After nearly nine long years, many never thought it was even a possibility. But on Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, the MJ Morning Show made its triumphant return to terrestrial radio on Q105 (104.7 WRBQ-FM) in the Tampa Bay market. MJ opened the inaugural broadcast of the show’s return saying, “I guess I’d be lying if I said my heart wasn’t beating a little bit fast.” Instead of the Top 40 contemporary hits radio (CHR) station the show was previously on when its flagship station was 93.3 FLZ, Q105 is an ‘80s station, spinning hits from Stevie Nicks to Deaf Leopard to Billy Joel.
Following in the footsteps of Meredith, Roxanne Wilder joined regulars Froggy and Fester as the new female on the show. She had worked for Q105 for a few years on the Mason Dixon Morning Show and was retained when MJ took over the program. As expected, she has been “initiated” by the guys and is often poked fun at for not being very funny or for trying too hard, especially by Fester. Kyle “Coop” Cooper, a 23-year-old whom MJ constantly reminds is a “Gen Z-er,” also remained with the station and joined the MJ Morning Show as a producer in the “producer’s booth” next to the main studio. He screens calls for the show and handles various audio production elements for the broadcast, in addition to uploading a recording of the show each day as a podcast. Coop also attempted the Eggnog Challenge in 2020 but failed like Froggy had previously done so many times before.
Fester did a few “man on the street” stunts like he had done on the first incarnation of the MJ Morning Show. Around Halloween, he sold four pumpkins his wife didn’t need on a street corner in St. Petersburg, and he attempted to promote the return of the show via one of the PA systems in a local store but failed as he couldn’t figure out the password to enable the system. Froggy came out with a bang as “DJ Skrizzle” and produced several funny songs on various relevant topics (like MJ’s crazy hair and Roxanne lying about her marriage) before performing several crazy stunts in the studio, including jumping onto a flat-screen TV set and hurting his ankle to spraying Fester with a super-soaker gun filled with Listerine because of his bad breath.
As for the ringleader, MJ, he keeps saying how much he missed doing the show and the mere satisfaction he gets out of doing an entertainment-driven morning radio show compared to doing The Schnitt Show. We’ve already heard him replay several Crotchety Old Man calls with Milton Fludgecow, and he has brought up a number of quirky factoids and ramblings, some of which the crew members have been quick to chide him on in order to keep the show flowing. His famous “Morons in the News” and “Hollywood Dirt” segments, along with calling Michelle to ask her random questions, have remained a staple on this second incarnation just like they were before. Plus, he and the crew have spoken openly about how small and warm their studio is, along with other internal drama within the Beasley Media Group radio station complex, and have even taken jabs at Ted Cannarozzi, the Q105 program director.
Overall, MJ and the gang had quite a memorable return to the airwaves in 2020. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the negative impacts on the world, perhaps the best thing to happen all year long was the return of the MJ Morning Show to daily morning radio!