BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Wayne Wallace went to work for WDJC-FM in September 1968 and became host of the Dixie Gospel Caravan, originally called Hymn Time.

His show had thousands of loyal listeners, including Bear Bryant's wife, Mary. She once invited him to Tuscaloosa and introduced him to Bryant on game day.

Wallace used to say that you never knew who might be listening, who might be touched by the spiritual message of a song.

"He treated the listeners as if they were family," said Mark Harvard, station manager for WXJC.

"Some of his closest friends came out of them being listeners."

After Wallace got bumped off WDJC in 2003 as the station increasingly emphasized contemporary Christian music, he continued the Dixie Gospel Caravan show on WXJC-AM, which later added an FM signal.

At the time he died on Monday, Sept. 2, at age 68, Wallace had been on the air for 45 years. Wallace's show was the oldest running daily gospel quartet show in the country.

"In the radio industry, being anywhere 45 years is a feat," Harvard said.

Wallace was named Southern Gospel DJ of the year at least seven times.

Wallace battled brain cancer with chemotherapy, but he continued to come to the radio station.

"He was still coming to work as of two or three weeks ago," said Greg Davis, who has an afternoon show on WXJC.

"It gave him strength to still come in and do his show," Harvard said. "He felt that's what God called him to do."

When Wallace did miss his show because of illness, listeners called the station to ask how he was doing, Harvard said. "People liked knowing he was there, that they had a place they could go listen to music like this."

Wallace kept a collection of thousands of Southern gospel recordings, and would sift through it for hours.

"He'd be looking for a song from several decades ago that a listener requested," Davis said. "He would find it and convert it to digital so he could play it on the air. He was passionate about his work and he absolutely saw it as a ministry."

Wallace typically knew the gospel artists he played on the air personally, and was friends with stars like Bill Gaither.

"He knew them all and had their home numbers," Davis said. "He'd call them in the evenings and have them on the caravan. They all knew him."

The first Gaither Homecoming video was recorded in Birmingham, with Wallace hosting, Davis said.

"He could tell you the development and progression of the artists," Harvard said. "He was big on trying to break new acts."

Between songs, Wallace often picked biblical passages to discuss.

"He was very scripturally sound," Harvard said. "He taught a lot of Bible lessons; he used scripture on the show to spread the gospel."

WDJC played mostly hymns and Southern quartet music for the first decade. By the late 1970s, as contemporary Christian music became more popular, the station began to mix that in with the traditional Southern gospel. In 1980, the station made contemporary Christian its main daytime format, but the Dixie Gospel Caravan still aired daily, 6:30-10:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 2-6 p.m. Sundays. WDJC, owned by Crawford Broadcasting throughout its history, had continued to air Southern gospel from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. from 1999 to 2003 while playing contemporary Christian music during the day.

In 2003, when WDJC bumped Dixie Gospel Caravan off the air, Wallace took the news gracefully. "Nothing lasts forever," he said.

But he began a new run on WXJC, also owned by Crawford. The Dixie Gospel Caravan aired from 6:30 p.m. to midnight.

He ended the show with prayer every night.

"That meant a lot to a lot of people," Davis said. "In a world that has changed so much since 1968, Wayne and the caravan didn't change."

Funeral services were set for Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. at Briarwood Presbyterian Church Chapel, with the family receiving friends from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. at the church.