By SCOTT MARTIN

Anyone who has listened to the John Boy and Billy radio show for more than just a few days will know that Macon Moye is an integral part of the gig – on the rare occasions when he’s actually in the office. In fact, the rarity of a Moye appearance in the Big Show’s administrative wing is a running joke.

On the official John Boy and Billy Web site (http://www.bigshow.com), the caption next to Moye’s photo reads "Macon Moye – Network General Manager. Captured in a rare weekday in-office appearance."

While fans of John Boy and Billy know Moye as part of the Big Show’s family, Moye is also one of the better amateur golfers in the United States, which, in part, explains his frequent non-appearances in the offices of the John Boy and Billy Network on Billy Graham Parkway in Charlotte.

Moye’s golf resume includes victories in the North Carolina Mid-Am and Carolinas Mid-Am. He’s played in several USGA events and three R & A events and when Triad Golf Today visited Moye, an entry form for the 2001 British Mid-Am lay on his desk. Moye has played big-time amateur golf successfully and plans to continue even though he recently had knee surgery.

Raised in Greenville, N.C., Moye went to East Carolina University to play baseball and only really took up golf seriously in his late teens and early 20s. He was good enough to make it to the Australian and Asian tours as a professional but left the golf-for-money game in 1987.

He joined Charlotte radio station WRFX (The Fox) as an advertising sales representative and quickly rose to become General Manager. In addition to supervising sales at one of the top radio stations in the Carolinas, he was also part of the team that helped John Boy and Billy expand to other stations through the lucrative magic of syndication. The show can be heard in the Triad on WHSL-FM (The Buzzard - 100.3), in the Triangle on WRDU (106.5) and in Virginia on WROV ( 96.3).

Syndication started in 1992 and now John Boy and Billy can be heard on more than 100 radio stations ranging as far west as West Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Syndication has been so successful that nobody at the John Boy and Billy network seems to know exactly how many stations carry the show.

"Our base market is the Carolinas," Moye says. "But the show is big in Nashville, Orlando, Tampa and many other markets." John Boy and Billy have long been at or near the top of the Charlotte morning drive-time ratings for longer than anyone at the show can remember.

With that type of success, it’s no wonder that Moye can sneak out every now and then to play some golf. A member at Myers Park Country Club, Moye seems able, through his contacts in the golf and business worlds, to play just about anywhere. His favorite course is Augusta National, which he has played an astonishing "20 to 30" times. His best round there is a tidy 67.

Moye plays a power game. His routine 300+ yard drives render any par 5 less than 600 yards reachable. He reduces most courses to a pitch and putt contest, routinely reducing par from 72 to 68.

"If I’m playing someone and I hit an 8 iron into a green and he hits a 4 iron on a long par 4, that’s a big advantage," he says. After his driver, Moye feels most comfortable with a wedge and putter in his hand. He plays with what he describes as "experimental but legal" Cobra woods and uses Mizuno Irons and a Mizuno putter. His swing speed is right there with John Daly’s, according to one professional contacted for this story.

Moye’s golf goals include winning a national championship and remaining competitive on a national level for the foreseeable future. He rarely plays with John Boy and Billy.

"I’ve tried that," he says.

Whereas Moye might be goal-oriented when it comes to his golf, quite the opposite might be true on the John Boy and Billy Show where the daily goal is simply to have a good time and laugh a lot.

The men in suits at Clear Channel Communications, which owns the show, can worry about numbers and shareholder value and other minor details. From a business standpoint, the Big Show might not be where it is now without the CEO of John Boy and Billy, Inc., Ed Lowe, who lives in Elon College.

Lowe is a former insurance broker and stockbroker who used to take piano lessons from John Boy’s mother in Graham. In Elon College, Lowe is active in his church and in the local community. He says that the success of the John Boy and Billy Network, with daily listenership now well into the millions and a slew of eager national and regional advertisers wheelbarrowing cash into the office, is still exciting.

"The show has become successful and all that," Lowe says. "But it’s still the same in so many ways after twenty years. It’s just two guys and the people around them having a fun time. There’s no great secret to it."

Other members of the "Graham Mafia" routinely spend time around the studio.

"John Boy is great about keeping up with boyhood friends," Lowe added. "In their own way, they are part of the success of the Big Show."

Ah, the Big Show.

What is it about the John Boy and Billy Big Show that has listeners all over the South (and beyond) chortling over their breakfast cereals, giggling through traffic jams, and chuckling in their offices, garages, workshops and places of business?

Nobody who works on the show seems to know or wants to delve too deeply into why the Big Show is one of the most consistent success stories in radio. John Boy Isley and Billy James, now in their early 40s, earn a decent living by just being themselves and inviting others to a studio that’s essentially just a neighborhood bar without beer. The only significant change in the past few years has been John Boy’s weight; he must have shed close to 100 pounds since reaching critical mass in the early 1990s.

Randy Brazell is the Executive Producer and he’s the one who operates all the gadgetry in the state-of-the-art studio.

"We’re just high tech rednecks," he jokes. Brazell and the technical team preside over the audio wizardry that sends the show to three timezones in two formats: Country and Rock and Roll. When it’s time for music, one station might get ZZ Top’s Party on the Patio, while another might get the Dixie Chicks. All the stations receive Robert D. Raiford and his political commentary plus the occasional comments from assistant producer Jackie Curry Lynch, writer Jeff Pillars, and marketing whiz Terry Hanson. People who are somehow affiliated with the Big Show seem to stream in and out of the studio with all the nonchalance and ease of sorority girls in a sauna. It’s all very relaxed.

When Triad Golf Today visited the Big Show, NASCAR star Kenny Wallace was "in the house" chatting with John Boy and Billy in search of a sponsor for the 2001 Winston Cup season. Wallace’s sponsor in 2000, Viagra, had let him down, and he was looking a little piqued. After just a few minutes of idle banter with John Boy and Billy, Wallace regained his sense of humor.

But with John Boy’s infectious laugh and Billy’s quick quips, even the most hard-nosed IRS auditor would have to smile when the Big Show is on the air and the crew is on form. Somehow, some way, lines like "duhhhh" and "I mean - uh?" and "I heard that!" and "wasssuppppp?!?" and "say what?" generate gales of priapismic laughter. And then it’s time for the Stupid Quiz and Open Line opens up and it’s all downhill from there. Suddenly, it’s just past 10 am and four more hours of the Big Show are in the digital archive. After five hours of preparation and show, the staff is giddy with caffeine and John Boy and Billy are out the door for a cigarette break.

"In high school, I lettered in smoking," Billy says.

So the John Boy and Billy show rolls on. Despite assaults from Howard Stern and a myriad of un-funny and moronically contrived morning shows designed to chip away at John Boy and Billy’s market share, the Big Show survives and thrives on a high octane, high volume southern chaos that helps millions of Americans begin their day with a smile.