Mike McKay was a DJ that I worked with at WABC. Mike started in 1979 after Harry Harrison, Chuck Leonard and George Michael were let goThanksgiving weekend, in what’s become known as the Thanksgiving Massacre at WABC. We started as co-workers and quickly became friends. I have fond memories of sitting on the board in 8A with him as we did Yankee games, including the night we decided to have a real baseball game experience and sent Angel Bourdon to the Joy Deli for beer and popcorn! Mike would come in, do the log as we engineered the game, and then after the game was over, he’d do a music show. Then there was the time that Mike, Sue Lee, and I traveled in a limo to do an interview with Kenny Rogers at the Meadowlands. I know we had a great time doing it, but for some reason, it never got on the air??

As I said, we quickly became friends, and Susie and I were guests at Mike and Nancy’s house in Malvern, Long Island, and they were guests in ours. That was where we discovered that Mike McKay was just his professional name. His real name was Jay Heavey.

In 1982, WABC Musicradio 77 became Talkradio 77, and Mike stayed on, working as a staff announcer alongside Johnny Donovan, but he was young and really wanted to be a DJ. In 1984 he left WABC and began his DJ trek around the country, with stops in Salt Lake City, Indianapolis and Detroit. Eventually he found a home in the Southwest and in 1997, he, Nancy, and their daughter Erin moved to El Paso, Texas, where he did voice over work, and became part owner of a station and their morning man.

In 2016 after both Susie and I were retired, we embarked on what we called our “Bucket List” trip, It turned out to be a 9 week trip across the United States, driving just under 10,000 miles. I’d posted a couple of stories about the trip, and Mike got in touch and wanted to know if we were going to be getting down their way. I told him we were, and that we already had hotel reservations, but he would hear nothing of it. He insisted that we stay with him and Nancy and be their guests. Susie and I spent several days in El Paso with Mike and Nancy, and it was like no time had passed. I will treasure the memories of that time with our friends that we first met a long time ago.

As I said in this blog in September of 2016, “We rang the doorbell and Nancy and Mike came and greeted us. Handshakes and hugs were exchanged (Mike and I hugged, while Nancy and Susie shook hands), and they invited us inside. The first thing that happened was we got a tour of their lovely house, found out that they were giving us their bedroom for the two nights, and then Mike started the blender and whipped up frozen margaritas. This relationship showed great promise. Drinks in hand, we adjourned to their lovely backyard, which has a pool and ultimate privacy. In minutes, it was like the last 30+ plus years had not happened, and we were all much younger, having fun in their old house in Malvern, Long Island! At one point, Nancy and Mike went in separate directions to make dinner preparations, and Susie looked at me and said, “this is good…very good,” and it was.

We had our first home-cooked meal in close to 5 weeks (Filet Mignon, Twice Baked Potatoes, Broccoli, and Bernaise sauce for the steaks), and it was a wonderful night of food, conversation, and great friendship (and semi-frozen Margaritas). We sat around the dining room table talking till almost midnight, when the 4 of us realized we’d better get to bed.” We later found out that Mike and Nancy also wondered if the relationship we had 30+ years earlier would still be there. The 4 of us were thrilled to learn it was!

As the title says, this is happening way too often as of late. Wednesday morning, I got a call from Mike’s wife Nancy who told me he went peacefully in his sleep, something she said he always wanted. He was a great radio guy, husband, father, and friend, and I will miss our interactions. As I said, it’s happening too often!

Nancy said she hopes to have a memorial in New York in the future.