On-Air Staff, Special Programs & Fun Stuff

The Fun House 

Because it's not who you go to bed with -
but who you wake up with that really matters!

Weekdays 6:00-9:00 a.m.
with Susan & Joyce
and Michael St. John

 Send an email to

Special Features
6:35
Birthday Club
6:50
Horoscopes
7:50
Joke of the Day
8:10
Word of the Day
8:50
Entertainment
FAQ 
1.  No, Michael St. John and Susan McKenney are not and never were married to each other.














Michael and Susan at a party in L.A. with Jay Leno of The Tonight Show.
Michael and Susan backstage with Neil Diamond at the arena in St. Louis.

Michael and Susan with Gloria Estafan after a concert at Riverport in St. Charles, Missouri.



 
The Fun House
Dirt Nap Update

New Dirt Nap
1.  Sidney Craig, 76, co-founder of the Jenny Craig weight loss company, 7/21
2.  Estelle Getty, 84, "Sophia" on the "The Golden Girls, 7/22
3.  

O say, can you....
Do you remember the rest of the words?  A lot of Americans can't, so there's a national effort under way to get people to learn the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner."  Called the National Anthem Project, the Fun House morning team is doing their part by asking listeners to learn the anthem's first verse:
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Surprise!  Michael St. John
returns to the Fun House

After three months of sleeping on the couch, and sleeping in, Michael St. John is back behind the microphone.  Like a stray cat, he showed up on the doorstep of the Fun House morning show just after Memorial Day.

Michael and Susan, together again. All is right with the world.   

Good thing Joyce is there in case the two have one of their famous disagreements.  

Grab a latte with Susan and Joyce, and have a bowl of cereal with Michael.  Start your day off with a heavy dose of intelligent humor, local happenings, and interviews.  Plus top-of-the-hour CNN news updates, and twice an hour weather updates with WHNT Channel 19 meteorologist James-Paul Dice.

Who are these fun people?













Meet The Fun House
Who wouldn't want to wake up with these two Trailer Park Treasures?
All trashed up and the perfect place to go, recently Susan and Joyce were right at home on the stage of The Great American Trailer Park Musical.  
 
Michael St. John was born and raised in Huntsville.  He has been called "The Man with the Golden Ear". After hosting the highly rated Love Hour at WERC in Birmingham in the 70s, Michael went on to program Top 40 radio stations in Memphis, Nashville, Phoenix, Hartford and St. Louis earning more than 90 Gold and Platinum records along the way including one for being the first disc jockey to play Rick Dee's Disco Duck. He is the only programmer in America to take an out-of-market radio station to number one in the market - and he did it twice.  Michael's son Christopher, 31, graduated from Florida State University where he is an assistant football coach.  His daughter Jamie, 28, graduated from LSU.  She is beginning to follow in her father's footsteps and is a disc jockey.

Birthday:  October 13

First Big Break in Radio: Just 16 years old, Michael was bagging groceries at Bruno's in Huntsville, when M.D. Smith III of WAAY radio discovered Michael's potential talent as he made an announcement on the store's intercom.  Working part-time throughout high school at WAAY radio, Michael used that experience to run the school radio station while earning a degree in psychology at Vanderbilt University.  

Nicest celebrity you've ever met: Michael has dined with Cher, Vanessa Williams, Carnie Wilson and Carmen Elektra.  He para-sailed with George Harrison in Acupulco, made-out with Stevie Nicks, partied at Gloria Estafan's house on Star Island, and interviewed Paul McCartney.  He even accompanied Harry Connick, Jr. on tour for a week.  Sergio Mendes cooked dinner for Michael at his house. He's met Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, Jay Leno, Muhammad Ali, and so many other celebrities over the years -  but the nicest celebrity he's ever met is Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench.

Biggest influence:  While still a student at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Michael met the legendary Scott Shannon and did Scott's air shift on occasion so Scott could dine with record label reps.  Scott's impact on his early days in radio is immeasurable.

Favorite weekend activity:  Announcing the
play-by-play action for high school football and watching college football in the fall.  A former ESPN announcer, Michael has enjoyed high school play-by-play for more than 25 years, including 16 years in Tennessee where a young Mike Keith would visit him regularly in the press box.  Mike Keith is now the play-by-play announcer for the Tennessee Titans.

Favorite sport:  Baseball - a sport he actually played.  He played second baseman and was All-City his sophomore year in high school.

Favorite movie:  The Great Gatsby.

Favorite TV shows:  Professional wrestling,
especially the shows that he hosts.  Fans can see Michael on Wrestle Birmingham.  Here he is with his friend Jerry "The King" Lawler.  See Michael on YouTube!  Here's a link to get you started:  

Favorite hobby:  Collecting baseball cards, team football jerseys and caps.  He also collects postage stamps.

Biggest pet peeve:  Misuse of the English language.
 
Susan McKenney is originally from Chicago but has a noteworthy Alabama connection:  her great uncle Frank Thomas was Bear Bryant's coach at the University of Alabama.  Susan has a long background in both radio and print media, and is an award-winning copy writer.  She was the Advertising Director for one of the top 10 alternative newsweeklies in the country, The Riverfront Times in St. Louis.  She was also the first female retail advertising manager at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch where she dusted off the good-old boys in the pinstripe suits everyday.  She continues to work for a Chicago-area magazine.  She's the single mother of three overachievers.  Her 29-year-old son Steven earned a double degree with honors in math and physics from NYU, his master's and doctorate degrees in physics from UCSD where he taught physics, and his master's in finance from UA where he also taught physics.  He is currently studying finance engineering on a fellowship at Northwestern University.  Her daughter Kendahl, 18, just graduated from the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science and will attend Colorado State University in the fall where she plans to study zoology.  Her youngest daughter Ellery, 17, just completed her junior year at ASMS.  Ellery was just elected President of the Future Business Leaders of America for her upcoming senior year. Both are pictured with Jessica Simpson, below:
Susan is the 2008 President of the Child Advocacy Center of Marshall County Board of Directors.  She's on the Citizen Corps Council of Marshall County, and represents media on the Strategic National Stockpile Task Force and Marshall County's Natural Hazards and Mitigation Committee.  She's active in the arts and served four years on the Board of the Mountain Valley Arts Council.  She's a founding board member of ARTS (Artists Responding to Children).   Her passions are politics and
and responsible government.   She chairs the Marshall County Democratic Executive Committee and the Democratic Club.  

Birthday:   October 18

First Big Break in Radio: Right out of college, Susan was hired as the copy director for two Chicago-area radio stations owned by Mal Bellairs, the Voice of the Midwest.  

Nicest celebrity you've ever met:  After a concert, Bob Seger's sax player asked her if she had to get up early the next day....what do you think he meant by that?  

Biggest influence:  Her mom.  She's politically savvy, well-read, classy, and smart.

Favorite weekend activity:  Reading.  Latest books include Carl Sandburg's 6-volume Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years; Thomas Paine, Revolution, Enlightenment and Birth of Nations by Craig Nelson; The Reluctant Mr. Darwin by David Quammen; Religious Literacy by Stephen Protero. She has no social life.

Favorite sport:  Driving.  It's a sport.

Favorite movies:  Lawrence of Arabia, Out of Africa, and classics with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  Anything romantic.

Favorite TV shows:  Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and Countdown with Keith Oberman on MSNBC.   

Favorite hobby:  Anything to do with the arts - drawing, painting, stained glass, writing...  She collects marbles; smoking paraphanalia like cigarette lighters, matchbooks, ashtrays, and cigar boxes; Pez candy dispensers; antique jewelry, handkerchiefs, photographs, glassware, antique lamps, and hats; also vintage Port wine (her weakness).   

Biggest pet peeves:  Ignorance, litter, inconsiderate drivers, pediophiles, bigots, racists, right-wing nuts...

1-800-603-5701
"You won't know XANGO,
until you take a SHOT!"
 
Joyce Utterback is just a "little ol' hometown gal", born on Main Street at the old Arab Hospital.  She graduated from Brewer High School in Florette in 1988.

Birthday: July 3

Family:  Her  first and only marriage was to Tony in July 2000.  Their honeymoon trip was to Graceland.  Joyce is an Elvis fanatic.  Her son Justin, 18, is a senior at Arab High School;
Keith is 13.  He lives in Huntsville and attends Challenger Middle School.




First job: Besides babysitting, Joyce worked at Kmart in Decatur just out of high school.  She hates those blue light commercials on TV.

Last job: Before working at the radio station, Joyce worked at Pepper's Cafe in Arab.

Job history:  Joyce has worked at electronic manufacturing plants, has done data entry for the Morgan County Board of Education, and was a store and deli manager.  She worked in the office of a glass shop and at a telemarketing call center.  She also was a floral designer, a fork lift driver, a waitress and worked in quality control.

Favorite music:  Joyce can listen to most anything except a solid hour of The Beatles.  

Hobbies:  Loves to people-watch and find celebrity lookalikes.  She once spotted a minature Billy Bob Thorton at Arab's Dairy Queen.  Joyce also enjoys crossword and other word puzzles, sewing, crafting, spending time with her mama and sister, reading, flea markets, going to old cemetaries, and just relaxing at home.

Favorite author:  Stephen King

Favorite Movies: She could watch "To Wong Foo - Thanks for everything Julie Newmar" and "Sneakers" over and over again.

Favorite Disney character:  "Lucifer", the cat from Cinderella.  Joyce has a stuffed version sitting atop her computer monitor at her desk.

Tattoos: Three - a tiger/butterfly on her back, a man with stars on her left ankle, and angel wings with three halos on the back of her left shoulder.  

Piercings: Two - the right, inner ear cartilage and her belly button.

Pet Peeve:  Rude people.

Favorite sport to watch:  Dallas Cowboys football.

Favorite comedians: Billy Cosby and Jeff Dunham.

Favorite TV shows: All of the Law & Order series, Ghost Hunters, Miami Ink and General Hospital.  She actually feigned being sick to stay home from school on the day Luke and Laura were married.

Most people don't know:  "I used to be extremely shy.   When I was in grade school, I just wanted to be left alone and not have any attention turned in my direction.  That changed when I became a teenager and I got my 'attitude' and my 'I don't care what other think' mentality.  That hasn't stopped since."

Ed Brown 
Weekdays
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Saturdays
6:00 a.m. to Noon

Special Features
Beatles Lunch
Fridays Noon-1:00 p.m.
The FUN way to work the day away
"Downtown" Ed Brown keeps up the pace for the rat race, serving up an hour-long, request-filled FUN lunch.  Featuring hourly CNN updates and WHNT Channel 19 James-Paul Dice weather reports.
Birthday:  April 29

First big break in radio:  Being go-fer for local Top 40 at age 15

Dream car:  Original 1955 T-Bird (like Perry Mason used to drive)

Nicest celebrity you ever met:  In my biz you meet people constantly. They're all fantastic.
Some who come to mind... Tina Turner, Robert Palmer, 98 Degrees, John Mellencamp, Mavis Staples, Chris Issak, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Avril Lavigne, Donna Summer, Kylie Minogue.

Biggest influence:  Classic Soul Music

Favorite weekend activity:  Anything outdoors.

Favorite Beatle:  John

Favorite Actors/Actresses:  Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton.
Favorite ice cream flavor:  Chocolate

Deceased person I wish I’d met:  My Grandfather

Favorite phrase:  Here's your paycheck

Favorite sport:  Baseball

Favorite subject in school:  English

Favorite movie:  Spinal Tap

Favorite TV shows:  Sopranos, Law & Order, West Wing, anything on HGTV and DIY

Favorite hobby:  Music

Biggest pet peeve:  Waiting

Favorite city:  Anyplace I'm at
Bobby Knight 
Weekdays
2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Saturdays
Noon to 4:00 p.m.
The man of about "two dozen voices" Bobby Knight takes you home with the Drive at 5, CNN updates and WHNT Channel 19 James-Paul Dice weather reports.  Visit Bobby's new website:  
Birthday:  May 23

First Big Break in Radio:  The overnight DJ at WCAO in Baltimore at the tender age of 20

Dream Car:  One that's paid for...

Nicest celebrity you've ever met:
Most have been pretty nice....it's the jerks who stand out.

Biggest influence:  Johnny Walker who did mornings at WFBR in Baltimore.  The longer I'm in radio, the more I realize what a creative
genius the guy was...

Favorite weekend activity:  Sleeping.

Favorite sport:  A toss-up between ice
hockey and thoroughbred racing

Favorite movie:  Hmmm.  Either Citizen  Kane or Police Academy 6
Favorite TV shows:  I'm a sitcom addict.  I loved the first four seasons of M*A*S*H.
I'm also a fan of Night Court, Becker and Newhart.

Favorite hobby:  Thoroughbred racing!  Over
the years I've been part-owner of several horses.  I bought a yearling filly that we named Predator's Pride and she races regularly.  

Biggest pet peeve:
Bad manners, especially people who don't use their turn signals!
Beau Richards 
Weekdays
7:00 p.m. to Midnight
Night time is a FUN time
Beau is one of the nation's premiere air talents with #1 ratings in five of the top ten markets in America.  Featuring all your FUN favorites plus the 70s at 7

.
Beau and his family with The Beach Boys



Saturday
Night



 The Mike Harvey Show
Saturday
7:00 p.m. to Midnight
The Greatest Hits of All Time - By Request
Rockin' the world, it's SUPER GOLD,
the all-request, nationally syndicated Oldies show hosted by Mike Harvey, featuring the "Greatest Hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s".

America's longest-running weekend show, SuperGold continues to lead the way and set the pace for the ongoing evolution of the Oldies/Classic Hits formats!

This 6-hour show is the nation's Oldies “house-party”.







Sundays are FUN days


Sunday  
6:00 - 10:00 a.m.
  Dick Clark's
Everything old is new again with Dick Clark.  Now in its 20th year, its a peek at the music and the artists that changed our lives with America's oldest teenager.
Sunday
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

The legendary Steve Goddard opens the vault on another spotlight artist and presents their music and story in three music-filled hours.
Sunday
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Explore the coolest decade in pop culture history as Gary Bryan captures the far-out vibe of the 60s.  Gary takes an entertaining, retrospective look at the most influential
decade of the 20th century. Go inside the movies, television shows and even the recording studios.
Sunday
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Bob Mayben, aka "Bobaloo" on the radio for as long as we can remember, is an admitted oldies
"nut".  Gather around the radio in the living room and remember the feel, the sound and the memories
of a much simpler time. A time when gas was cheap, cars were fast, and your biggest problem in life was - what cha doin' Saturday night???
Sunday
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Elvis is in the building with Boston radio veteran Jay Gordon.  Internationally recognized authority on the life and music of Elvis, Jay spearheaded the Elvis postage stamp campaign.
 
Sunday
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Citizen Bill Rutherford invites listeners to
journey back to the 50s and 60s as he presents "the music that time forgot", featuring the story behind the Forgotten Hits Two-Sided Hits courtesy of Kent Kotal's Forgotten Hits newsletter, available to email.  To subscribe to the newsletter, click on the Forgotten Hits link and tell him that Citizen Bill sent you.  
Send your song request or dedication by e-mail to Citizen Bill by

Sunday
8:00 - Midnight
It's the classic oldies countdown show based on the original Billboard "Hot 100" charts from  
the 50s and 60s with Radio Hall-of-Famer Dick Bartley.      

Fun Stuff 

TRUE?  
OR URBAN LEGEND?  
Before you forward a crazy email to your friends, it's easy to check whether it's true or just another urban legend by going to this website:
Redneck
or
Yankee Doodle
Dandy?
You'll go bananas over this at-work internet time killer
click on picture
FREE 411/Information Service
1-800-FREE-411
or 1-800-373-3411
Call is free except for minutes required to make the call if you're using a cell phone.
Is there a convicted sex offender living in your neighborhood?  

Visit this website.  

Enter your address for map of your area.  All the little colored boxes are convicted sex offenders.  Color coding key indicates what type of crime. Click on a box and see name, address & picture of the person along with his crime.

http://www.familywatchdog.us/Search.asp
BLOCK YOUR CELL PHONE NUMBER FROM TELEMARKETERS
Cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls. Call the National Do Not Call Registry at 1-888-383-1222 to have your number blocked.  You must call from the number you wish to block, so make the call from your cell phone.  Your number will be blocked for 5 years.  If you can't call from the cell number, go to the web site:  DoNotCall.gov
Jell-O is made of what!
Ever wondered about what's really in hair coloring, Silly Putty, Cheese Wiz, artificial snow or self-tanners?  This collection of articles gives you a look at the chemistry behind a wide variety of everyday products.

CAN YOU RAED TIHS?
Olny srmat poelpe can.
I cdnuol't blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter byistlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
With our morning newspaper...
The Fun House is the inspiration for many creative moments by Frank Self of Hanceville.  An avid listener, he often includes a poem with the delivery of their morning Birmingham News and Cullman Times newspapers.  Here's a sampling of his poetry:


There is somthing I really like
That's cruising under a full moon
So tomorrow we won't get to hear Mike
I'm sure he'll be back soon
Now Susan has something up her sleeve
It will be good I do believe
but we'll just have to wait and see
If Susan can make the day for you and me

Inspired by the Word of the Day - "slugabed", Frank said, "I woke up this afternoon about 2:00 and this was bouncing off the rocks in my head.  I don't know if I dreamed it or not but it ruined a good nap".
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I am a slugabed
I hope this doesn't matter to you
I sleep all day
As though I am dead
If there was another way
I wouldn't change because I'm lazy
After all the reasons and excuses have been said
Most people think I'm just crazy
But it just feels good being a slugabed

This verse comes from a discussion about the Chia Chair, cousin of the Chia Pet:
It wouldn't matter if you are a lady or a dude
It would be a real tickler sitting in a Chia Chair nude