J Michael Wilson

Announcer 1960-61

J Michael Wilson began his career at KATI in 1960-61 and was a student of English teacher George Schell. With the help of friend and KATI DJ Sarge McClintock, Wilson left for KOOK in Billings in 1962. After spending about a year in Montana, J Mike and his sidekick “Rodney the Rodent” moved on to Peoria, Illinois and later to powerhouse station KOMA in Oklahoma City.

Wilson’s career in radio took him to several large markets in Detroit, Toronto, Denver, Boston, Cleveland, Buffalo, Washington DC and many others beginning in the 60’s and into the 90’s. A full bio is listed below. J Michael Wilson was one of the most successful announcers that got their start in Casper at KATI. J Mike was famous for his creation of “Rodney the Wonder Rodent”.

I wish we had an aircheck for J Michael Wilson from KATI during his time here, but none are available. We have several examples of his imagination and creativity below. He was the best!

Photo Courtesy: Scott Westerman & Kenner13.com

J Michael Wilson Bio Info

Warren Cosford ([email protected]) says, “…Unusual guy. He had a character on his show called Rodney Rodent. It was actually Michael speeded up. During the record, he’d record his rodent bit. Then the Op would insert a “capstan enlarger” which would play it back at a faster speed a la The Chipmunks. Most of the bits had Michael talking to Rodney live (which was, of course, himself recorded earlier). Quite an ‘art’ considering that literally all of the bits ran over the intro to records and in those days there were very few ‘sweeps’. Only the best Ops could work with Michael.”

Stations Worked For:

KATI [Casper WY] 1961

KOOK [Billings MT] 1962

WIRL [Peoria IL] 1962

KOMA [Oklahoma City OK] 1963

KBTR [Denver CO] 1965

WKNR [Detroit MI] 1966

CHUM [Toronto ON] 1968

WGR [Buffalo NY] 1970

CKFH [Toronto] 1970

WMEX [Boston MA] 1972

WRC [Washington DC] 1972