Mike
Rivers
Hi to everyone who remembers some great days
in Tampa Bay radio! I got into radio first babysitting the "Hit
Parade" automation on WLCY-FM in the summer of 1973, thanks
to Johnny Stevens.
After a single fall semester at the University
of South Florida, I started commercially deejaying at WPLA, Plant
City, on July 8, 1974. Jim Maloy heard me and invited me to WQYK
in January of '75, and I eventually followed him to Lakeland's
WONN and also WPCV-FM in Winter Haven in the Florida Citrus Showcase
building. I stopped back at WQYK briefly in 1976. Johnny Stevens
helped me again to hook up weekends at Y95 in the fall of 1976.
THANK YOU CHUCK MORGAN!! After a year, I literally
changed jobs with Easy Jack Dillon, as he came to Y95 from WYND,
Sarasota and mornings, and I grabbed the 'YND morning job, working
for Carl Strandell, and then Dave Allison. I didn't get back to
Tampa Bay until early 1979, working for Bob McNeill on Y-95, again,
weekends.
Decided to join the Navy in the summer of 1979,
and after four years, would you believe, Bob McNeill selected
me to help start the Q Morning Zoo for Q-94 in my hometown of
Richmond, Virginia? Well, it's true. Since this hilarious experience
of doing voices and bits and songs and also middays noon to three
starting in 1983, I've been lucky to work for cool people in places
including Ft. Wayne Indiana's WOWO, for Dan MacClintock and GM
Jane Bartsch. I got to play oldies at 1190 AM, Clear Channel at
night, for about a year, plus, produce and voice the weekly "WOWO
OLDIES COUNTDOWN". I'm currently doing weekends for B103
in Richmond Virginia, and producing news and sportscasts daily
for morning drive for stations in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg,
Virginia as part of the Richmond Times Dispatch Broadcast News
Service.
For all who read in the 'biz', THANK YOU FOR
CRAZY MEMORIES. My email's:
mrivz@hotmail.com.
For folks reading who were listeners and remember, THANK YOU FOR
MAKING IT ALL POSSIBLE, you know, to "just" goof off
and play records for a living! God bless all of ya! "RIVZ"
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