The alarm goes off about 3:50am. Shower, dressed, breakfast, coffee, and at work before 5. The broadcast day begins.
5:00: I open the mic.
Nothing too deep, just a faux drive-through reenactment. A wake up call to say, “White chocolate mocha, please… Make it a Venti.”
Next are a couple of breaks, mostly informational, about weather and station events. Add a scripture to encourage whoever may share a crazy early start time. My friend Royce used to say, “God ain’t even up yet.”
During that 5:00 hour I’ve spent some time in the Word, prepared content for the show, and one of us will have made coffee. The rest of the dawn patrol is David Brock and Gary Lesniewski from sister station KGLY, and my co-host and producer of quality control since the late 50’s, Carrie Parsons.
6:00: “Mike and Carrie in the Morning” officially begins.
Carrie is usually “a little late”, which has become a running gag. Not late for the broadcast, but later than me, which makes me happy. She’s a great sport. I’m thankful she always brings her “A game”, and never complains. She usually chooses the topic, and produces 99% of the audio clips you hear from listeners, the bread and butter of the program. She rocks.
We actually started doing mornings together in 2008. We’ve come to know each other so well we can literally finish each others… sentences. Mostly she finishes mine, because she can see my punch lines coming a mile down Tyler’s Old Jacksonville Highway.
7:00 Weather, promotions, Clint Yeatts news
Marriage, parenting, scripture, we cover as much as we can, under the grid of encouragement. There are lots of hard-hitting topics we could cover, and they have their place. But our calling is glorifying God, encouraging people, connecting our community, and pointing people to Jesus.
8:00 – Momentum
Along the way like to laugh, so we include, bits like “This or That”, where I ask Carrie to choose between two random items. These are hopefully tough decisions to make on live radio, and hilarity often ensues. Then there are “Fun Facts”, from the fictional headquarters of the “Federal Bureau of Miscellaneous Information”. Also random, seldom factual, but always fun.
But the core of the show is you, when you call, and tell your stories about life. Some are hilarious, some make us cry. Some ask for prayer, and we pray right there on the air.
9:00 It’s a crazy, fast paced morning
Complete with lots of phone calls, Facebook, and a couple pots of coffee. Sometimes it gets so hectic we make mistakes. It’s often funny, and sometimes a bit overwhelming. But God gives grace, and we try to do the same for each other.
10:00 – Done. High fives. Back to real life.
Doing a morning show with somebody is kind of like being locked in a room for four hours with a bunch of really cool toys. It’s a total blast! But if it’s going to work, it’s like you tell your kids:
You have to share.