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Take a Hikey, Mikey
Wait a minute, I just re-read this post. Are you suggesting in the last paragraph that Mikey would himself create multiple email addresses, and take the time to vote multiple times to make himself win, while having the other crew members do it for him as well? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHA.....you just lost a LOT of points in my book...I was just starting to respect you a little bit. You REALLY dont know anything about Mikey or the Mikey Show. He didnt even like the R Factor contest because it made him very uncomfortable. He always said that they were a team, it was not just him. And something like that goes directly against his morality. Keep in mind, if you are gonna say that about him, that also goes for anyone else that was in that competition. They could have done the same thing, and ended up beating him. No one wants to admit that the radio ratings are extremely skewed, and that Mikey actually, in reality, has the largest following in San Diego radio.— March 15, 2012 2:46 p.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
And Mr. Leighton, the difference between that article and the article that you wrote, is that Mr. Dotinga did not claim rumors to be facts, like you did. He said it was still unclear what happened, while you basically came right out and said Mikey was fired. Mr. Dotinga kept his article a little more "middle of the road" than you did. He was still a little slanted against Mikey with his talk about Christianity and religion, but it did not give me a sense of real dislike of Mikey like your article did.— March 15, 2012 2:41 p.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
Ken, that is cool that you (or your friend) got in touch with them to get the scoop on the R Factor. I HIGHLY doubt that very many people would have taken the time to create that many different email accounts. Mikey won by a very large margin. I am one of the biggest fans of his show, and even I didnt take the time to create multiple email accounts, and then create multiple accounts on the Fox website, to vote more than once. Thats a lot of work that most people wouldnt take the time to do, and Mikey did win by a large margin every time. You yourself even acknowledged the fact that there were MANY more listeners that were fans of the show than what the Arbitron rating showed, thanks to ipod/ipad apps, online streaming, and podcasts. That Fox 5 contest really displayed the true following that Mikey had, and still has.— March 15, 2012 2:35 p.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
Hey man, that is cool that you listened for yourself, and came to your own conclusions. I wont argue you with you there...everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I dont necessarily agree with how you feel things went down at 105.3, but again, all we can do is hear what they tell us over the radio, and what we read on the internet, and draw our own conclusions. The only reason I said that I thought you listened to "The Show" was because most of the ones that stayed with them have strong feelings against Mikey; and of course they side with the old crew when it comes to what happened during "the breakup".— March 15, 2012 9:37 a.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
Lunchbox, did you actually listen to the Mikey Show, or are you just talking based upon things that you have read online. If so, then your opinion has no bearing on this issue and is not based upon your own experiences with Mikey. And just to provide you with a little bit of fact, Mikey takes the blame for his part in everything that happened at 105.3, which is something that the others on "The Show" have never done......hold on a second, now it all makes sense. You must be a listener of "The Show".— March 14, 2012 10:29 p.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
PART 4 - Also, I was serious about providing you with any information you would like to get a different viewpoint of Mikey. Many of us M1's stay closely connected and we could provide you with a lot of great information about what Mikey has done in our lives, and the affect he has had on many, many people. It might make for a good article. It sure would be nice for somebody to see our side of it and provide Mikey with some positive publicity, because from our view on this side of the field, he is not deserving of this terrible slamming he is taking. Thanks for taking the time to read my responses.— March 14, 2012 10:25 p.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
PART 3 - He sincerely cared about people and wanted to help people (which he did). And this was not all that he would do in the community, he just didnt talk about it very much. He would talk in churches and tell his story, and he had a campaign called "BeDifferent" that was aimed at reminding people to treat each other with respect. I encourage you to go back and listen to the very first episode of the Mikey Show, on 1 Feb 2010. In the first 20 minutes or so, he discusses the 105.3 breakup, and you should hear how nice he is to those that stabbed him in the back (and I mean not just signing the new contract without telling him, but the stuff they said about him as well). Then near the end of the episode that day he has some of the old 94.9 listeners call in, and they just BASH him. You should hear how he handles it with such grace, and actually apologizes to them for the way that he used to be, and explains how different he is now and invites them to give him a chance. Come on man, Mikey is such a good human being. It's a disgrace how people are treating him. I dont blame you; maybe you just really dont know what kind of man that he is. But maybe if you take a little while to find out, you can write a different kind of article that maybe discusses how good of a human being he is, and that he doesnt deserve the beating he has taken. I would be more than willing to provide you with old podcasts (including the first episode), and any first hand information that you might like as a witness to the change that he made in people's lives. And ok, I see your point about the "personal family issues", although you never know how serious it might be. If it is serious enough I could see that LFM would let him out of his contract, but maybe I am being naive to the facts. I do hope though that is not the case. We wish nothing but the best for Mikey. Again, thanks for the additional information. I only wish you had included it in the initial article. I mean come on, even your title was jaded.."Take a Hikey, Mikey". Really? How can you honestly say that you have nothing against Mikey with a title of the article like that. Your article just sounded very one-sided, and maybe you do have some inside information. Maybe you could have included that without giving any names or specifics. If that is true, then you are the only person in all of San Diego with that information; because to the rest of us, the article seems to be only based upon rumors.— March 14, 2012 10:25 p.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
PART 2 - You mention about the different types of radio, and I TOTALLY get that. Trust me, we felt that when he first came over to 94.9. Those listeners gave him and us fans a beating on the Facebook pages. But you really gotta keep in mind, that 94.9 (Lincoln Financial Media) brought him over! Its not like he forced himself upon them and into their morning slot. They brought him in an attempt to "change it up" and bring up their morning ratings (as you obviously know already). So if there is anyone to blame, it is LFM themselves, not Mikey. For some reason or another, it just didnt work. I guess most of the people that like rock music and 105.3 stayed with "The Show". But those of us that follow Mikey, for Mikey, came over with him, but I guess it wasnt just enough of us. I know one issue was that they did not advertise him hard enough (away from their airwaves). As for "ramming his 15 minute testimony down our throats", I 120% disagree with that. Everyone has options and choices; they can change the channel for those 15 minutes. So there is definitely no "ramming" anywhere when it comes to radio. Everyone can change it or put on their ipod's for that time. But it's more than that. It wasn't just a testimony, it was Mikey's story. Just out of curiousity, did you ever hear it? I'm just wondering...not trying to throw it in your face if you didn't. He would discuss his struggles with self esteem and substance abuse, and then he would say he found Jesus. That is the ONLY time he would mention it, so it really was the opposite of "ramming". He clearly would state that it was his freedom from addictions. He then would invite anyone else suffering from addiction or self esteem issues to check out the Mikey Show website where there were links for people to seek help. I REALLY dont understand how ANYONE can find something wrong with that. Mikey was different. Thats what made him special.— March 14, 2012 10:23 p.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
PART 1 - Mr. Leighton, again, I appreciate you taking the time to respond and providing a little more insight into your initial article. As for my name, I have no problems with telling you...my name is Mike Gage. I used my M1 name just for solidarity with Mikey and the Mikey Show. I have been an avid listener of the Mikey Show since he first went to mornings after Howard Stern parted ways with Clear Channel (or however it may have happened...I dont know all of the facts about that). I am not just the casual listener, so as I said earlier, maybe I am biased towards him, but I also keep an open mind. There were definitely some things I didnt like about the show, at times, but there were FAR more things that I did like. As for the "rant" against Capone, yes, in fact I did hear it, live on the radio. In fact, I stayed up for the entire 28 hour show and listened to the entire thing, live on my radio. Like I said, I am not just your casual listener, I am a diehard fan. That is the thing about us real M1's...the Mikey Show, and Mikey himself, was a real part of our lives. Not that he was my "Jesus", or my fearless religious leader....no, he, and the rest of the show, were like family; and when you care about family, you want to know what is going on with them, and that is what the Mikey Show always did. They made us a part of their lives. That's what sets them apart and makes them different from every other morning show in the country. I may sound crazy, but trust me I am not. I have a good job and am well educated; you may not even understand what I am saying, but he was just a big part of our lives, and we care about what happens to him. To address your comment about you know whether he was fired or not, honestly, that definitely piqued my interest. There is a very serious legal issue there, with a gag order in place. So if someone at the station is leaking that information then that could be a real problem. If you are lying, well that is something entirely different (and I have no reason to believe you would lie about that).— March 14, 2012 10:22 p.m.
Take a Hikey, Mikey
Oh, I am sorry...one other thing. Your last paragraph of your last response discusses the "R Factor". It was impossible to vote more than once. I know, because many of us tried and discussed the fact that we were not able to!!! lol. We were only about to vote once every round, so the 700,000 number that you quoted was probably the total amount at the very end, with all of the rounds added up. But even that to me does not sound correct. The website showed the number of votes that each competitor had, and I remember he only had several thousand votes per round (enough to have him win every round), but there is no way they all added up to 700,000.— March 14, 2012 7:44 p.m.