Famous people I’m not
In Pittsburgh, about 200 miles west of where I sit right now, there’s a famous radio guy named, wait for it, Mike McGann, who amazingly, is not me. (Truthfully, a fact he should be rather relieved by, too.)
While he probably doesn’t know who I am, I became aware of him when I applied for an AFTRA card back in the early 80s trying, foolishly to use my own name. Back in those days, on-air guys all had their own names and there was some rule about using the same name within a certain amount of distance or something. I didn’t stay in radio long enough to figure out what the deal was thanks to the poor money and went into print work instead.
Through something akin to Web alchemy, when you search my name, a decent number of listings come up for me, and even this site, not to mention all of the magazines and Websites I’ve written for over the years. By all accounts, though, the other Mike is a beloved figure — and I’ve heard him on the Web, he has a fabulous set of pipes.
Although I wasn’t named after him, I was named after another Mike in radio, a guy named Mike Botula, who introduced my parents when he was working in radio on Long Island. He and my parents all ended up in southern California and he went on to become a fairly famous news radio voice in LA. I, as many of you who followed my 2004 campaign for state rep. know, attended kindergarten and apparently, according to my former opponent and the current holder of that office, was a member of the Weather Underground, helped found the SLA and caused a number of earthquakes, floods and the Phillies’ 1964 collapse.
All he did was vote for a pay raise in the middle of the night . Amazingly, he’s still on the public dole and I have to work for a living.
Anyhow, to all of you looking for the other Mike McGann, I’m not him. And don’t even ask about me playing QB for Temple. I was an offensive tackle, thank you, and I’ll note I’m now down to almost to my high school playing weight.