October 21, 1996. Do you know where you where that day? That morning, I was running from the 93.3 The Mix radio studio to the WMBD 31 TV studio – one TV and two radio stations were under the same roof back then at 3131 N. University in Peoria – helping to launch a weird, unprecedented, TV/radio simulcast morning show. I was new to applying makeup and went on air wearing an orange shade reminiscent of President-elect Donald Trump. I also wore radio headphones on TV at the start. Still wear those phones daily on GLO, they’ve got the makeup stains to prove it.
Some fans may have forgotten that The Morning Mix had radio roots, with show creator Jeff Lamb and I coming from Toledo with lengthy radio resumes. In the early months, The Morning Mix started at 5:30 a.m. on radio, then simulcast from the TV studio from 6-8 a.m., which presented all sorts of challenges, then went back to our dingy radio studio until 10 a.m. sign off.
Our radio GM, Mike Wild, didn’t like that our show was driving people to the TV in the morning, away from his radio station, though our fans disagreed strongly. He booted us off radio after three months, but I was thrilled to keep my job and not take a pay cut, especially after moving my family (then engaged to my wife, Linda, with 3 soon-to-be-step kids) from Toledo to Peoria. So Jeff and I set out to conquer TV on the fly (learn while you earn!) with talented TV weather guy Darin Adams, the dirty Mormon from San Francisco with a heavy theater background from his BYU days, and sharp, TV news anchor Aimee Nuzzo, the Jersey gal and fairly recent Northwestern grad.
I could write a book on the experience, but I’ll try to condense the story of the one-of-a-kind TV show that started with terrible ratings before becoming a bit of a central Illinois morning staple with good ratings to back up the Lamb brothers’ crazy idea.
Jeff Lamb’s older brother, Bill, was the GM of WMBD 31 in ’96. Bill had attended a CBS national GM/affiliates meeting, where they lamented the anemic state of their national morning show, CBS This Morning, a ratings dog mired in last place of the three major networks.
CBS gave back more time to the local affiliates to do what they wished and told the GM’s to make the shows more fun and interactive, like morning radio shows. Bill, of course, had his brother in mind for the gig. Initially, the show met with resistance from the few leftover CBS morning viewers and in the building among veteran staffers. Safe to say, without the general manager in our corner, willing to ride out the rough, early patches, the show would’ve never survived.
Jeff arrived in Peoria before me. He wasn’t clicking with the then-morning radio show host, so I got the late call to join him, not knowing where the Hell Peoria even was! I had to quit my Toledo sports radio job at WSPD-AM stat. Jeff and I had worked at the same Toledo classic rock station a couple years prior, though we weren’t on air partners there. Aimee was already employed by the TV station as a young, rising, cub anchor/reporter. Bill dragged the outgoing Darin to Peoria from Idaho, to be the weather Mixer.
The Morning Mix was a platform for Jeff to do his dozens of radio characters, but live TV didn’t lend itself to that, so Jeff settled on a handful of characters and costumes to do his comedy bits. I was slotted in as the straight man, a role I chafed at a bit, but accepted. I eventually weaseled my way into doing one minute sports updates for the show and subbing in as the third sports anchor on evening newscasts.
In the end, it was a fantastic experience. I got to do just about anything I wanted to with talented, veteran cameraman Bill Marshall, who was nearing retirement and not eager to train a newbie TV talent like me. Director Mark MacGregor, still the WMBD TV morning show director, was also integral with his coaching, editing skills and savvy.
Growing up, I admired participatory journalist George Plimpton and used my position to play sports with the professional teams, like kicking an extra point in a real indoor football game with the Pirates in front of 10,000 fans and playing a real hockey shift in an exhibition game for the Rivermen. I accepted challenges from our viewers and from producers like Craig Armstrong and Dan Rovner for various fish-out-of-water taped pieces… too many to list here.
When the show started, we were full of semi-dirty, double-entendre content, heck – half of the talent had come from rock radio backgrounds – and had to learn to make the show more G/PG-rated when we found out school-aged kids were watching with their parents. We also were almost totally ad libbing, only Nuzzo was reading from the teleprompter. By the end, when I left in January of 2003 (rightsized by new owners who changed the show’s direction to a more traditional morning news show), we were 90% reading off the ‘prompter and introducing today’s business and agriculture reports. As Austin Powers would say, “That ain’t my bag, baby!”
I learned to accept that, and the current show is actually really good at that style of quick-paced, tight news, like a ping pong match, back and forth Clay and Lindsey go. The Morning Mix was the opposite of that, loose was the best description. Our screw ups – and they were daily – became show content. We focused on them, put a magnifying glass on our warts. There was no shortage of such fodder.
I knew the end was near when the show made that transition my last year there. News anchor, Abingdon native and former Miss USA Illinois, Renee Charles, couldn’t agree to a contract with new management and departed in late 2002. I returned from a vacation to be let go in January of 2003. Renee and I would briefly team up on Bob Kelly’s ill-fated, Magic 94.3 morning radio show. Renee, with obvious great TV looks, ended up leaving for a TV job in Madison, WI, and within a year, Magic FM was a jockless, satellite station. Local acting star-turned TV weatherman Eddie Urish (who like Jeff and me had zero TV training when hired) remained on with the show for another year or so, though I hated that they kept calling it The Morning Mix. In my mind, as the last original cast member to go, they should’ve changed the name at that point.
All’s well that ends well, and I’m grateful for the experience and grateful the bridge has been rebuilt between me and my TV co-workers. With radio-appropriate looks, I’ll only have one TV employer.
I’m happy in my afternoon slot at GLO radio, where I’ve resided for about as long as I lasted with The Morning Mix, and still get my sports fix thanks to the Red Zone high school football coverage. Mix director McGrooger organized the 20 year show reunion, and they’ve been showing clips of our antics all this week. Friday, I’ll be on at 6:10 a.m., talking with Clay on WMBD TV CBS 31 and then again with Eddie and Renee talking to Lindsey at 7:40 a.m. on WYZZ Fox 43. Tune in for a few laughs – we never had a shortage of them!
Doc Watson
