Joe Kendrick grew up far off in the woods in rural Stanfield, NC, where he acquired his first Sony Walkman, listened to both AM and FM radio from Charlotte, went to Nascar races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, attended a small Baptist church, read Rolling Stone, subscribed to cassette clubs, and played one very forgettable season of high school football. From there, Joe studied Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was able to fulfill his dream of being a disc jockey at WXYC. He volunteered at WNCW soon after graduation.

After several years and two stints in radio on the coast in Wilmington, Joe was back in western NC where he returned to volunteering at WNCW while he started his first business, a landscape lighting franchise with Outdoor Lighting Perspectives. In 1999, he met his future wife Amy at the Isotope 217 concert at Vincent's Ear in Asheville, and a year later they wed. The landscape lighting business grew but so did Joe's presence on the radio, and the desire to follow his heart led him to sell his business in 2006. Soon thereafter, he garnered the morning host slot on WNCW and has been full time in Spindale ever since.