Greg Lindberg

We all know Roxanne decided to leave the MJ Morning Show at the end of 2024. In fact, she ended up taking a job co-hosting Tampa Bay’s Morning Blend, a daytime talk show on ABC Action News in Tampa. Since her departure, MJ has promised to fill the position with a new female co-host on the program. However, this has yet to happen.

Riley Couture – who actually interned on the MJ Morning Show back in the 2000s and is currently based in Washington, D.C. – came into the studio for a two-day audition back in February. We haven’t heard of any other specific candidates since then. So, to serve as a third voice on the show and to provide a female perspective, MJ’s wife Michelle has been coming into the studio nearly every day since January. As far as we know, she has not been paid for taking on these on-air responsibilities.

Michelle has been a part of the morning show since MJ & BJ got rolling on Power 93, “The Power Pig,” back in 1994. Her participation has primarily been via phone. But we’ve gotten to see a little different side of her over the last few months through a four-hour stint behind a microphone and not just a 10- to 15-minute phone call here and there. She has brought humor and sassiness to the table and has not shied away from poking fun at MJ about different things. She has also built up some chemistry with Fester which has added some extra comedic banter. Plus, she’s provided a solid female perspective on topics geared toward women, such as fashion and relationships, and once in a while chimes in with her legal expertise on certain news stories as she is a lawyer.

It’s hard to say how long Michelle will continue to be a studio presence on the broadcast. MJ has recently played a “Should She Stay or Should She Go” parody jingle about whether she should permanently join the program. Listeners have praised her during call-in segments and apparently via email to MJ directly. However, she keeps saying she has no desire to be a daily crew member. Due to major budget cuts to the radio industry in recent years, we do have to wonder whether the Beasley Media Group and Q105 can actually afford to fill Roxanne’s old position by hiring someone. We’ll just have to wait and see what unfolds in the coming weeks and months. Perhaps once the crew is moved into the new studio, it might accelerate the process to finally bring in a new female voice.

We all thought the loss of Froggy to the MJ Morning Show back in July was a big blow, leaving MJ, Fester, and Roxanne as the three primary crew members. Now, aside from Andrew, the main crew has been reduced to a duo. On Monday, December 30, Roxanne Wilder announced on social media that she would not be returning to the MJ Morning Show and Q105 in 2025.

Prior to working with MJ, she was a member of Q105’s Mason Dixon Morning Show for four years. She then joined the MJ Morning Show when it returned to the Tampa Bay radio airwaves back on October 5, 2020, when she was the lone female voice to join MJ, Fester, Froggy, and Coop to relaunch the program after nearly nine years off the air. She became known for sharing stories about her longtime partner Dig Doug, her friendship with Derek Jeter thanks to Doug, and she was part of the jingle MJ always played that goes “Roxanne Wilder…and Doug,” a takeoff on the “Wemu Emu…and Doug” jingle. Most recently, she was the butt of a joke that she had to have a big toe amputated due to an infection from a botched pedicure. She later debunked this claim.  

We don’t really know whether this was Roxanne’s decision to walk away or if it was a budget-related move by the Beasley Media Group like it was for Froggy. The radio industry has been hit hard, especially in recent months, with many heritage morning shows and radio personalities being let go from major radio stations around the country. Some might want to speculate that Roxanne never really got along with MJ and Fester, something she made known on the show at times. Plus, she curiously did not mention MJ or Fester by name in her announcement, but did have glowing things to say about Froggy and Andrew. This could point to the move being made on her part. However, it did seem like she adopted more of an edgy, “shock jock” personality the longer she was part of the program and seemingly was fitting in more with the crew during certain bits.

So, what does this mean for the future of the MJ Morning Show? It’s hard to say. With a new studio for the crew being built and MJ having at least another year on his contract left, it seems like the show should be able to survive, at least for now. Could Froggy possibly return now that Roxanne is gone? Would Meredith potentially move down the hall from Wild 94.1’s Orlando & The Freakshow to return to her roots on the MJ Morning Show? Would Hurricane, a former longtime producer for MJ, have any interest in coming back (something MJ has hinted at before)? Is there even a budget for another crew member at this point, or will MJ and Fester have to carry the load for the foreseeable future? We’ll see what MJ reveals in the new year, but let’s not consider this the beginning of the end for the show at this point. Once we know a little more about Roxanne’s exit, then we can start to speculate on what the path looks like moving forward.

Below is the full text of Roxanne’s announcement, courtesy of her Facebook page:
“I’m moving to the Bahamas…just kidding. Ahhh, but I won’t be coming back to Q105 after the holidays. Q105

and the listeners will always hold a special place in my heart. For 4 years and during both my pregnancies, I worked with radio legend, Mason Dixon. Being

a part of the morning show with Mason, Bobby, and Andrew was what I can best describe as good for the soul. Andrew, thank you for meeting me at my car

every single morning during both my pregnancies to carry my stuff and open doors. One of a kind human. In the fall of 2020, what a surprise to find out

the legendary MJ Morning Show was coming back to Tampa, and I was going to be a part of it. We had lots of laughs…and lots of characters from Cajun Fester

to Hal Herman. Speaking of Froggy, whenever he walked in the studio something (Big/Crazy/Fun) was about to happen. Good times. (Froggy, I want to be top

choice on your list for a future podcast.) Whenever you leave a place of employment behind, you take nothing with you but friendships. I’m so grateful

for mine. You know who you are. Our conversations meant so much to me and will hopefully continue. Pat George, thanks for keeping us fed and treating my

girls like gold. They loved coming to mama’s work to see you and get treats! Geno, an honor to be your lead-in and follow you on-air in Tampa and Boston.

Another co-worker doing it all like a pro and making it look easy. To my fellow morning show women down the hall on other stations: Meredith, Cristy, Launa.

Soul sisters. It’s not an easy industry/shift for us with our families and workload. You all do it with grace and bad ass-ness. In awe! There’ve been moments

where I’ve questioned my career choice. What kept me coming back for more is the listeners. Having someone reach out and say that they were going through

tough times, but then we said something to make them laugh to take their mind momentarily off their burdens…that feels right. I never take for granted

the honor of you, the listener, choosing to hear what I have to say. And my intention was always to elevate your mood…”

Within just two weeks, two major hurricanes significantly impacted the Tampa Bay area and Florida more broadly. Hurricane Helene made landfall just south of the Florida panhandle on Thursday, September 26. It went on to cause big issues across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, particularly bringing about a major storm surge on Florida’s west coast during which thousands of residents had their homes and cars flooded. Not even two weeks later on Wednesday, October 9, Hurricane Milton hit Siesta Key and rolled across the Sunshine State. It brought about tremendous winds and torrential rain, causing millions of power outages, a wrath of trees down, major roof damage to Tropicana Field, and other destruction.

MJ has always been both an entertainer and information provider while working on Tampa Bay’s radio airwaves. He previously provided coverage at all hours of the day on various radio stations during the first run of the MJ & BJ and later MJ Morning Show from 1994 through 2012. His penchant for keeping listeners up to date was unmatched once again during this recent string of storms.

On the morning after Helene, he was not able to drive to the Q105 studios in St. Petersburg himself due to the seven-foot storm surge and major flooding in his South Tampa neighborhood. So, a Tampa Police Department truck picked him up after he walked over a mile outside of his neighborhood to transport him across the Howard Frankland Bridge to the radio station. Fester, Roxanne, and Andrew were unable to drive to the studio, so MJ had to run all of the equipment and take phone calls all by himself. He initially recorded some segments from his phone for the 6 a.m. hour before arriving to the station just after 7 a.m. He then stayed on the air until 11:30 a.m. that morning, mostly taking phone calls from listeners from around the area and sprinkling in conversations with meteorologist Denis Phillips and local officials.

On Thursday, October 10, it was like de ja vu all over again. This time, MJ was able to drive himself to the station across the Howard Frankland Bridge which was one of the few bridges open in the area. However, he said he was the only one traveling on the bridge that morning. The rest of the crew was once again unable to get to the station due to road and bridge closures and some street flooding. He did a live cut-in around 5:30 a.m. that morning and then spent nine hours on the air from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. that afternoon. During the first five hours of this marathon broadcast, he didn’t even run a single commercial. He again took dozens of phone calls and provided as much information as possible about power outages, gas, food, and recovery efforts.

MJ is obviously extremely committed to his craft as a radio broadcaster. This was evident during both of these post-storm shows when many other hosts simply might not want to take the risk to even get to a microphone like he did. Even though the MJ Morning Show is entertainment driven most mornings, its storm coverage remains some of the best in the Tampa Bay market.

On a funny note, MJ said he thought the fact that Hurricane Milton was named as such would be the karma he finally deserved for all of his Crotchety Old Man prank calls featuring the Milton Fludgecow character. He even asked listeners to call in and voice their opinion on whether to stop playing the calls for good. However, most listeners said no to this, and some even suggested he make some new calls and incorporate some type of hurricane angle to them.

The reduction in staff at the Beasley Media Group complex in St. Petersburg, FL has continued this summer. In early July, Froggy was let go from the MJ Morning Show in a shocking move. Now, less than two months later, another member of the program has moved on.

Pat George, who served as the main “traffic guy” for the MJ Morning Show and Q105 since the broadcast returned to the airwaves in October of 2020, had his position eliminated. His final day was on Friday, August 23. Following his departure, Shriner has taken over handling traffic reporting duties for the show.

In addition to his Q105 duties, Pat provided traffic updates to other stations and served as a producer on other programs. He would seemingly always bring his cheery personality to the office every day. He would pop into the MJ Morning Show studio on occasion to talk about breaking traffic situations and other things happening in his life. He was also known for cooking grilled cheese sandwiches and cheese quesadillas for Roxanne and other staff members around the building. In fact, according to MJ, he would simply melt slices of Kraft cheese on bread in the microwave to fix a grilled cheese. His wife, Amy, who works as a hairdresser, also appeared on the show earlier this year to talk about a man who was harassing female hairdressers around Tampa.

Pat spent parts of 45 years in Tampa Bay radio, launching his career in 1979 after briefly doing some law enforcement work. He also worked for iHeart Media and other iterations of that company over the years. Plus, he was even part of the Radio Disney network at one time.

While Pat’s voice was only heard on the MJ Morning Show a few times per morning, it is still sad that Beasley continues to make cuts. At this point, we can only hope that these cuts are done for a while and that the morning show will carry on without any further hiccups.

Cue the Fox News breaking news sounder. One of the funniest and most entertaining members of the MJ Morning Show (and former MJ & BJ Morning Show) in its 22-year history was let go from the program this week. On Monday, July 1, 2024, Froggy’s contract with Q105 and the Beasley Media Group was not renewed.

After a weeklong vacation over the week of June 24 spent with his family at their beach house on Redington Shores, Froggy came back to work on July 1. Little did he know this would be his final broadcast with the crew. After the show, Froggy was pulled into a meeting where he was told that, due to budget cuts, his contract would not be renewed, and he was being let go from the radio station. Following the difficult meeting, Froggy posted on Instagram about the news, and Fester confirmed it to the MJ Morning Show Fan Page later that day.

On Tuesday, July 2, the crew was visibly upset about Froggy’s departure.

MJ said he was made aware of this impending decision back on Friday, June 21. He said he “fought like hell” to convince management to retain Froggy, even offering to take a pay cut out of his own salary to keep Froggy on the show. The management team was not interested in this idea. MJ also said he hopes to bring Froggy back for occasional guest appearances and said he will try to bring in more ad revenue to the station in order to potentially bring Froggy back in the future on a full-time basis. He said he was shocked and angry about the decision, stating that it crossed his mind whether to even continue the MJ Morning Show at all.

Roxanne even started to tear up when she talked about learning of the news during her flight back home from Italy. She said she did not get along with Froggy during their first year of working together, but admitted there was a misunderstanding between the two of them for a while. She later learned to embrace him and shared that he would text her supportive messages when she was stressed or feeling down. Fester, who clearly has a great rapport with Froggy and would routinely banter with him on the show, said it was a business decision and that things like this are not uncommon in radio.

Froggy was such a valuable asset to the MJ Morning Show crew over the years. He started out as a syndication producer back in the late 1990s when the MJ & BJ Morning Show was syndicated to stations in St. Louis and a few other smaller markets around Florida. Froggy 1, a.k.a. Scott Langley, originally had the nickname, but Froggy took it on (originally as Froggy 2) in 2002 when Froggy 1 departed from the program. He went on to do crazy parking lot stunts, prank calls, and always brought an edgy sense of humor to the broadcasts. Even when the show returned to Q105 in October of 2020, he managed to do some stunts in the shoebox-sized studio. He invented characters like Hal Herman, the crazy game show host who hosted segments like “Eight Bit Hit” and “The Truth Booth,” then transitioning into “Hal Herman Headlines.” Plus, he did bits as DJ Skrizzle and became known for his impersonations of Al Pacino and former Family Feud host Louie Anderson. In spite of calling in sick more often than his fellow crew members, “medicating” in the parking lot, and making a few too many crotch jokes, it was all part of his persona in a sense.

We can only hope and pray that Froggy will return to the MJ Morning Show in some capacity in the future. Whether it’s calling in or coming into the studio every few weeks or actually being rehired, the show benefits from his contributions in countless ways, and the crew will absolutely have to work harder to make up for his absence.

MJ rarely ever appears on other shows or podcasts as a guest. However, a local Tampa Bay radio guy recently scored a 40-minute interview with him.

Ryan Hoppe, who has worked for multiple radio stations and companies in the area, hosts the “Hoppe Hour” podcast on which he interviews a variety of guests in pop culture and entertainment, including radio personalities from around the country. He even briefly filled in for Andrew on the MJ Morning Show at one point as MJ was hoping to train a backup producer.

On the March 6 episode of his podcast, he had MJ as the featured guest. The two spoke about MJ’s radio career, the early days of the MJ & BJ Morning Show, how the show has evolved over the years, the Crotchety Old man CDs and how they continue popping up, what MJ enjoys most about still hosting the MJ Morning Show in 2024, and the current state of radio and content consumption. Listen to the full episode on YouTube here.