The Mikey Show
The Mikey Show is a morning show that airs on FM94/9 San Diego, California from 5:30am - 9am.
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[edit] History
The Mikey Show earns its name from show host Mikey. He has worked in radio his entire adult life all over the country, From Rochester, New York; to Dallas, Texas.
The Mikey Show previously aired on KSJO in San Jose and KEGL in Dallas, Texas but was let go from both stations after creating a controversial parody song. Esparza did the evening slot on KIOZ from 7:00 p.m. to 12:00 am from the late 1990s until 2004, broadcasting to both San Jose and Dallas via satellite. His stint in the evening slot ended a week after he started broadcasting the morning drive in early 2004 and was fired for a stint he did about kidnapping victim Erica Pratt. His return to San Diego came on the heels of Howard Stern’s departure for satellite radio where he quickly established a loyal fan base known as the “P1s”and became the highest rated morning show in San Diego. The show aired on KIOZ until late December 2009 when it was announced that Esparza would not be given a chance to renew his contract. His former cast remained at KIOZ to and continued their own show now entitled The Show on January 4, 2010.
On January 12, 2010, it was announced on mikeyshow.com that The Mikey Show has moved to 94.9.[1] The Mikey Show debuted live on February 1, 2010.
[edit] Current Cast Members
The new show on FM94/9 San Diego's KBZT has a cast of four : Mike Esparza (Host), Steven Woods (Sports), Jay Isbell (Producer), and Lauren O'Brien (Assistant Producer).
Mikey has been in radio for over 20 years now. In December 2009 after a very controversial breakup of his former show, Mike was left to build a whole new team on his own.
Steven Woods and Mikey crossed paths when Mikey was in Dallas on the Eagle. Woods and Baumann were two characters often on KIOZ's Mikey Show that Eddie and Mikey did the voices for. Baumann was an older gentleman always trying to teach "The Kid" (Woods) some class about high priced suits, expensive cars and proper etiquette.
Jay is a former employee of Clear Channel Communications. He was the promotions director until January 2009 when Clear Channel had a massive budget cut and laid off 9% of their staff, Jay was part of that 9%. From there Jay went on to create his own promotions company, named Isbell Production. He was hired to do the 28hr show 2009 for KIOZ's Mikey Show.
Lauren is a stand up comedian and was discovered by Mikey when he found her on YouTube. She offers a lot of character voices and has a dry, sarcastic sense of humor.
[edit] Past Cast Members
When the Mikey Show aired on San Diego's KIOZ it had a cast of five: Mikey, "Boston" Rob, Eddie, Ashlee,and Sky. Up until early 2009 the show had a sixth cast member by the name of Sean, he was laid off by Clear Channel due to budget cuts.
On July 13th 2011 KBZT conducted mass layoffs which included Mikey Show News girl Sienna Feerrar. No immediate information was given as to the cause of the layoffs.
Since arriving back in San Diego the show has become more mellow due to Esparza's embrace of Christianity, with a billboards campaign advertising his contrasts labeling him both an addict and a Christian. Esparza often speaks of his love for Jesus and speaks openly about his past problems with substance abuse.[2]
Professional American Football Player Jeff Garcia went to high school with Mike. Jeff appeared (via telephone) on the show (when still broadcast from San Jose station KSJO) and both acknowledged being on the same football team (Mikey attribited Jeff's success to Mikey's bench-warming, and Jeff in turn mentioned that Mikey was busy watching the girls. Jeff also acknowledged that Mikey was "DJing back then, telling it like it is!")
[edit] References
- ^ Announcement written by Mikey http://www.mikeyshow.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56:announcement&catid=35:mikeyshow-blog&Itemid=1
- ^ Leighton, Ken (July 27, 2006). "Get a Better Agent, Mikey". San Diego Reader. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2006/jul/27/get-better-agent-mikey/. Retrieved 2007-01-23. (Second story down on page)
