Remembering Bill Michaels: Towpath Radio DJ and Toledo Radio Veteran

It’s with great sadness I report to you that Bill (Nagucki) Michaels, 98.7 Towpath Radio’s midday personality on Thursdays and Fridays, has passed away. Late Sunday morning I took a call from Bill’s mother, who broke the news that he passed peacefully in his sleep.

I’ve come to know Bill fairly well over the years as I grew up listening to him on Toledo’s 92.5 Kiss FM in the ‘90s, competed against his station in the early 2000s, worked under his leadership in Northern Michigan, and finally got the chance to create a no-stress platform that he could have fun on from 2020 up until now.

Understand my definition of friend, or how I interact with my friends, is true to every introvert: we talk a few times a month via text, a few times a year via phone, and we see each other in person maybe once every few years—always picking up where we left off. I’m happy to say Bill was more than a co-worker or manager, he was a friend. He was always very supportive of my morning show in Northern Michigan, encouraging my partner Heather and I to just have fun and “do good radio.” When Bill came on board, he made us feel like rockstars, and, as typically happens, handled my ego very well. I really got to know Bill in Northern Michigan as it was common for all of us to meet up for drinks on the weekend, roll our eyes about upper management, and talk radio memories. Two things on that: I’ve never seen anyone take so many bullets from upper management as Bill. We were a small mom-and-pop operation, and the owner always had (what seemed to be) outlandish requests and commentary, but Bill handled it well. My second point—radio history. Bill was radio history.

I first knew about Bill when I was growing up and discovered radio in the ‘90s. Bill was hosting the night show on 92.5 Kiss FM. He and the afternoon DJ, Johnny D, would take live calls every night as they switched shifts between 6:45pm and 7:00pm. People would rip them and they would bite back—it was 15 to 20 minutes of talk on a pop radio station, something unheard of outside of morning drive, but it worked. Easily the funniest radio I’ve ever heard to this day. Keep in mind, ‘90s radio in Toledo was at its heyday with this group. You had Denny Schaffer at the peak of his game with the Breakfast Club, Randi West on middays, Johnny D on afternoons, Bill Michaels on nights, and Russ Ryder on overnights. I honestly believe this was the last great complete lineup of personalities in Toledo radio before budget cuts, voice tracking, and syndication took over.

I went from idolizing Bill to disliking Bill—not personally, but professionally. I got hired into my first radio job at Star 105 around 2001. Bill was the face of our competition because at this point he was running things at (what was then) Clear Channel Toledo. They had the most powerful stations in Northwest Ohio and some of the biggest heritage brands like 104.7 WIOT, 92.5 Kiss FM, 1370 WSPD, and 101.5 The River. Our stations at Cumulus were good, but not as powerful. Each of their stations had 50,000 watts and a ton of heritage. We were pea shooters compared to them. Anyway, Bill and Denny were the ones we wanted to beat. Under some great management we came close and gave them a run for their money, but those stations always stayed on top. Bill was great at maintaining a strong brand.

Around 2003 I quit Star 105 and took a job in Saginaw that lasted only 9 months. Looking for work, one of my mentors from Star 105 had just taken a job at Tower 98, which had a new Toledo tower and a new focus on the Toledo market. With no hesitation I took the night DJ job when offered and had a blast. Again, it was down with Bill and his soldiers! And again, we gave them a run for their money but it just wasn’t enough. My station retreated back to Monroe and I left again for new work.

After taking a job in Idaho for a year, I took another in Northern Michigan at the iconic 106 WKHQ. I was hired in as morning host with Heather Leigh and eventually program director. After a couple of years I went to management and expressed how badly I wanted to focus on just mornings and that I would love to shed the PD stripes. They asked if I had anyone in mind. BILL!! In radio, keeping a job for more than 5 years is a blessing. Bill somehow managed to hang on at Clear Channel for what I believe was close to 20 years (if not more), working his way up to Operations Manager. But as everyone in radio sees, they eventually find themselves on the outs.

So, seeing how Bill was brilliant with maintaining heritage stations, I called him and he was more than thrilled with the idea of coming up to Northern Michigan to run our cluster of stations. I was convinced when he saw our operation he would turn right back around. It wasn’t terrible, but it was very small-town. Bill was used to polished corporate radio. We were feral. HE TOOK THE JOB!!! I was able to focus on mornings, Bill re-invented himself, and was able to execute the big picture, and we were able to work in tandem to help keep KHQ firing on all cylinders. It was a great time in radio and an absolute blessing to work with Bill as closely as I did. We also had a tight-knit staff, very young, and if I had to guess it may have reminded him of his early days at 92.5 Kiss FM. I think back to this time in radio as one of my favorites (though of course you don’t realize it at the time).

I left a few years later for a larger city and better pay. It was a great time, but I saw the writing on the wall with radio and I wanted out on my terms. I started taking courses unrelated to radio at the local community college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and eventually was hired into a county job in Northwest Ohio. I got to be around family, buy a house, and eventually settle in. Around this time Bill had also had an opportunity to run Cumulus Toledo, the very stations I worked at competing with him in the early 2000s. One of the issues with Cumulus is they run through people like coffee runs through grandpa.

It was around 2020, maybe a bit later, when I had started Towpath Radio. At this time I was running it out of my den until I eventually built a small studio in my barn. I had realized that the technology that had come around in the last 5 years I was away from radio was so good that local DJs could actually do their shows from their own studios, eliminating the drive to Grand Rapids (Ohio this time). After a bit I saw again that Bill was on the outs. I reached out to Bill and told him about the Towpath Radio project. “Look, it’ll make no money but people like us need this,” is basically what I told him. We weren’t put on this Earth to sell insurance, work at factories, sell cars, or anything else… we were put here to entertain and “do good radio.” Bill thought about it and, with more excitement, agreed. The project has never made money other than paying for itself, but every week on Thursdays and Fridays you could hear the excitement in Bill’s voice as he spoke about community events, walked up intros of songs, and continued to do what he was meant to do… be a radio personality.

My last conversation with Bill was a good one. We spoke about Towpath Radio on 98.7 and the rules and regulations of our type of license. I know it sounds lame, but for two radio nerds it was a fun conversation. It was a great friendship as I always felt lucky to have Bill on Towpath Radio, yet didn’t want to be a thorn in his side, and he was taking Towpath Radio as seriously as he had taken any other broadcast job.

It sounds weird, but I think this is the connection we have with our local radio and TV personalities. I felt like I “knew” Bill since I was a kid. I grew up listening to him, I competed against him, I worked with him, and got to do this fun project with him. He had been in my life in some way, shape, or form since I was 14. That’s pretty wild to think about.

This came out a bit longer than I thought it would, but I think it speaks volumes about a man, a professional, and the power of good radio talent. I can tell you this: there’s going to be some damn good radio on the other side for all of us.

You can read Bill’s obituary and get details on his Friday service here.

Listen to the 98.7 Towpath Radio tribute to Bill here.

-Josh