WHEN I WRITE THESE BLOGS, THEY ARE FREE FLOWING THOUGHT THAT I TYPE ON MY COMPUTER. I DON'T TAKE THE TIME TO CORRECT GRAMMATICAL ERRORS. SO, IF YOU SEE RUN ON SENTENCES OR PUNCUATION ERRORS, MY BAD! JUST FOLLOW WHERE THE STORY TAKES YOU. THANK YOU - JOHNNY MAGIC

So, here we are with a new morning show. For about a week, it was called the Johnny Magic Morning show. I was about to go home to Charlotte to see my family and Brian called me to told me that they were changing the name of the show. No one in management called me to discuss the change, it was just done. With everything we had gone through to get the show, I didn't want it if they were going to make decisions about the show without including me. I called my new Program Director and told him that if this was the way it was going to be, I didn't want it. He asked me to come back to discuss it but I was done. Hung up the phone and flew to Charlotte. The whole time thinking this was a sign and it was time to go back to Charlotte. My parents were growing older and I would just try to find a radio job there. My mind was made up, I was out. The only people that knew this was Brian and my Program Director. He left it that we would talk when I go back on Monday. I was in Charlotte hanging with my family and I had a chance to talk to my mother one on one. I told her that I missed them and was thinking about moving back to Charlotte so I could be closer to home. She said something to me that would change everything. She mentioned that it was blessing to be in Orlando. That I had worked really hard to be in the position that I was in. My mother said that if wanted to move back to Charlotte because that's what I wanted to do, was fine but don't move back just because of them. Though they would love to see me more, they would feel bad to know I just moved back for them. I looked in my heart and they would have been the only reason I moved back. I hugged her tightly and said that I was going back to Orlando. On that Monday morning, I sat down and had a real conversation with my PD. We came up with an agreement that there would be no more surprises and we would talk about the show and not mandate to me what to do.

We changed the name to the Johnny and Jayde Morning Show and it was on. Jayde came in on fire. We were just clicking. I've never seen anyone gravitate to a person the way the listeners gravitated to Jayde. Here's this young woman from LA, that had a big voice and didn't take any crap. The listeners loved her. We started to do appearances at clubs and events and they wanted to see who this woman was. She developed a following quicky. I didn't care. There was no jealousy from me. I was watching the show get new life. A new breath of fresh air that was really needed. Jayde, Brian, Alex, Shawnjaya and Danny we were on clicking and just having fun. I remember one of the cruises we did and Jayde had half of the listeners walk around cruise ship with beer buckets on their heads. They called themselves the "Bucketheads". Blew my mind. She was their queen and they just wanted to follow. Good times!

This lasted for a couple of years and then the economy tanked. There were rumors that the company was going to have major cutbacks and it was true. We had seven people on our show including part timers. The other morning shows had four members max. True to his word, my Program Director called me into his office and told me that there were going to be budget cuts and Alex and Shawn were getting fired. Brian and Jayde were fine of course. The cuts were coming down at any time. I couldn't sleep with this information. Alex was in the process of buying a house and this was Shawns only job. How could I look at these men in their face every day knowing that they were going to get fired? I couldn't do it. I called them one at a time into a production room and told them that they were on the hit list. They always showed loyalty to the me and the show and to hold that information from them would be against the core of who I am. It took a month before the cutbacks happened. It was a sad day in radio. A lot of good people lost their jobs that day. The economy was bad and it had to be done. When Alex and Shawn was called in, it wasn't a surprise. In all honesty, they got a damn good severance package. They don't give out severance packages like that anymore. By their reactions when they were called in, they could tell that they knew. Corp asked my Program Director why he told me. He told them, that if he didn't, I would have quit. He kept his word and I respect that. The bad thing is they don't loop me into major Corp. decisions like that anymore. Even to this day.

So now begins, Johnny, Jayde, Brian and Whitney.

Johnny's House

About Johnny's House