Mike Roberts, Class of 1979, is one of the people who helped kept WJPZ alive in the early days. With the station's founders having graduated, Mike empowerd a team to run radio station, passing its educational lessons forward to the next generation of broadcasters.
Arriving on campus in 1975, he quickly found WJPZ 1200 AM in the Spectrum Records building and told Bill Bleyle that he wanted to be involved. In addition to his airshift, he learned how to do everything - down to changing the needles on the turntables. In the early days, the industry was noticing the station more than the locals. But soon, they had staffers working professionally in the market (WAER did not). Mike shares some stories of alumni who went on to great success.
As for Mike, he took the tight formatics he learned at WJPZ and went on to work in Syracuse himself, at WNDR (briefly) and WHEN. Eventually he went to work for Reagan Henry, where he was on to Cincinnati, and eventually Atlanta.
After turning around some small AM stations, Mike went to the top dog in a major market - becoming morning show host at the legendary urban V103 in Atlanta. They were one of the first urban stations to do a talk-centered morning show, and the first urban station to bill $1 million - monthly.
Mike shares a story about the power of radio - one of the proudest moments of his career. He was at V103 from 1986-1988. During the Rodney King uprising in 1994, V went to an all news format, bringing on community leaders and stressing the need for Atlanta to stay peaceful. They were later recognized by local government for keeping Atlanta from exploding. Not coincidentally, that's when V103 had its highest ratings ever.
Mike soon got the ownership bug, and as the hip hop scene was exploding in the late 90's, today's guest was approaching 40 years old. V103 was also getting competiton on both ends of their demo. He bought several stations in nearby Macon, Georgia, as he wound down his time in Atlanta. Today, he owns one, WQMJ, Magic 100. It's an R&B oldies station that does its own newscasts, several times daily, to superserve its local audience.
Mike takes us through his typical work week, and reflects on the current state of radio, and its need to stay local to stay relevant. And we conclude with the story of a classic prank pulled on him while live on the air at WJPZ.
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.
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