ABOUT

Local for a day or local for life.

Crab Island Radio is for everyone — whether you're a local for a day or a local for life, you matter to us.

We're not just a radio station. We're family. Not voices beamed in from some studio hundreds of miles away, but your neighbors — the crew you'll see out in the storms, standing shoulder to shoulder with this community.

We stand behind local businesses, because local businesses stand behind local people. They create the jobs our community depends on. And companies that don't invest in people? They don't deserve your dollar.

This is your station. This is your community. This is Crab Island Radio.

About the founder

Durant was a volunteer fireman training to become a paramedic, with his sights set on life flight and a move from Montana to Pensacola. Then 1996 changed everything — an on-duty injury left him fully disabled. A UCLA doctor, an author and professor, told his father Durant would never leave home, never hold a job. The damage was too great.

He waited twenty years to apply for disability. In between: years of on-and-off homelessness. When he finally applied, it went through without a single appeal.

There were stretches when life felt empty and pointless. But one dream survived: a small heavy metal radio station of his own. A friend talked him into thinking bigger — build something marketable, something crowds love, not just a niche. So the beach station was born, and with it, Crab Island Radio.

By September 2019 the station was taking shape; within months it was streaming. Volunteers became its backbone, working tirelessly on one promise: the crew comes first — always. Success meant the bills paid and everyone earning a living wage. If something came his way too, great. If not, he was happy just to have this family. That's where he learned it: employee loyalty doesn't come first. It starts with the company being loyal to its team — give that, and you get a team to build a future with. A legacy.

Then March 2020. The lockdowns crushed millions of businesses, and Crab Island Radio — still in its infancy — was one of them. Advertisers pulled out. Peak season vanished. In a single day, Durant lost his girl, his home, and his business.

During the project he'd met a professional marketer for one of the largest local businesses in Destin — a no-nonsense woman who never tickled ears. She told him straight: right idea, right dream, right place — but it'll be real hard. Don't give up, no matter how bad it gets.

Now it's time to resurrect.