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Those 2 Girls in the Morning and More
The “Those 2 Girls in the Morning” show on WLYF in Miami sounds like a conversation between friends because it is. Julie Guy co-hosts the show live from 5:30 a.m. to noon on Lite FM 101.5 then voice tracks the 12 – 2 p.m. slot as well as Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. She calls her long-time morning show co-host, Tamara G., the yin to her yang. They’ve been on the now Audacy Adult Contemporary station for eleven years.
Co-Hosting Chemistry
The pair, who are well-known for their chemistry, worked together previously as “Those 2 Girls in the Morning” from 2006 to 2013 on Cox Media’s “97.3 The Coast” WFLC, then an AC station.
“You can’t create chemistry,” says Julie. “If it’s not there, people know.”
Working with Tamara G., she says, is “almost kismet.”
“I run the board, and she does the traffic, and we are a team. We each bring ideas and talk about our lives. If she’s mad at something, I say, ‘Okay, hold it, let’s talk about it on the air.’ We pick up each other’s slack; we know each other’s rhythm. I know when she’s going to say something. We don’t step on each other’s words. Our roles really just defined themselves.
“Tamara came up in an urban radio culture, and we have both been in the business a long time. We bring a lot to the table, and our work ethics are the same. She’s a really great person, a kind human being. I see other shows that don’t have that dynamic, and it causes friction, but we don’t have any of that. We are a black and a white woman and it’s fabulous. Don’t let it end,” she says.
“’ I love how you guys love each other’ is one of my favorite comments from listeners,” says Julie.
Despite her success, Julie suffers from “the imposter syndrome,” even after all these years, wondering whether she’s connecting with the audience from her isolated perch in the studio.
“When I leave work, I beat myself up and say they won’t want me back tomorrow.”
She has hard evidence that her message is getting through, though, in the form of listener testimonials.
“Last weekend, I was emceeing a 5K Race, and a young lady who was 26 (which was great because our demo is women 35-60) was almost in tears and said, ‘You’re the sisterhood I never knew I needed. You got me through my divorce.’
“I’ve had more women come up and say you guys got me through this and that, and all we’re doing is being ourselves. That’s what’s missing in social media, with everyone putting their best foot forward. When you show people that you are also in the human race, and you are vulnerable, it resonates so much. The best compliment I ever got is that I sound exactly like I do in person as I do on the radio. What you hear is what you get.”
Radical Change from Rock Radio
Julie’s been working long shifts starting very early in the morning for over two decades, but all along, she wanted “a cushy midday job.” That’s what she had applied for when she snagged her first morning show gig at 97.3 The Coast. The Program Director had a different path in mind for Julie.
“I never got middays. Make plans, and God laughs. They said they were going to put me on mornings even though they advertised middays. I said, ‘I’ll just see how that works out.’ Well, that was 22 years ago. My son was five months old. I also decided it’s the only shift I want to do. It’s the best for having a family because my kids’ dad took them to school, and I picked them up and took them to activities. I was able to be a full-time mom and a full-time radio personality, and I learned I really love it and I’m kind of good at it.”
The morning show AC format and audience was a radical change from rock radio, where Julie had cut her teeth as an intern and then worked for ten years.
“A male-dominated audience is a lot different. Rock radio lent itself to what do you look like? Is she hot? Can I go out with her? When I got married, they said don’t talk about being married or being pregnant when I was pregnant. You’re supposed to be this idea.
“AC female-oriented radio was a big game changer. I realized immediately that I needed to be myself. I needed to step up the game, and I couldn’t just phone it in. We’re women; we’ll call you on your nonsense. We want authenticity; we want you to be like us, and we want you to be funny. It required me to be vulnerable, and it’s scary when you share a piece of yourself. But you realize that so many people are just like you. I learned I really love it.”
Early Days
Now a U.S. citizen, Julie was born in Montreal, Canada, to Italian immigrant parents. They moved to Hollywood, Florida when Julie was five years old. Her parents, Augusto and Lucia, owned the 8-unit Ivy efficiency motel and the Bella Napoli bakery, where she worked from an early age. She says she inherited an incredibly strong work ethic from her folks and that she doesn’t like to sit still.
She read the announcements at school and was always very comfortable being in front of people. She volunteered at the Special Olympics. She graduated from South Broward High School and went to Florida International University in Miami.
“I took public speaking. I took education and sociology, but I loved radio and loved music and thought, there’s an internship open, and I walked through the door and said I feel so alive in here. This is where I want to be.”
She interned at the station, her favorite, for two years while in college: heritage rock station WSHE, “She’s Only Rock n Roll.”
After her internship ended, she stayed.
“In 1990 and 1991, I worked on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from midnight to six for free while I was going to school and while I worked at Pier One Imports. I would get paid in CDs. We would bring them to the CD Exchange and get five bucks.
“Then I was weekends for about three months, and I was so excited to get paid to work there. Then somebody got sick, and they offered me full-time midnight to 6. And then I worked my way up,” she recalls.
Julie’s a workout fanatic who says exercise keeps her sane and awake. The energetic 54-year-old is extremely fit. She wears her workout clothes to work, so she has no excuse not to hit the gym right after.
On evenings and weekends, though, she’s frequently glammed up as the emcee of numerous charity events.
Community Conscious
She recently hosted a candidates’ forum for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, her first foray into the political realm. “It was a whole different ball game. I thought I was informed, but I learned a whole lot more, and they said we’ll have to ask you back. It was such a privilege. “
She is often the face of galas, 5K races, and many other events for the Hollywood Chamber and for numerous charitable causes, including Paws 4 You Rescue, The Embrace Girls Foundation, scholarship funds, and especially for cancer-related events, as her family has been personally affected by the disease.
“My dad died of bile cancer, and my sister survived breast cancer. I’m involved in the Downs Syndrome organization because they were friends of my family, and I loved how they treated their kids so normal. I have the M.S. fashion show next week, and an event for the Lighthouse for the Blind is another important cause.”
“Helping with these events takes you outside of your life and your problems,” she explains.
She says she loves emceeing and feeds off of the energy of a live crowd, but what she most appreciates is how much she has learned about the many challenges others face in their everyday lives.
Julie’s son, Bobby, is all grown at 22. Her 18-year-old daughter, Lucy (named after her late mother) just left home on a softball scholarship to Rollins University. Julie, who’s divorced, is struggling as an empty nester. “It’s really, really hard,” she reveals. Her activism helps her deal with that while helping others.
Granted an On-Air Goodbye
She’s never been outright fired, and when she was let go due to a format flip, she was allowed to say goodbye.
“They let me do the impossible. They let me say goodbye on air, which was wild. I’ve always been pretty well-liked by my bosses, so they knew I wasn’t going to say ‘go to hell’ or drop an f-bomb. I had been at 93.7 The Coast as morning show host for almost twelve years, so I said, ‘Goodbye. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life and your routine all these years, and I started to cry. It’s huge. I don’t take that lightly. Then I landed at Lite FM, and it’s been eleven years.”
The Evils of Comparison
Julie’s been working for an audience of women for twenty years, for an audience of men prior to that and is immersed in community events. She’s learned lessons.
“I just saw this great quote by Matt Haig: ‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’ That’s our problem. So many of us are anguished because we are comparing ourselves to one another and we must stop. Social media, for all the wonderful things it can do, can also do a lot of damage. It’s one thing if you get inspired by somebody but it’s quite another to feel like you’re ‘less than’ because you haven’t accomplished XYZ that someone just put on their Instagram.
“You look great right here, but how many times did you take that picture, and how much makeup are you wearing? Enough. Do what you gotta do, and don’t worry about everybody else.”
Get in touch with Julie on Instagram
Amy Snider is a music features reporter for Barrett Media specializing on stories involving radio professionals working in Adult Contemporary/CHR/Top 40 formats. She brings over twenty-five years of media experience to the outlet. Based in St. Petersburg, FL, Amy works for iHeartMedia and the Total Traffic and Weather Network as an on-air reporter, appearing on dozens of radio stations including 98 Rock, Mix 100.7, 95.3 WDAE, and Newsradio WFLA. She has also reported and anchored in the Tampa market at Fox 13, News Channel 8, WMNF Community Radio and WUSF-FM, the NPR affiliate.
Amy is a music fanatic. She hosted a drive-time rock and roll radio show for 20 years on WMNF-FM and is known as a tastemaker in the music and arts community. She booked, hosted, emceed and promoted a wildly popular weekly live music event in Tampa’s Ybor City featuring original music with performers from all over the world. Her free time is often spent at concerts and music festivals. To get in touch, find her on X @AmySnider4.
