Mike Thompson joined NRG Media in February 2019 to serve as the Operations Manager of its Omaha cluster, overseeing a number of radio stations including 1620 The Zone, 1180 Zone 2 (KZOT), 1290 KOIL, and La Nueva 99.5 and 1020 (KMMQ). Two years later though following a pandemic and accident which impacted his wife, Mike has chosen to step down and return home to California.
Thompson, who previously held management roles at sports stations such as 98.7 ESPN NY, ESPN LA 710, Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket, 680 The Fan, and ESPN Radio Pittsburgh told All Access “COVID-19 has been a traumatic time for the radio industry; for me it meant that I wasn’t able to fly back home frequently. More importantly, my wife last spring, was hit and run over by a motorist while in a crosswalk near our Rose Bowl home. Miraculously she survived and is on the mend — so it’s time to be there for her as she continues her recovery.”
During his tenure in Omaha, Thompson made a few changes to The Zone’s weekday lineup. He added Mike’l Severe alongside Damon Benning, a move which resulted in Gary Sharp sliding into middays. Sharp’s presence was needed in the later timeslot due to the exit of popular local personality Nick Bahe.
No word yet on what The Zone plans to do for programming support going forward. As details emerge we’ll pass them along.
