Spiritual tidings

There are two cars parked in the WJMA parking lot on Spicer's Mill Road Sunday mornings, the most at any time during the weekend. A colorful van with pictures of country music stars and the call letters of the station on the license plate faces a white Pontiac, but there's only one man inside the small brick building.
Along a hallway of darkened rooms that glitter with the orange and green flashes of electronic devices is one room with the light on. In that room sits Edmund Harrison, broadcasting his "Spiritual Tidings" program over Orange's 1340 WVCV and Culpeper's 1490 WCVA AM stations. For nearly three decades, Harrison has been sharing his love of gospel music with the area through his two-hour weekly program. From 6-8 a.m. early risers have mixed the sounds of percolating coffee and sizzling frying pans with a variety of gospel for years.
"It's my favorite part of the week," said Harrison. "If we had the airtime I would do it all week."
On Sunday mornings Harrison wakes up at 4:30 a.m., and by the time he starts his program the sun is still a no-show. He introduces each broadcast with a scripture, which he changes occasionally, but he said he always finds himself returning to one particular verse - the 27th Psalm, which praises the Lord's protection of Christians from fear and despair. 
"The 27th Psalm is sort of a mainstay," he said. "It says so much of what I'm trying to show with my program."
After that he says he tries to stay out of the way of the music, introducing large blocks of songs at a time, and keeping off the airwaves. As each song fades to silence, Harrison, in a flurry of quick hand motions, switches the CD players and adjusts the sound levels.
"Sometimes it works me pretty hard, but it's not that bad," he said.
Harrison spends two hours every Saturday night preparing the next day's "Spiritual Tidings." He pores over his CD collection, which he estimates at more than 1,000, for 20 or so songs that convey a similar theme of his choosing. The selections range from mainly traditional gospel to some occasional contemporary artists. Harrison also tries to play songs of groups that are making their way to the area.
"I try to put together a sermon in song," he said. "Some people either can't make it to church, or simply choose not to go, but they tune in to the program, and I try to bring them a message."
On Saturday nights, Harrison's friends know not to call him, because he'll be busy. He said he doesn't work on the show during the week because he wants it to be fresh for Sunday morning.
"If I came up with my show on Monday, something could happen during the week that might make that message not as important as another," he said. "I need to stay current."
In his windowless studio Harrison can only see the sunrise from the color of the light in the hall. The darkness becomes the blue predawn and by the time the sun is fully up, and the hallway bathed in yellow, it's time for him to make way for a lineup of automated programs.
In his long career in radio Harrison has seen a lot of change. The symbol of broadcast radio was once a bright red light bulb denoting a program as "on the air," but Harrison said those were lost with the renovation of WJMA a few years ago. He's seen the albums evolve from records, to eight tracks, to cassettes and now to CDs. For years an engineer handled the changeover of one program to the next, but now that's gone too.
"There's the engineer," said Harrison, pointing to a flat screen computer monitor with a moving list of programs. "That handles everything once I'm off the air."
The current "Spiritual Tidings" is the continuation of a show originally put on by the Rev. Bernard Battle, who Harrison followed from Washington, D.C. to start a Bible Way Church in Louisa, where he is still an active member. Originally Harrison planned to be a teacher and received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of the District of Columbia, but decided not to pursue the profession due to the state of the educational system.
"I wanted to teach, but at that time there were a lot of problems in the schools," he said. "I felt like I would be doing more disciplining than teaching and I didn't want that."
Since coming to Orange, though, Harrison has been able to use his training as a teacher to educate children on his own terms, through tutoring and GED programs. For his services to the minds and eardrums of the county, the Orange chapter of the NAACP awarded Harrison with its Community Service Award in 2005.
"I just love gospel music," he said. "It's something that people can relate to and hold on to. It can give them strength and comfort them."