User:Suziesbro

Mike Lundy The broadcasting bug bit Mike Lundy at a very early age. In second grade, at the age of two, a brief television appearance started the juices flowing. By third grade, when the class was asked to draw (using Crayolas!) the traditional “what I want to be when I grew up,” the deal was sealed. He drew a man in a top hat and tails, standing in front of a microphone labeled “WCCO” -- then as now the CBS- owned radio powerhouse in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Flash forward several years to San Gabriel High School in Alhambra. A competition was being held for acceptance into a summer radio and television production workshop at USC. Mike was fortunate enough to be chosen to join the program. Upon graduation from high school at the ripe old age of 17, he immediately segued to the ‘SC University Park Campus at Vermont and Jefferson. While attending the workshop, Mike became aware of an opening for a summer fill-in position as announcer on the university-owned radio station, KUSC. Having more guts than brains, and feeling that – while imbued with rock music in his soul -- he also knew a fair bit about classical music. He auditioned. To the amazement of some, but not to that arrogant kid, Mike got the gig! One month hosting “Afternoon Concert” from 4-6 pm on 91.5. No question now! Broadcasting was his future. Reality struck, and the family budget (four kids heading to college) dictated that he move to Pasadena City College for the first two years. Another fortuitous move. PCC owned (and still owns, although now operated under a lease agreement by a subsidiary of Minnesota Public Radio) its own radio station. Mike cut his teeth as student on-air talent, eventually becoming newscaster and program director, revamping the programming to bring it into the twentieth century. Simultaneously, he heard about an opening at a small commercial station in West Covina, then called KDWC. He charged his way through the audition, and was soon doing 6 pm to midnight, six nights a week, also doing the traffic log. (It was a project to convince his dad to let him use the family car for those 34-mile round trips from the family home in Alhambra to West Covina, but apparently he saw a future for his son.) This was followed by another small fm station, KMAX in Sierra Madre, while still attending PCC. Reality struck! Mike realized he would have to leave Los Angeles to learn his craft. Armed with a slightly-padded resume and a box of audition tapes, he headed north on Highway 99. Bakersfield. Taft. Delano. Visalia. Fresno. No takers. But sixty miles north of Fresno, in the small town of Merced, local station KYOS was in immediate need of a morning announcer and newscaster. He was in! KYOS turned out to be quite fortuitous. Six months after he arrived, the owners of KYOS purchased the number one station in Phoenix, Arizona, KRIZ. He was soon on his way to the desert, the family car (now his alone, replaced by another) packed with all his worldly possessions. While at KRIZ, Mike was contacted by KOOL, the Phoenix CBS radio and television affiliate owned by Tom Chauncey and Gene Autry. According to Mike, it was a great experience. He prepared and broadcast a fifteen-minute newscast, then on the air as a program host from 8 pm to midnight. While he loved the Phoenix experience, Mike says he knew in his heart that he had to complete his education. He applied to, and was accepted by, UCLA. Since he was already in “the business,” Mike determined that it was best to focus on a broader liberal arts program, thus leading to a major in political science with a specialization in philosophy, He also added a number of business and economics courses to gain a broader perspective.. While at UCLA, he joined the radio station consulting firm Ted Randal Enterprises, where he eventually became general manager. At the same time, he initially traveled to Bakersfield to work weekends at KAFY, which he ultimately joined full-time as program and news director. With Los Angeles beckoning, his quest for LA radio paid off with a weekend slot at KFI in their heritage studios on Vermont, followed by KGBS (for significantly more money at a much smaller station!) This led to his move to morning talent at KDAY, which was then programming album-oriented rock. Mike’s thirst for news then led him to his first first stint at KFWB, beginning as a weekend news anchor, ultimately co-anchoring weekday mid-days. He was ultimately introduced by a friend to management at KGIL, a small but very successful station in the San Fernando Valley with a very large footprint. Mike became director of news, programming and operations. Several years later, in a cost-cutting move, KGIL was forced to slash overhead. Several department heads and other members of the staff were “on the beach,” Mike among them. His ‘freedom” was short-lived, moving to the newly-re-formatted adult contemporary KOST and eventually at sister station KFI as a news anchor. However, KGIL soon decided to return to its original management structure, and offered him a very enticing package to return. Mike says that while he really enjoyed the professionalism of South Ardmore Avenue under legendary program director Jhani Kaye, he accepted the offer and returned to KGIL. As part of his work at KGIL, Mike was responsible for a unit which produced radio programming and English language instruction projects for the Japanese market. As KGIL headed for eventual sale, Mike partnered with the company’s Regional Executive Vice President to acquire the Japan unit and produce many projects over the next eight years. These productions resulted in several business trips to Japan every year. Ancillary to, and motivated by, the Japan project, Mike added two radio travel programs to his list of projects. These led to wide-ranging travel productions from Hong Kong and Bangkok and Seoul to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona (his favorite European city,) Ibiza (one of Spain’s Balearic Islands – his favorite vacation spot) and many more. While the travel was exiting and somewhat rewarding financially, the Japan unit remained the foundation of the production business.Then, as the bottom fell out of “Japan Inc,” it became obvious that a return to broadcasting  was in the cards. Crys Quimby, then-president of the Radio and Television News Association, immediately hired Mike for his second go-round at KFWB -- now part of the CBS empire. Back on the air in Los Angeles he quickly realized that his love of journalism had always continued to simmer just below the surface, and the return to news writing and anchoring re-ignited his passion for radio. In January of 2007, Mike retired from KFWB to, in his words, “decide what I want to do when I grow up.” He says he does miss the day-to-day action of the newsroom, but he now has the chance to do what he wants, when he wants. And the alarm never rings at 2:30 am!Mike keeps in close contact with his colleagues at KFWB, and says he continues to be the station’s greatest fan!Mike and his partner Val live in the Toluca Lake section of L. A.’s San Fernando Valley with their three cats and one very rambunctious mutt! .