Les has been a fan of Bluegrass nearly all of his life. He was named after the legendary Lester Flatt, who with his partner Earl Scruggs, had the # 1 group that year. Les was born in Southern Ohio and lived in western NY during his formative years. He grew up on Bluegrass as his dad, Ken Sears, was a champion fiddle player, a great musician and really encouraged Les on guitar. Les backed musicians in contests for many years. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1972. Wow! Nothing could have been better than moving to an area where the Carter's, Stanley's, Jim & Jesse and many other great Bluegrass musicians hailed from. Duties such as Secretary of his Masonic Lodge, involvement with the Retired Postmaster Organization, President of the Amateur Radio Club (Extra Class Call K4HYE) and volunteer work, throughout the county, helps fill his schedule. Les says “As a musician, playing guitar, bass, accordion, and piano, have helped me form a Bluegrass band called Keepintime”. Les is married to Gladys and they have 7 children, 16 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren. While Gladys enjoys music, she does not like secular music, but enjoys the gospel genre. Their youngest son, Lester Ray, now lives in Nashville ( Mt. Juliet ). plays guitar and has his own band Lester Ray Sears and the Tennessee Border. Les says it has been great joy to listen to World Wide Bluegrass since right after the station's inception and he often pondered doing a program. Many of the DJ's had encouraged him to do so, including his good friend , WWB founder, and, fellow DJ Gracie Muldoon. So, at last, he submitted to the DJ encouragement. As the name World Wide Bluegrass implies, a heaping helping of Bluegrass music will be offered from his end, as he too learns more about this wonderful medium and the great heritage of "our Bluegrass music". He thoroughly enjoys working with all the DJ's and he also enjoys Bluegrass Trivia and often share bits of Bluegrass history, as it has evolved through the years. Les says, “Endeavoring to "Keep it Blue" is my ultimate Bluegrass DJ goal”.

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