A cold day in December stole the final breath from one of Charleston’s most beloved radio personalities. Michael Edward Chambers, mic name Mike Edwards, was much more than the program director of Mix 95.9 WMXZ-FM, he was “the Guy.”
The heartbreaking news of Edwards’ untimely death at 53, later ruled to be a heart attack, shocked the local airwaves. For many, Edwards was the first voice Charlestonians heard in the morning when they cranked the dial to his station. He was a friendly and familiar voice on your morning commute to work. To those who knew Edwards the best, he was “Just Plain Mike.”
Edwards, who was born in Charleston, West Virginia, would ironically end up making a life in Charleston, South Carolina. His love for radio began at the ripe age of 14 at a small community station back home. Edwards started as the program director of 95SX in 1994 and in 1999 joined Mix 95.9. He would go on to be a multi-year winner of “Charleston’s Best Of” Radio Morning Show and Local Radio Personality awards, according to Charleston Media Solutions.
Before the dawn of a new millennium, Edwards launched the morning show “Two Girls & a Guy.” The concept was intended to be interchangeable: a rotating cast featuring the everyday lives and pitfalls of a mom, a party girl and a guy. What it produced was a powerful trio named Mike, Brooke and Tanya. It was more than a hit. It was a family.
After a nationwide search auditioning for the role, Edwards hired Brooke Ryan for one main reason: she was polarizing. “You got just as much hate mail as you got love mail,” Ryan laughed.
Tanya Brown, on the other hand, doesn’t even come from the radio industry and now she’s arguably the best audio editor in the building. With a degree in accounting, Brown was hired as the accounts receivable manager. Her career path changed when she met Edwards, who found her sweet and hysterical. Brown told her then-husband that she was chosen for the show because of her sense of humor. He told her she wasn’t funny enough. Now they’re happily divorced and she’s living her dream job.
“Mike always had such an ability to scout talent,” said Ryan, who also served as assistant program director and music director. “He had a way of managing that didn’t make you feel like you were being put down, it was always to make you better, it was always for the bigger vision.”
The gang officially united on the show in 2007 and then reunited in 2014 after Ryan returned from a stint in corporate radio in Washington, D.C. The next 10 years was a decade of an unbreakable and unconditional radio love story.
Although Edwards was technically their boss, Ryan and Brown saw him as their little brother. He loved to get on their nerves by randomly scaring them for no God-given reason. One of his favorite pranks was to lie in wait behind the door and pretend that you hit him in the face as you walked into the room. It was startling, aggravating and unapologetically Edwards, who is infamously known for his phone scams with listeners. He was a clown in the best ways possible.
However, when Edwards was mad at you, you knew it. Brown recalled a time when she accidentally blurted out the answer to a contest giveaway in which you had to name the artist of a song. Clearly, she knew the singer of the song. There’s nothing more awkward than a long period of silence on the radio. After a cigarette break and a laugh things cooled down. For the record, the answer was Eddie Grant.
“I didn’t realize how much I loved him until I lost him,” mused Brown. “It haunts me every day.”
Edwards was known for dressing sharply. One day, he decided to try dressing more casually. It was by far one of the worst shows on air. Since then, he was never caught wearing anything other than a suit and tie.
As big as Edwards’ personality shone through on the air, off the air he was rather shy and reserved. He spent his free time perfecting his passion. Radio was his love language. He was also a staunch supporter of the Charleston Animal Society and Charleston Pride Week.
“He was in a full-blown relationship with radio,” Ryan said.
After shows, Edwards would force Ryan and Brown to leave the office and go live their lives while still on the clock. He did this because in order to be interesting you have to be cultured and that required leaving the studio to experience things firsthand and find stories to tell. They would all even go on vacation together. Edwards was perhaps the coolest boss that ever lived.
“Some people get intimidated by giving other people knowledge, power and teaching them their ways of their success,” Ryan added. “That was never him.”
Edward’s distinctive voice, infectious laugh, witty personality and sarcastic humor were all second to none. He had the innate ability to make all his listeners feel like family and he was able to impact many by being authentically himself.
“Mike was an amazing person, beloved by his coworkers, listeners and our entire organization and will be truly missed by those fortunate to have crossed his path,” shared Charleston Radio Group President Paul O’Malley.
By Zach Giroux
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