Dallas-

"This is the blu-u-u-u-es afta' hours," Willie "Neckbone" Johnson rasps into the microphone at the Gaston College radio station, then leans back in the darkness.

The lights are off in the radio booth, just the way Neckbone likes it, dark enough to play the blues.

"Here's a litta' song goin' out to Lacey from Ron," Neckbone says, and slips a Slim Harpo tune into the compact disc player."Ron's go himself a brand new granddaughta."

The music comes on, and Neckbone clears his throat. He runs his finger up and down a shelf packed with 130 compact discs he's carefully arranged and memorized.

B.B King. Lonnie Mack. Howlin' Wolf.

The phone in the booth rings nonstop. Listeners from Gastonia to Charlotte (pronounced "Chawlette" in Neckbone-ese) are calling in with request. Police officer, prisoners, partiers- they all want to talk to their man on WSGE 91.7 FM.

And in the Darkness of the radio booth, Neckbone answers.

"Blues afta' hours," he says. "Neckbone here."

"Play one for my sweetie," asks the caller. "Hey, Neckbone. You gotta' patch things up for me."

"I've had some people call in and ask,'Are you black or white?' I say, 'I'm blue.' There's no black or white here. Music is a gift to everone."Willie 'Neckbone' Johnson

Neckbone is an old blues man, mellow, wise, cool.

He's also a white guy who made up the name Willie Johnson for the radio show. He's a guy with a thick Southern accent, a guy who wears cowboy boots, sometimes drives a pickup truck and works part-time with his brother in a heating and air-conditioning business.

But as blues guitarist Jimmy Witherspoon would say, that "Ain't Nobody's Business."

What started more than a year ago as a one-morning-a-week blues show at the college student-run radio station has turned into something of a sensation across the region.

"He is the voice of the blues. From everyone I've talked to, they love the show. Young students. Old students. Black or white."

Gaston College student Jeff Blackwell

The Show now airs five nights a week, song after song of requests and dedication.

Neckbone is the show's only DJ. Some say he's become the Wolfman Jack of Gaston County.

Few people know his real name, or who he is. And that's just fine with Neckbone.

Keeps the mystery alive, the persona intact.

"I've had some people call in and ask, 'Are you black or white?' " says Neckbone. "I say, 'I'm blue.' There's no black or white here. Music is a gift to everyone."

Neckbone grew up listening to the blues.

Blues music tells stories, he says, and mixes the best of country, rock 'n' roll and gospel music.

Neckbone was born in Charlotte and raised in Mount Holly. After graduating from East Gaston High School, he joined the Army for three years. He later majored in radio at Gaston College.

He's been working at the campus radio station for the last three years. Before he started playing the blues, Neckbone ran a Top 40's show.

Of course, he was just a DJ then.

Now, he's Neckbone.

"He is the voice of the blues," says Gaston College student Jeff Blackwell, a radio and television broadcasting major who hosts a political talk show at the station. "From everyone I've talked to , they love the show. Young students. Old students. Black or white.

"If the blues actually had a voice, you would associate it with Neckbone."

To Neckbone, the persona fits the music, and makes the five-hour show more authentic.

Neckbone calls most everybody "baby," and prefaces his sentences with the drawl "ooohkay." Callers phone in looking for advice on everything from romance to job dilemmas.

"To me, Neckbone is actually a different person. He just came out," Neckbone says. "His history is mine. It's just that it stretches out to a lot longer time period.

"I would be a great case for Oprah," Neckbone says with a grin. "I'd be right there next to Rosanne (Arnold)."

Like most popular DJs, Neckbone has earned a following of music lovers.

And they've all given themselves funky code names: Gravel Dave, Miss Facts of Life, Nuttin' But Trouble.

"Hey, hey, hey, Gravel Dave," Neckbone says into the telephone late one night. "What's goin' on there?"

The regular caller from Belmont was on his way to work in Lincolnton and wanted to check in.

"You take it easy, Gravel Dave," Neckbone says. "I'll play one for ya."

Sometimes, Neckbone's fiancee answers the phone at the radio station. Everyone calls her "Mrs. Neckbone."

"I had the hardest time explaining this to my mother," she says. "She just didn't understand."

Radio station general manager Ben Hicks said the blues show, which airs 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, has become one of the most popular programs ever on air at the college. In a week's time, more than 100 callers phone in with requests, he said.

DJs across the country often use air names such as "Neckbone" because the voice and persona have to match the music, Hicks said.

"A lot of times, a person who didn't have an announcer's voice, but they had a persona type thing, could become real successful," said Hicks, a professor of radio and television broadcasting. "You have to fit the format that you're doing."

Spending 25 hours a week hosting the show isn't always easy- especially since Neckbone isn't paid for his work.

Neckbone, though, says he sees himself as a teacher and an entertainer. He's sharing his love of the blues, and his adoration for singers like Leadbelly, Albert Collins and "T-Bone" Walker, with thousands of listeners.

"What's nice is I'm joining so many people together on common ground," Neckbone says."...I'm educating Gaston County on the blues."