There is a growing number of people — including a healthy chunk from the radio industry — who are facing a unique life challenge. They are at a place in their career where they are close to, but not quite ready for, retirement. Then, due to economic circumstances beyond their control, they get fired.
Michelle McKormick, who was recently caught up in a Cumulus reduction in force, now falls into this category after she was let go from Classic Rock WLAV/Grand Rapids. And while the media has yet to coin a phrase for people in this situation, Michelle thinks she may have it. She’s calling it her “Refirement” (service mark pending — don’t you dare steal it and start making merch).
Unlike many other broadcasters, though, Michelle was allowed to stay on the air for a month after she knew she was being let go. During that time, the listeners and the industry rallied around her. With the majority of her career having been in Grand Rapids, her layoff was big news and was covered on all three local television stations. Listeners were incredibly supportive, and friends from across the industry wanted to be part of her final shows. In fact, other than the part where she lost her job, it may have been one of the most eye-opening and life-affirming experiences she’s had during her career of more than 40 years.
“I hate to use the word ‘processing,’ but I still am. I still can’t get over how fantastic it was. Getting fired was actually good for me,” says Michelle. “Though, as narcissistic and pompous as I am, it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t know how people felt before this. If I had known all that, you wouldn’t have been able to live with me.”
The Power of Personality
For Michelle, the overwhelmingly supportive reaction to being laid off reinforced that radio still has the power to build strong connections with the audience. “I thought I was important to my company. But it turns out I was important to listeners and clients more,” Michelle says. “I’ve always known that people still listen to the radio, but it was proven to me. And I feel like that guy who looked at me on a spreadsheet and said, ‘She’s gone,’ doesn’t realize that there are these people it matters to. People who still sit in their cars and listen, and these people still do care. It is a part of their everyday life.”
It was also nice to have friends and colleagues from across her career show up to honor her. “I was shocked that not only people that I’ve worked with wanted to come on the show, but even other shows in the market,” Michelle says. That included old partners like Frank Kramer from the Heidi and Frank show on KLOS, as well as competing local shows like Mojo in the Morning and Free Beer and Hot Wings.
Michelle believes that level of respect and industry camaraderie comes from a career-long practice of trying to be friendly with everyone. “You just try to not have enemies. I mean, honestly, just try not to be a dick.” But when members of the local media hosted a happy hour after her last day, it did start to feel a little awkward. “There was a going-away thing with media and radio friends, and it was like being at my funeral. I was like, ‘Alright, you guys, stop.’”
Paying It Forward
But one person at that event stood out to Michelle, echoing another hallmark of how she has approached her career. “My most favorite part was a younger women that got up and said, ‘You helped me. You gave me my first shot on the mic, you were nice and you coached me.’”
Helping younger radio talent build their careers has always been important to Michelle. She says it goes back to when she started out in the business. “I had a person who was not nice to me and a person who was nice to me when I was first starting. After the one that was not nice to me, I vowed that I wasn’t going to do that to people who are starting out. First day in the building, nobody needs to hear from an asshole.”
She also credits Terry Lieberman, her Program Director at 97.1 WKRK/Detroit — one of her few stints outside of Grand Rapids — for helping her find her voice. “He called me into his office and said, ‘You’re not being yourself. You have to get on the air and be yourself,’” Michelle remembers. “That’s when I decided, okay, balls to the wall, I’m just going be my real self. And that’s when it started to take off. Then when I came back to Grand Rapids, it was, this is who I am, and it works.”
The Young Talent
For young talent today, Michelle believes it takes even more than just letting your true personality fly. “It’s not just doing your radio show, which is sad, because I put everything into that,” Michelle explains. “Now you really have to resonate on every level. You have to excel at the digital aspect, and you have to resonate with clients. But younger talent are really good at that.”
Resonating with clients has always come easily to Michelle. “My joke is, I was walking through the sales department, and somebody said, ‘Hey, Michelle, do you get migraines?’ And I said, ‘Do you want me to?’ So, I started slinging this migraine medication that probably wasn’t any good. I mean, I do worry that there are dead listeners because of it,” she says jokingly. “I just decided I’ll sell anything. Plus, I like meeting with clients. I like getting to yes. It’s fun. It energizes me.”
Remembering the Best and the Worst
Looking back, Michelle does feel bad that young talent today will never get to experience what the industry used to be like. “I was a music director when the record companies would wine and dine you. It was so old school. I was young, but I got to see all that. Like, REO Speedwagon spent the night at my house.” But things weren’t perfect then, either. “At the same time, that also came with not making the same pay as the guy you’re working with.”
And while Michelle is not ready to ride off into the West Michigan sunset and believes listeners in Grand Rapids have not heard the last of her, she was nostalgic enough to share the story of what may be her one true career regret. “Elvis Duran was looking for a partner, and I got an interview. I had sent him a big care package and done every kitschy radio thing you could do to get his attention,” she remembers. “I was living in New Jersey at the time. So I went into the city, and I’m so nervous because I’m going to do an audition with Elvis the next morning. And I never oversleep, but somehow I slept through it.”
She was mortified. “You don’t recover from that. I just tiptoed off into the night. I’ve seen Elvis since then, too, and I haven’t ever reminded him of it. Hopefully, he just forgot about it, but I will tell him someday. Or maybe you can tell him.”
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