Carmichael Dave is no fool. He knows how rare it is in this business to have nearly two decades on air in one place, let alone in your hometown. That’s why feels comfortable being honest. There are more yesterdays than tomorrows left in his radio career. He knows it and he doesn’t hide it from the people in his studio or in his audience.
He doesn’t have a date in mind for a final broadcast, but he knows it will happen in the next handful of years. His goal is to make sure he has time to really soak in the memories and that his audience isn’t in the dark the day they can no longer hear his voice on Sactown Sports 1140.
“I don’t want to do it where you go to sleep on a Friday doing one thing, and you wake up Monday doing the other,” he says. “This town has raised me. I’ve grown up with a lot of these people that used to listen to my night show that now have children of their own. We are a family. I know people throw that out all the time, but this is my city. These are my people. They’ve lifted me up in times of need. I’ve done my best to lift them up. We’ve grown up together. They deserve a lot more than ‘Alright. See you later. Take care,” because I will never fall out of love with these people. They are my whole world outside of my family.”
That town is Sacramento. Dave Weiglin is fiercely loyal to it. His entire life has been spent in that city or its suburbs, which is how he got his on-air name. Carmichael is where he grew up.
But when his radio days are over, his new name might be Huddersfield Dave. That’s because he has taken on a role in the front office of English soccer club Huddersfield Town AFC. The opportunity presented itself to Dave thanks to his relationship with Sacramento Republic FC, both soccer teams are owned by Kevin Nagle.
“I now use my vacation weeks to go over to Europe,” he says. “I work with the soccer club every day. I get up at 3 am, and from then to about 4:30 am, I’m in meetings with England, which is eight hours ahead of me. And then when I get done on the air at 10 a.m., I’m back on the phone with England, where it is 6 pm to wrap things up.”
Working two demanding jobs isn’t a problem. Dave says he is “so happy to do it.” It has even become great content for the show. It lets the listeners he calls his family get to know him better, and thanks to Huddersfield Town’s relationship with Sacramento Republic, those topics can actually matter to sports fans in California’s capitol.
Sacramento is an interesting sports market. While it’s one of the most populous cities in America, it’s not likely it will ever attract another major league team. Sitting so close to the Bay Area, means that an attempt to put any kind of team in the city would likely be met with resistance from an already established organization.
It’s why Dave relishes what is there now. His radio career started out with phone calls. He was given preferential treatment when he would call into the Kings’ postgame show. He has seen the best of times and the worst of times with that team.
The guy that was taking those calls eventually became Carmichael Dave’s boss and now, the two are partners in morning drive.
“Jason Ross is the best human being on earth,” Dave says of his partner. “We all know these types. He’s one of those people where if somebody comes up to you and they have an issue with Jason, you immediately know that it’s that person with the issue, not Jason Ross. Nobody dislikes him because he’s an incredible human being.”
Dave has been known to take his listeners down all sorts of rabbit holes. He can’t just stick to sports because he deals with ADD.
“Not the fashionable type,” he clarifies. “I was on Ritalin and different things growing up.”
It’s part of the reason he holds Jason Ross in such high regard. Ross knows when the ship needs steering and when the best thing he can do is let Dave cook on something like celebrity birthdays or the origin of an odd turn of phrase.
“I think Jason actually recognizes that for my own mental health, I need to sometimes go on these tangents,” he jokes.
Anyone that has tuned into Sactown Sports in recent years has noticed some big changes. The station added a new afternoon show and then launched a local midday show in lieu of syndicated programming. Then both day parts changed. The station hired a PD. Then it hired another PD. Hell, the station wasn’t even called Sactown Sports just two years ago!
Amidst all of this change, a reliably entertaining caller that turned into the nighttime host was suddenly one of its senior-most voices! Carmichael Dave believes that comes with some responsibility, especially when you are as close with your listeners as he is. This is someone that takes time to check his social media mentions and DMs and reply even when he is on vacation.
Maybe he was supposed to shut up and just read a corporate-approved statement when they would ask him where some of their favorite voices went and who are the new guys they are hearing, but that isn’t how Carmichael Dave does business.
“These people have other radio stations that are putting out incredible programing every day. They have podcasts. You can watch TV on your phone anywhere you go. There are so many options and the fact that they choose to start their mornings, they choose us to yammer on and listen to us. I owe them explanations,” he says. “Now, I may not have all the answers, certainly, but I’m not going to pussyfoot around it if they have questions. I just am as honest as I can be.”
Sactown Sports seems to be in a pretty good place. Carmichael Dave is definitely in a good place. He’s exactly where he wants to be doing exactly what he wants to do…for now anyway. The day will come when that won’t be the case, but it won’t come by surprise to the listeners, and it won’t happen without plenty of soul searching from the man himself.
Demetri Ravanos is a former columnist and editor for Barrett Media. He is the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host of the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
