Life has happened since I last posted in this space that contains my late teens and a lot of my 20's.
I was reading a radio person's blog and remembered that I had this. Thankfully I still remembered the address and login. I've spent an hour reading through the early days of my radio career and my only long term relationship. For old time's sake I feel like I should do a run down of where life has taken me since early 2011.
-In May of 2011 life begin to explode for me. I broke up with my boyfriend Brett. Even in 2015 I can remember how painful yet easy that decision was. Shortly after the break up, my radio career took off.
-The "That Guy" Kramer In The Morning Show was courted by two radio stations owned by CBS radio. One in Tampa and one in Charlotte. After a lot of worrying and trying to predict the future, Holly, Kramer and myself decided Play 98.7 in Tampa was the best fit for us. In July of 2011 all of us packed up and moved down to central Florida.
-I learned all about failure between August 2011 and August 2012. The new station just could not gain any traction in the market - no matter how hard we worked. Sometime in the late Spring of 2012, we were told that our station would flip formats to a sports talk station. We were done in Tampa. The big call up to the major leagues (a top 20 radio market!) ended in frustration and sadness.
-In the Fall of 2012, Holly, Kramer and myself closed ranks and worked our asses off to find another radio home. We figured that if we put as much energy as we did into putting on a morning show into finding a job, it would happen. I learned here that you do not control life, it controls you.
-We went on two job interviews. One station in Sacramento and one in Boston. We walked away from both feeling confident and positive. Both times we heard no. But in these interviews, I would learn a couple of years later about leaving a lasting impression on people. You never know who will pop back into your life.
-In December of 2012, Holly found out that she was pregnant. It was WONDERFUL news, but we were still unemployed! AHHH! Also at that time, Island 106 back in Panama City called and wondered if I was interested in coming back to host my own show in the afternoon. I spent a week stressing over what my next move was. By the end of December, our contracts were going to be up with CBS and no more money was coming our way. What were we going to do?!
-I decided to head back to PCB and start a new journey on hosting a show. I teamed up with Mandy and we formed The Miguel & Mandy Show in the afternoon starting February 11th, 2013. I had SO much fun returning to Panama City. My mantra for the first few months back in town was #SameCityDifferentAdventure. It was great reconnecting with everyone.
-You just never know where life will take you. The morning show on Island 106 at the time was Davin & Ana. Sadly they had a family member pass away and had to step down as the morning show. Mandy and I rose to the morning show spot but knew that we had to bring Holly back. Holly, a few months pregnant, packed up her life and came back up to Panama City! So in April of that year, The Miguel Show with Mandy and Holly was born.
-The next two years were fun, frustrating, tiring, and SO fulling. Holly had a baby. Mandy had a baby. We brought the city together to raise $30,000 for a family in need. I rode a rollar coaster for 15 hours to raise over $5,000 for a local food bank. I lived on a bus for a week to collect over 5,000 toys for needy kids in the area. It was a great time.
-In December of 2014, everything changed with a Facebook message. The Program Director Kramer, Holly and myself interviewed with in Boston a few years back was now the PD in Tampa Bay at the station that was so awesome it was part of the reason why our other radio station changed to sports back in 2012. He sent a facebook message asking if I had any audio I could send over of the show.
-That message changed everything. In the coming months Holly, Mandy and myself would fly down to Tampa Bay to interview, we would send countless e-mails of audio, have many conversations on the phone turning over every rock of our show.
-Then it happened. My agent Norm called me one Tuesday afternoon and told me HOT 101.5 had made an offer, but it was without Mandy. It was just for Holly and little ole' me. How could I make this decision, how could I leave Mandy in Panama City when she was so instrumental in our success? That was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. With lot's of advice from mentors in and out of radio, I decided I had to take a leap of faith. This was it. This is what half of this entire blog reaching back to 2002 is all about. My dreams. My aspirations. I had to see if I could make it in a big city.
So here we are. It's May 19th of 2015 and I'm sitting at my desk in my office in Tampa, Florida still pinching myself that I'm the morning show host of an amazing radio brand.
When I look back at other blog posts from the early days when I would wonder and question where was life taking me...it was all going to now. But you do realize this is only the beginning? I'm a few months away from my 30th birthday and I'm excited to see what life has in store.
So there ya go blog. It's been a while since you and I talked, but you are all caught up on my Mundane Misgivings. :)
ps. Still not clear what that means.... lol
