Congrats to Hurricane on tying the knot!
On Friday, April 6, 2012, Hurricane became a married man for the first time in his life. At age 46, he married a girl named Peggy who is 20 years younger than him. The two got engaged on October 16 of last year and had known each other for over six months at the time. They first met at the Green Iguana Bar & Grill in Tampa.
During his 18 years as a member of the MJ Morning Show, Hurricane was always a bachelor. He apparently had a longtime girlfriend, but he rarely revealed anything about his personal life, even though MJ would occasionally try to pump him for information.
Congrats to Hurricane and Peggy, and I hope they enjoy a wonderful marriage! This means that Meredith is the only former member of the show during its final years to not be married. She is allegedly still dating Anthony, who works as a "sales weasel" at the radio station complex where she used to work on the morning show. Who knows, perhaps 2012 will be her year to tie the knot as well!
Video of the final show
Here is exclusive video of the final 11 minutes of the last MJ Morning Show broadcast on Feb. 17, 2012. This video was apparently taken by Sid the Intern:
Follow the crew online
Now that the MJ Morning Show is over, several former crew members are keeping listeners updated through social media on what they are doing and where they will end up in the future. Here are links to each of their accounts and e-mail addresses:
MJ - @toddschnitt
Fester - @fester933flz
Hurricane - @HurricaneFLZ
Meredith - @kissmew
MJ - facebook.com/toddschnitt
E-MAIL ADDRESSES
MJ - schnittshow@aol.comFester - fester933flz@yahoo.com
Hurricane - hitmanflz@yahoo.com
WORDS WITH FRIENDSFester's screen name - djs7174
2/17/12: The Final Show
The final MJ Morning Show was broadcast on Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. I always had wondered what the final show would be like. Because MJ and the crew were known for pulling tricks out of their sleeves, it only made sense that there would be some cool surprises. I thought there would have been one final parking lot stunt. I thought we would have heard from more former crew members, like BJ, Joey B, Froggy 1, Chip the Midget, or even Jason Buffoon Boy. Just for one morning, they could have all gotten together (or called in) to reminisce about the show's 18-year run. But none of them made an appearance. There was no parking lot stunt. There were no big surprises. There was no final Crotchety call. There was no turkey fryer fire explanation. I hope I am speaking for all the big fans out there when I say that the final show was kind of a letdown. Maybe I'm just disappointed it's all over, though.
Yes, it was nice to hear a mostly music-free broadcast for once. It was great to hear from Kristen and LaMosa the Interns, who set the bar high for the internship program. It was nice to hear MJ and Kane talk about how one was leaving and the other was taking over. It was nice to hear Tacoboy's voice again. And the final few minutes of the show were certainly quite compelling as each of the crew said their goodbyes and MJ got choked up a bit. But let's put it this way - it wasn't how I expected the final broadcast to go. I was hoping to hear a little something extra, a "wow" moment, a revelation or something a little shocking. But it never really materialized like that.
So we all carry on without the show. Monday, Feb. 20 marks a new era on 93.3 FLZ, Z107.7, and RadioNOW 97.9 FM. Kane will take over in Tampa, but there is still no word on what will happen in St. Louis and Jacksonville. One thing is for certain: our mornings will never be the same. At least we had some great ones for so many years.
Click here to listen to the final few minutes of the show when everyone said their farewells and MJ signed off for the final time.
Click here to watch the FOX 13 segment on MJ leaving the morning show.
Dear MJ Morning Show crew and fans:
From the bottom of my heart and the bottoms of all other fans' hearts, thank you MJ and crew for 18 wonderful, hilarious years of radio entertainment! You all will be sorely missed in the car on the way to work, on the way home from the nightshift, on the way to school, and at various hours throughout the day on iHeartRadio and the podcasts.If the show did not exist, this fan page would not have existed. It probably would have been bought up by a Michael Jackson fan before or right after his untimely death. But I am glad I was able to secure it and put it to (somewhat) good use. I will continue to run the site for as long as people are interested. Thanks for all the mentions on the air over the years, and thanks for letting me hang out in the studio with you guys. I still have the recording of my first time in the studio from 2006 where I actually got to put on headphones and talk into a microphone on the air. I will always cherish that experience.
As stated, I will keep this website going to update fans on what happens to the rest of the crew. I will do my best to keep in touch with them and find out where they land. Hopefully they will be working on-air in some capacity so that we can listen to them either on the radio or online. Thanks to everyone who has supported this site and participated in the forum and contests. I would also like to send a special thanks to the moderators - FLSurfboy, Nerrej, bpdfs, and Jbaby3 - for helping me with the forum over the last six years. Plus a shout-out to my good friend Jeff Wray for helping with the hosting and technical aspects of the site. As with the website, the forum will remain online for as long as there is interest in reminiscing about the show and discussing where the rest of the crew members end up.
Good luck to all and to all a good...morning!
Yours truly,
Greg Lindberg
MJ Morning Show to end Feb. 17, 2012
There are certain days we all know will come along in our lives at some point. The only question is "when?" We now know the answer to the question of when the MJ Morning Show will air its final broadcast.
On Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, it was announced via social media sites Facebook and Twitter that the MJ Morning Show will come to an end on Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. This move would give MJ a lot more time to focus on his nationally-syndicated afternoon show "The Schnitt Show" and would allow him to spend more time with his family. He had been doing both the morning show and the afternoon show simultaneously for over 10 years.
Here is what was posted on MJ's Twitter feed:
“Let me be first to officially announce that Feb. 17 will be the last broadcast of "The MJ Morning Show." 18 great years! I can now focus 100% of my energy on the growing national footprint of "The Schnitt Show." This also lets me spend more time with my family!”There is no mention of what will happen to Fester, Froggy, Meredith, Hurricane, Dave the Dwarf, and the interns who help out on a regular basis.
UPDATE: On Friday, Jan. 20, the show was off the air as the crew apparently was "very emotional" about the news of the show's upcoming finale that they decided to take a three-day weekend and regroup. The crew will return live on Monday, Jan. 23 to discuss the news.
UPDATE 2: On Monday, Jan. 23, MJ discussed a few details about ending the show. The main reason is to give him more time to spend with his kids so that he can drive them to school in the morning and attend more school functions. He admitted that he didn't want to wake up one day and wish he had done more for his kids when they were young. He said the crew will bring back several former morning show members to reminisce about their time on the show. He also said there was no special significance to choosing Feb. 17 as the date for the final broadcast. In addition, each broadcast leading up to the final one will include short clips from some of the funniest and most memorable moments that have occurred throughout the program's history.
UPDATE 3: On Tuesday, Jan. 24, MJ talked about how in November 2009, he had strongly considered ending the MJ Morning Show at the end of that year. The station's "Jingle Ball" concert would have taken a special moment to recognize the crew. But he decided to keep doing the show primarily for the sake of the careers of the rest of the crew. In the summer of 2011, he had also thought about giving it up after the show was shortened and more music was added, but he kept at it.
MJ also talked about Hot 101.5, a competing radio station in Tampa that went on the air in July 2011 and continues to poke fun at MJ. He wasn't too thrilled with what the station was doing, but he said it made him feel much worse when other kids at Chloe's school were talking about it and she was having to defend her daddy. He recommended that people do not listen to Hot 101.5, especially because the station's new morning show host was a member of a show in Sacramento that indirectly killed a listener after she got water intoxication during a morning show contest called "Hold Your Wee for a Wii."
UPDATE 4: It is now official who will replace MJ, at least in Tampa. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, it was announced that "The Kane Show" out of Washington, D.C. will begin airing weekday mornings on 93.3 FLZ starting Monday, Feb. 20, 2012. Kane started at 93.3 FLZ as a night show host in 1998 and has been associated with the station on and off since then. Froggy 2 was an on-air member of his show for a few years before joining the MJ Morning Show in 2002. In 2004, Kane became the station's afternoon show host and has worked remotely from D.C. since then. Here is the official press release with more details about this move.
As of right now, there is no word on whether Kane's show will also air in Jacksonville or St. Louis. This officially means that Fester, Froggy, Hurricane, and Meredith will no longer be part of the morning team on the show's current stations.UPDATE 5: Former members who appeared on the show prior to the final broadcast include: Dave the Dwarf, Anthony "Sully" Sullivan (the pitchman), Dave Legarreta (laughing maintenance man), and Dana the Intern (aka. Dumbass Dana).
Froggy's final crank call aired on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012 during which he called Richard and Judith and came clean that it was Froggy from the MJ Morning Show calling them, not an old man named Donald. He then proceeded to throw MJ under the bus by claiming it was "Todd Schnitt" who made the calls. Richard threatened to sue him and the radio station for the harassment.
On Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012, Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn proclaimed that Friday, Feb. 17, 2012 would be "MJ Morning Show Day" in the city of Tampa, Florida.
Jerry Springer called in to the show on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012. The show did numerous events with Jerry in the 1990s.
FINAL SHOW: The final show aired on Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. It primarily consisted of listener phone calls wishing the crew farewell and good luck. The crew only played a few songs early in the show. Kane, Tacoboy, LaMosa the Intern, and Kristen the Intern appared on the final show. MJ and the crew each had a chance to say their goodbyes and thank the listeners. MJ got very emotional at the end of the show, which ended at about 9:13 a.m. ET. Fester had to carry it to the end until MJ got it together to say for the final time, as his voice wavered: "This is the MJ Radio Network."
The contest has ended. Thanks to everyone for entering! There are definitely a lot of avid MJ Morning Show fans out there as evidenced by all the great entries.
The winner of the seventh annual MJ Morning Show Trivia Challenge is Keith Bennett of Lakeland, FL! Keith receives a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate for answering all 15 questions correctly. An honorable mention goes out to Jean Sutton of Hudson, FL who only missed part of one question but got the rest right.
Here are the questions and the correct answers:
1. What was the name of the receptionist who MJ used to call and quiz with simple trivia questions? Rhonda
2. What was the name of Froggy 2’s “band” he created to sing kids songs like “Waffle Wednesday?” The Frogawogs
3. In MJ’s Crotchety Old Man calls, Milton Fludgecow has two children – a boy and a girl. What are their names? Chauncey and Estelle
4. Name the celebrity who appeared on the show and said MJ stands for “Most Jerk.” William Shatner
5. Who was the official morning show dwarf before Dave the Dwarf? Chip the Midget6. In October 2011, Fester and Allison gave birth to their first child. What is the child’s first name? Hadley
7. “Blimp and Shrimp Moving” was a moving company started up by which two morning show members? Fester and Dave the Dwarf
8. Which two MJ Morning Show interns appeared on “American Idol?” LaMosa and Kristen
9. Did MJ win or lose on his “Hollywood Squares” appearance in 2000? He lost
10. Who sang the MJ Morning Show jingle about the show (listen to it)? Peter Cofield
11. In basic terms, what was stuck in Milton Fludgecow’s VCR in the Crotchety Old Man call? Food12. Name the teen pop star who was born three weeks after MJ & BJ’s first morning show broadcast in 1994. Justin Bieber
13. What are the names of the husband and wife who Froggy frequently prank-called as Dementia Don? Richard and Judith14. Where did Meredith claim she was during the time she got her breast augmentation? At a wedding in North Carolina
15. Where did MJ briefly go to college? Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY
We miss Froggy's creativity
In the fall of 2011, it was revealed on the show that Froggy would no longer be doing his prank calls. This meant no more Dementia Don, no more Rob Ripple, and no more Johnny Stankface. At the time, he was on a schedule of recording three new calls each week for about eight months.
Froggy has also done parody songs in the past, some of which have been funny with a lot of creative thought put into them. Many of these songs were about celebrities and included various audio clips and sound effects. A few years back, he recorded an entire "Frogawogs" album and made it available on iTunes. It was basically a take-off on kids songs.
I think I can speak for most MJ Morning Show fans when I say that "we" miss Froggy's creativity. We miss his more frequent contributions to the show, which have been dwindled down to only his commentary on the various topics MJ brings up each morning. It sure would be nice to hear more out of Froggy. It's really a shame management (apparently Tommy CHuck) took away some of his opportunities to be creative.
But Froggy should also step to the plate and come up with some new ideas for bits, such as parody songs or anything else that isn't a prank call since he can't do those anymore for whatever reason. How about some funny adio compliations? How about some parody songs poking fun at the Kardashians? The sky is the limit, and I hope this post will prompt some action out of Froggy and the rest of the show. With only three hours of a morning show these days, you'd think the crew would have more time to produce and execute more creative bits. Let's hear some!
