Mike Andrews - 62WHEN Radio Nighttime Air Personality
62 WHEN Radio - Syracuse, NY

"In His Own Words"

I was hired in 1972 by Dean Parkhurst (with a little "help" from Jerry Morgan - Jerry Foody) who convinced me to leave all-nites at WNDR to do 7-midnight at WHEN. The decision to move was not a difficult one, since the handwriting was on the wall in the Syracuse market by then. WHEN was about to become one of the biggest things to ever happen in Syracuse radio and I wanted to be a part of it.

I remember John Patton used to say he felt he could have taken the station to any market in the country in the early 70s (after Sweet Dick and Jack Mindy completed the air-personality lineup) and pull numbers. I always felt he was probably right. The station was one of a kind and I always felt fortunate to have been a part of it.

I left in 1974 to become program director and do mid-days at a start-up station in Naples, Florida (WRGI AM and FM) and after three years there Jim Ashbery hired me to return as production director at WFBL in Syracuse. I became program director at FBL when Jim moved to Tampa, Florida to become program director at WFLA Radio. After two years, Jim convinced me to join him in Tampa at WFLA as production director ( that wasn't a difficult decision - Syracuse and snow or Tampa and sun...gee, let me think about that one...for about 10 seconds). Had a great time at WFLA for three years and then took a job as the national director of public relations for Shriners International and the 22 Shriners' Children's Hospitals, which had moved their world headquarters from Chicago to Tampa in 1981. I spent 25 years as PR director and then became the Chief Operating Officer and executive VP of Shriners International in 2006, where I stayed until 2011, when I retired to relax and enjoy the Florida sun.

Always missed the great times we all had at WHEN though. It was a one of a kind station, for sure!

Mike Andrews