The Host: Dave O’
Dave O’s mother loves to tell the story of how she knew he was destined to host a 1990’s radio show someday.
“When he was five years old, Dave would take my rubber turkey baster off of the kitchen counter and into his room,” she says. “I still remember the first time I walked in and he was talking into it like it was a microphone. At the same time, he’d be playing his 45’s on the record player and acting like he was hosting a weekly national radio show. It was adorable.”
Years later, Dave O grew up in Nebraska as a true child of the 1990’s, listening to nothing but pop music and collecting every cassette and CD he could get his hands on. He continued “playing DJ” in his room and spent all of his spare time calling local radio stations and trying to talk them into hiring him.
At the age of sixteen, all the hard work and begging paid off, as Dave O was hired to do weekend overnights at a local radio station in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Over fifteen years later, Dave O still works in radio, and has done so at a number of America’s premiere radio stations in Charlotte, Kansas City and Jacksonville.
To this day, Dave O still has all of those old tapes and CD’s in his personal music collection. In fact, he boasts a copy of over 95% of every single pop song to ever hit the charts in the 1990’s. And, his DVR is still full of Saved By The Bell, 90210 and Step By Step episodes. Unfortunately, he had to give up his waterbed and pleather pants years ago.
Join Dave O each weekend on “Round Trip With Dave O” as he takes you back to the 1990’s with a special blend of pop music from his own personal collection, artist interviews, stories about the songs never heard before, your phone calls toll free at 855-895-TRIP and big prizes.
Thanks for listening, and here’s to childhood dreams becoming reality.
The Captain: Adam Michaels
To this day whenever I hear a school bell ringing I start to sing: “When I wake up in the morning and the alarm gives out a warning, I don’t think I’ll ever make it on time! By the time I grab my books, and I give myself a look, I’m at the corner just in time to see the bus fly by! It’s alright cause I’m saved by the bell!”
The 90’s to me was a great time, it was my teenage years, my high school years and the start of college. I remember wearing MC Hammer pants, making up my own lyrics to Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby.” It was Shania Twain in leopard print and a white Michael Jackson. There were the boy bands; N’SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees, LFO, 112 and Silk.
I was lucky enough to start my radio career in the late 90’s and with that came the opportunity to meet the great Britney Spears. To this day, hanging on my office wall, I still have the awkward picture of the 18 year old version of myself standing next to one of the hottest women on the planet, at the time. I thought I was so cool. I even worked up enough nerve to loosely and nervously put my shaking arm around her beautiful shoulder for a quick picture. I may have said “Hi, I’m Adam” when I met her, but I could have also mumbled “I like cheerios for breakfast.” At that point in time my brain didn’t function in sync with the rest of my body. I pray it was the first.
The 90’s were a time when pop music ruled the airwaves. It was a time when you tuned in to find “NEW MUSIC” on the radio. It was a time before iPods and Pandora, a time before the Internet. It was a time when you were still making “mix tapes” off the radio. We weren’t living in social media world; we were living with brick cell phones and pagers. The Simpsons were just getting started and no one had heard of YouTube yet.
Round Trip with Dave O is our weekly trip back to that time. We all want to say thanks for spending some of your time with us, in the past.
The Flight Attendant: Becca
Little did Becca know, she started her career in radio in 1991, as a sophomore in college, when she responded to an ad from Rick Dees on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles for interns for the radio station. She was fairly convinced she didn’t want a career in radio, but she figured it would be a great opportunity to explore employment options in the entertainment industry.
After just three months of answering the request lines Becca was promoted to afternoon producer. Two years later, she helped kick-off the nationally syndicated radio show, After MidNite with Blair Garner, where she produced and co-hosted for the next four years. In 1997, she headed to Nashville and began interviewing country artists for several different news and entertainment media outlets. In 2000 opportunity knocked once more and she was offered the midday position on 103 WKDF in Nashville. For almost eleven years that has given her the opportunity to keep up with all the happenings in country music, attend many industry events and report on all the latest country news.
Aside from her daily radio show Becca is still a Nashville correspondent and can be heard on radio stations across the country. In March 2010 Becca joined the morning show on Today’s WAXX 104.5 in Eau Claire, WI. Today, Becca oversees BigMachineRadio.com which features artists on the Big Machine Record label.
When Becca isn’t working she enjoys going to the movies, traveling, watching the Tennessee Titans play, shopping and going to concerts.
