio. After completing the program, he went right into the radio business.

 

“I went to work for WDOW in Logan, West Virginia. That was a whole different culture for me. I was there about six months and came back home and worked for WHAR. Al Cox hired me,” Morrison said. “I went by the name ‘Bobby Edwards.’”

 

But that didn’t last long, Morrison said. Along came the military draft.

 

“I knew I’d get drafted and I didn’t want to wind up in the army, so I signed up and joined the navy,” he said.

 

Two days after marring his wife Carol in 1971, he was off to training in Bainbridge, Md. and the couple thereafter moved to Yorktown, Va. where Ed was stationed.

 

“Then I came back and attended Fairmont State and worked at WHAR on weekends,” he said.

 

Morrison was also a disc jockey at WPDX. Those were the days when well-known personalities like Terry Castle ruled the airwaves. The era leaves very good and vivid memories, he said.

 

Eventually, Morrison moved on from the radio business and was actually selling diesel fuel and tanks when he was asked to do a live DJ gig – his first since an impromptu 1969 record hop at Grafton.

 

“My Uncle Dave Hostetler and Mike Hannah started Dave’s Prime Rib on Bridgeport Hill (former Ellis Restaurant and present Tom Davis Garden Center) and they started bringing in DJs. I started going there once a week and it blossomed real quick,” Morrison said.

 

Once Claire Chenoweth asked him to DJ his daughter’s wedding, the rest is history, Morrison said.

 

“That was 1983 or ’84 and I’ve been doing wedding receptions since,” he said. “I’ve done them for so long that I’ve done weddings of children whose parents’ receptions I did years ago. I’m working on a third generation.”

 

Morrison also emcees and plays music at a lot of reunions, baseball and soccer elimination dinners, as well as other fundraisers and events. Next Friday, he is working the West Virginia Corvette Show at Harry Green Chevrolet. He’s done that gig for about four years. Throughout the years, he’s continued to dabble in radio, including commercials. He has also done TV commercials and voiceovers.

 

In addition to the change in music has come a change in method for playing the music.

 

“When I started, I would go to the photo shop and rent a record player with a speaker on it. I’d carry it under one arm and all the 45s under the other and go off to the record hop. It was like that the first couple of years,” Morrison said. “Then it progressed to two column speakers and a couple turn tables – but nothing like it is today.”

 

These days, Morrison uses two laptops that hold endless amounts of tunes and a pair of speakers with mega wattage. 

 

He continues to enjoy the reactions of people about as much as he does the music.

 

“I look at people and try to guess what music they’re going to request. Sometimes it’s pretty interesting,” he said.  “Like there might be some 80-year-old women and I think they’re going to request a polka or something and they’ll ask if I have the new song by Bruno Mars.”

 

At one time, it wasn’t unusual for Morrison to do two or three weddings per weekend. These days, he does one or two per month.

 

It’s all been an interesting ride, Carol Morrison said.

 

“The first 10 years, I would go along and help him at weddings – like getting ready for the intros of the wedding party, cutting of the cake and the first dance,” she said.

 

But after her mom became ill, she didn’t accompany her husband to as many of his gigs. There were pros and cons to that, she said.

 

“I think Ed was happier when I wasn’t there after a while because every time he did the father/daughter dance, I cried my eyes out!”

 

Weddings are his specialties, his wife said.

 

“Even though he does class reunions, car shows and anniversary parties, etc., he is in his ‘happy place’ – making others happy,” she said.

 

Residents of Maple Lake just outside of Bridgeport, the Morrisons are the parents of Brooke Carnes and Corey Morrison, who graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1996 and 2000, respectively. They are the grandparents of Brody and Bryce Carnes.

 

“Bryce is pretty interested in the music business and helped me set up stuff at his fifth grade school dance last year,” Morrison said. “Brody is the youngest and he’s the one who can dance like Michael Jackson and can sing a lot of songs. If anybody in the family might get into the music business, it would probably be him.” 

 

Editor's Note: Morrison is pictured just above with his grandson Bryce.