On the Air with Ernest Corder
“It’s the music, it’s all about the music,” said Ernest Corder, the host of KWVH’s Redroc Radio, which airs every Wednesday from 7 to 10 p.m. Rock ‘n Roll fans can tune in and hear three hours of their favorite music — everything from Beatles to Metallica — culled from his personal playlist of 12,000 songs.
Ernest, who single handedly produces his program, likes to group his shows around a theme. During the two-week arctic freeze of 2021, for example, he chose songs with titles or lyrics that mirrored the conditions outside. Sometimes he’ll put together a show around “what music was new in 1978,” he told me in a charged, fast-paced interview at the View several weeks ago. Interspersed throughout, listeners might hear fun facts and other rock ‘n roll trivia.
Ernest comes by his love of radio honestly. He began in radio sales in Houston and Austin, working for ZRock 106.9 KKZR and Z102 102.9 KZIA in Houston, and KGSR FM, now rebranded as Austin City Limits radio. Completely immersed in the world of radio from 1992 to 1999, he worked every event and promotion he could and found himself emceeing Monday night jam sessions with musicians. Somewhere in there he began writing jingles and media spots for clients. While he originally thought of working for a record label, that idea morphed into Redroc Media, his Austin advertising agency now 27 years old. If you have trouble remembering the name of his ad agency, it is his last name, “Corder,” spelled backwards.
In 2021 Ernest moved to Wimberley. From his days in radio, he knew Tim Keisling from when Keisling worked for IHeart Radio in San Antonio. When the word went out to find radio hosts for KWVH, Ernest jumped in. Tim gave him the green light to play anything he wanted and he didn’t waste time creating shows from his giant playlist. “It took me hours,” he said with a laugh, “to edit out the bad words, though.”
Ernest is himself a guitar player and is from a musical family. His father is Dr. David Corder, the founder and longtime conductor of the Baytown Symphony Orchestra, and his mother, Lynda, was a cellist in the orchestra. His hobby is collecting guitars from rock icons and he recently snagged a bass guitar played by the late Dusty Hills of ZZ Top. For Rock ’n Roll fans, Redroc Radio delivers the goods as only a great rock song can.