My last day at WJR Radio will be friday, June 12th...I'm moving to Aspen, Colorado to work for a small business not in the broadcasting field...I've been overwhelmed by the kindness of so many folks wishing me well ! Listeners, PR Folks, Experts on Various topics you name it have been very gracious towards me down thru the years and I'm grateful for their kudos.
It's Hard to list Accomplishments but I do find myself being very nostalgic of late:
- While working at WJR I've spoken to 5 Presidents,(Ford/Carter/Bush/Clinton/Bush)
- I've spoken to personal heroes like BONO, Billy Graham, Don Knotts, George Carlin and Rosemary Clooney, Jackie Chan, Sparky Anderson, Kirk Gibson.
- I was cussed out by the likes of Bebe Neuwirth, Jenny Jones, a Detroit Mayor and even Burt Ward (robin on Batman TV series)
- I worked 20 hour marathons on 9-11, took three straight days of fan phone calls When JP McCarthy died, worked the Midwest Blackout and the Gore/Bush 2000 election debacle.
- we took a "call" from NASA and Jerry Linenger on the MIRS Space station (now I consider Jerry Linenger a friend)
- the weirdest "remote" was in 1997 having our WJR News Vehicle wired up to drive Governor John Engler over Detroit's worst potholes LIVE on the radio so he'd get the message to fix them.
- my regrets are not being able to set up interviews on the air with the following: Mother Theresa, Neil Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne.
- I was there when they closed Tiger Stadium and when they Opened Comerica Park, went to the World Cup, Ryder Cup, World Series, Stanley Cup(in Philadelphia and Detroit),Gold Cup Boat races, Buick Open's, Super Bowl Week, 2005 MLB All-star game and the NBA Finals.
Thanks to WJR I did radio broadcasts in Beijing China, Frankfurt Germany, Tokyo Japan, on the set of Tim Allen's Home Improvement in Hollywood, The Masters in Augusta Georgia, the 5th anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy,
BACKGROUND: I started at WJR in 1992 as a weekend Producer for Jimmy Barrett (my fulltime job was working at the Pontiac Rescue mission with the homeless) then i worked with Fat Bob Taylor & Larry Patton, Mike Deja...then produced evenings with various hosts including Doug Ross, Geoff Feiger, Ronna Romney, Mitch Albom etc...then produced the Ken Calvert show in 1996...Paul W. Smith in 1997...David Newman 1998-2001 and Frank Beckmann show 2003-2009 ...it's been a blast!
