Rick Minerd - Life Is A Jukebox

               Mike Adams now.

In the early 1990's I told Mike Adams that he was my radio idol,  I wasn't kidding him.

It was near the end of my radio career at WCOL-FM,  then known as "Oldies 92.3" - and  when I said it I meant it. 

I reminded him of it in 2003 when he and several other former WCOL staffer's came back to Columbus for a station reunion.

Both times I think I made him blush.

All of the WCOL rock jocks from the 1950's through the middle and late 1970's were great talent's, and I wouldn't dare lessen the importance of any of them, or the influence they all had on me by saying that Mike was someone I did crane my neck to look up to, but the fact is I wanted to be like Mike.

In the sense that I share his obvious love of radio I am a little.

Better looking of course, but I will never be able to light a candle,  much less hold one to him when comparing his radio successes to my own, and I actually did pretty well.

I was checking out the "Unofficial 1230 WCOL Fun Page" today and decided to click on the link that takes you straight to Mike's web site,  something I do often, and I clicked on his new feature,  "The Life Of Mike" and a very clever video explained in vivid detail the many reasons he is worthy of being idolized as a radio God.

I strongly recommend to anyone who enjoy's   reading  or hearing about the birth and progression of radio , or anyone who is interested in history and the roles some of the people I have written about played in the broadcast pages of it to check this out.

Radio God?

Yes, according to what you take away from the video.

I'm hoping some of Mike's students at San Jose State University catch this blog entry and address him accordingly.

How much fun it must have been  through the years for those kids to have learned under the tutelage of Professor Adams.

I learned from him beginning when I was  just a toddler scooting around on my Big-Wheel with a transistor radio taped to the handle-bars.

Okay that's a stretch,  he really isn't that much older than me, but I did grow up hearing and admiring his work on "The New WCOL" from about 1963 until I was old enough to be trusted alone in a radio station control room by myself.

And by then Mike was making travel plans to head for the left coast.

To me he is still an iconic chapter from the Columbus broadcast history volumes.

Watching the video, "The Life Of Mike"  has taught even me much about his accomplishment's and fascinating experiences, and I thought I knew him well.

If not personally and socially,  as a  "kid" who grew up hearing him on the radio, buying his records, watching him on television, studying his dancing exhibitions and simply marveling at his unlimited talents.

Radio God.

The father of my own aspirations.

In the photo above Mike looks as relaxed as I strive to remain.

A pose well deserved.

I congratulate him for all he has done,  and I thank him for being the yard stick I hoped to grow as tall as.

Check out   mikeadams.org

Imjustrick@aol.com

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