His love for music and sports started at an early age for Adam Riggin. Growing up in Crisfield on the Eastern Shore he was surrounded by history and tradition, where high school sports dominated the culture, making ordinary athletes legendary. Adam was surrounded by music, growing up with a father who performed all over the shore in local cover bands. Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin and the Stones were his soundtrack. Then came the 80’s with a fresh, new sound coming out of the cities. Adam would stay up late “running tape” of WJDY, the only radio station in the area that played this new “rap” music. Music class the next day at Carter G. Woodson Middle School in Crisfield was spent exploring the new sounds recorded on the cassette tape the night before. Adam was a natural on the drums. His musical influences include everything from Bonham to J-Dilla. He spent the majority of his time in school playing drums and participating in sports. After attending UMES for 18 months Adam wanted to chase his dream of ‘making it’ in the music business. He joined a band based out of College Park, MD named Jook. The band was hot! The crowd was too! The bookings started coming and the word began to spread. This thing might work. The hours were long and hard but the pay was not good. Adam knew the situation wasn’t right.
Fast forward to March 1997. Adam had made friends with the local DJ from the brand new county station in the market, Bay Country 96.9, WBEY. Even better it was in Crisfield!! The Crabbers basketball team was on fire that season and advanced all the way to the state tournament! Adam was asked by his friend to help call the game for the live radio broadcast scheduled to air on Bay Country from College Park. The game was a loss for Crisfield, but a win for the station. The broadcast was a hit and the locals loved the idea of their hometown team being on the radio. Soon after Adam started covering local sports daily as part of the Bay Country morning show and provided full season coverage of Crabbers Basketball for the next 3 seasons, including the 2000 State Championship season.
22 years later Adam is still a fixture in the Bay Country 97.9 weekday lineup, cranking out Today’s Best Music for your workday from 10am – 2pm. He also serves as the station General Manager and Program Director. When he’s not hard at work you can find him traveling the Mid-Atlantic for sports tournaments with his Lori and daughters.
