Michelle McKormick, a mainstay of Grand Rapids, MI radio since 1984, signed off on Friday, Aug. 28 after 15 years co-hosting mornings on Cumulus Media classic rock WLAV (96.9).
The Grand Rapids native spent her final hours on air reminiscing about her broadcasting career with co-host Travis Gibbs, and taking calls from friends and listeners. “I’m not going to say ‘stay tuned’ or ‘manifest’ or ‘journey,’ but, stay tuned, I’m manifesting my journey,” she said near the show’s end.
McKormick got her first on-air job, at Grand Rapids’ WGRD-FM, while still attending Central Michigan University. Over the years she also worked locally at news/talk WOOD-AM and WJRW-AM, with time spent outside the market at then-talk station “FM Talk 97.1” WKRK-FM Detroit and “New Jersey 101.5” WKXW Trenton, NJ.
Looking back on her career, McKormick tells WZZM-TV, “It’s a business now. You have to have business sense. So, if you want to be a broadcaster, you have to know your worth, and you have to be able to be flexible, because it’s a digital world.” At the same time, she notes, “In every other way, it really hasn’t [changed]. The reason morning shows are so fun and silly and goofy are because when you wake up in the morning, you want to know the world’s okay, and that’s my job, to let you know the world’s okay.”
McKormick also shared stories of the celebrities she’s met over the years, including Gwen Stefani, Johnny Cash, Robin Williams and David Bowie. “Bowie said to me, ‘You have the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen,'” she says, “and he kept walking.”
McKormick announced her departure from WLAV on air Aug. 17. “About two weeks ago, our company made some changes and they had to eliminate some jobs,” she said. “Mine was one of them that was eliminated.”
McKormick says she would like to continue her on-air career in some way. “I don’t know that I’m done in radio yet, or in broadcasting yet, but I will miss that,” she says. “Thanks to everybody in West Michigan, you’ve been so kind.”