St. Pete is celebrated for its fabulous weather, beautiful vistas, world-class food scene, and thriving cultural atmosphere but the people of St. Pete truly make this city something special. In appreciation, each month Green Bench shines a light on one of the many people that make St. Pete unique.
At WMNF 88.5 FM radio’s Motown tribute show, deejay Lee “Flee” Courtney took stage as Fleeanna Ross, donning a long black wig and a black sequined dress. At a WMNF Beatles tribute, he appeared in a costume not unlike one on the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album cover.
Costuming is one of the many ways WMNF’s comedic on-air personality helps hype the community radio station and keeps local live music a little livelier.
Courtney has been a regular deejay at WMNF since 1996. He has organized and been master of ceremonies at more than 100 WMNF benefit concerts. At the radio station, when he’s not hosting “Traffic Jam Monday” or on air supporting other deejays, he works behind the scenes as the station’s music director, a position he’s held for 24 years.
A Deejay is Born
A native of Hartford, Conn., who now lives in St. Petersburg, Courtney was obsessed with music from a young age. He jokes that he’s
a failed drummer; he briefly took lessons in the fifth grade. “One week I forgot my practice pad, and my drum teacher made me hit the table with my hands,” he recalls. “That was the end of my drumming career.”
He was more tenacious about spinning records. At 11, he loved radio so much that he regularly took the city bus alone to WDRC, a classic rock station in Hartford, and spent an hour or more watching his favorite deejays work. “If they knew about stalking then, they would have been concerned,” he jokes. “The deejays were like gods to me. I thought I could never do that.”
In his 20s, he did. He took at a training session at the University of Hartford radio station and started hosting a new wave and punk rock show in the wee morning hours. Then for years, he gave up his Friday nights (which he adds was no small sacrifice for a single guy in his 20s) and spun records from midnight to 3 a.m. He worked in marketing during the day.
Accidents Will Happen
A seasonal marketing gig in the mid 1990s brought Courtney to Tampa. He stayed and finished his college degree in communications at the University of South Florida. He was already familiar with WMNF; it’s one of the nation’s largest community-radio stations. At the first opportunity, he volunteered to work there.
It took a few years for him to get a regular prime-time on-air slot. His show is among the station’s most popular; as a comedic master of ceremonies, he has become the de facto face of the station. (A little- known, but not surprising, fact is that Courtney briefly did stand-up comedy in Tampa.)
Punk rock and new wave are his original jams, and Elvis Costello is his musical god. For years, Courtney’s Madeira Beach apartment was dominated by a life-size cardboard replica of Costello. As his musical taste evolves, he’s always on the hunt for new sounds and twists on old ones.
Uke It Out!
Years ago, Courtney heard the Japanese band Petty Booka play ukulele covers of ‘80s rock songs. “I thought that was a really cool sound,” he says. He began percolating the idea for a ukulele rock show. Local ukulele player Rebecca Michela suggested the name “Uke It Out,” and together they organized the annual event that now draws 200 to 500 ukulele lovers from around the state to Cage Brewing in St Petersburg.
This year’s 8th Annual “Uke It Out!” on Dec. 2 features musical styles from rock to bluegrass to Celtic as well as a “Jimi Hendrix of the Ukulele” contest and the Florida Ukulele Orchestra.
He won’t be strumming along as many in the crowd are sure to be; however, don’t be surprised to see Courtney on stage in a hula skirt and maybe blowing a few tiny bubbles.
Tickets to “Uke it Out!” are on sale now at www.wmnf.org
