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Gregg Daniels is the Driver and Host of the nationally syndicated “Free Beer & Hot Wings Morning Show” (FBHW). He is also the lead play-by-play guy for college football and basketball for Compass Media networks. He originally got into the business because of his passion for Sports.
Daniels (Free Beer) and Chris Michels (Hot Wings) were roommates in college, and both started in radio in their college town, Mt. Pleasant, MI, home of Central Michigan University in the mid-90s. “Post graduation, we were both hired by our former professor Vicky Jacoba, who was starting a broadcast department with a 100,000 station at Iowa Western Community College, right across the Missouri River from Omaha, NE,” explains Daniels. “So there we were in a great market, on a non-commercial station, where ratings really didn’t matter, and it gave us a chance to learn and experiment. We had no idea how good we had it. The station grew in ratings and revenue after it switched from classical jazz to alternative as 89.7 ‘The River.’”
“We stopped playing music on the show in late 2004, at the urging of our then GM Phil Catlett,” says Daniels. “He said he was tired of his fellow church members telling him they loved our show but left when Fall Out Boy came on. We were lucky to have him advocating for our growth.”
“I am the lead, the instigator, and the agitator on the show,” Daniels says as he describes the characters on the show. “Hot Wings is strong opinions and joke sniper stuff. Steve has been our executive producer since 2009, and he handles all the off-air stuff that keeps us going. He is also somewhat in charge of keeping us on track on the air. Kelly Cheese joined us from Atlanta in 2019; she has some producer duties like imaging and social media but is a Co-host who lives her authentic life. Maitlynn joined us last year. She is a co-host and producer. Fun, funny, and authentic. And Tommy is our 25-year-old Blippi-esque phone screener.”
“Our show’s primary role is to be a distraction from real life most of the time. Our prevailing theory comes from Jim Valvano ESPY’s speech when he was dying of cancer. It’s an odd starting point for a rock radio show but a great programming theory. He said every day (paraphrasing) that he would laugh, think, and cry or feel emotion. Is there a better goal than that for a morning show?”
“As for our passion project for the show, Jeff and Jer gave us (we called and asked) their ‘Breaking and Entering’ Christmas idea back in 2001. We have been doing it under the name ‘Holiday Breakins’ for 21 years. We have loved it so much that we started a charity called ‘Idiots from Underdogs’ which distributes funds and helps people who just need help to bridge a gap or an expense they couldn’t have seen coming. It’s funded by the people who subscribe to our podcast (Idiot members) as well as donations. This year, we have helped nine families to the tune of more than $70,000.”
Daniels’s philosophy on show prep is: “A life well lived is the best show prep out there. It’s true, but I also have six boys 12 and under with my wife, so that’s most of my life,” he says. “Only so many kid stories we can do. But we have a diverse group on the show with diverse interests, so it works out. We all have different sources that we prep from; then everyone puts it in a shared Trello file. Then, in the morning before the show, I go through it all, and with everyone’s thoughts, we make a rough plan and go from there. Our show plan is mostly just an outline for timing purposes.”
“Our two biggest instances where things felt upside down on the show over the years were both prominent, long-tenured show members leaving,” says Daniels. “It’s difficult for a show that asked people to get to know us and know our families and friends and then have the people they love disappear. They (the listeners) always want explanations, just as we would. But what we are allowed to say doesn’t meet the expectations.”
I asked Gregg how to get Women more involved in a historically male-dominated format. “We have two women on our show,” he says. “We were definitely an ‘all-boys club’ for a long time. When we hired Kelly, we were very upfront with her. We wanted her to be a woman on the show but not be ‘the woman on the show’ in the traditional sense. We wanted her to have the same show ground rules as everyone else. She wasn’t there to police us or represent all women any more than we represent all men. Adding Maitlynn, who was a former intern twice over and beloved the entire time, was another step in that direction. Honestly, the two of them would make a great morning show I would listen to. So, we are lucky to have them. Adding them to our show made us more well-rounded, in some cases dirtier, and gave all of us needed perspective.”
As for what’s ahead for the show, “Hopefully a long time of success, or at least mediocrity,” Daniels says. “Did I mention the six boys at home? Hopefully, we will continue to evolve and be able to do the show the way that we think it should be. We hope to grow the charity more and the online portion of the show even more. And hopefully not be replaced by AI.”
Follow The Free Beer & Hot Wings Morning Show or on Facebook, Instagram, and Tik-Tok @fbhwshow
Charese Fruge’ is an award-winning Content, Broadcast, and Marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, San Diego, and Las Vegas. As the owner of MC Media, she works with radio brands and individual talent, especially young women, helping them grow their brands and negotiate on their own behalf. She is also a Voice Actor and Voice Over Talent as well as a Freelance Writer for International Broadcast Outlets. Find her at @MCMediaOnline or www.mcmediaonline.com.
