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Morning radio has seen its share of shock jocks. Howard Stern, Don Imus, and Opie and Anthony are just a few morning DJs who've achieved infamy. The Jeff and Jer Morning Showgram and Dave, Shelley and Chainsaw, while not exactly like Stern's and Imus' shows but they've been mainstays in the San Diego market for decades.
In its brief history in San Diego, The Mikey Show has been rated first among 18-to-40-year-old males. There are billboards with Esparza's likeness alongside freeways in San Diego proclaiming, "Addict," "Christian" and "Neurotic." The show has been a relatively fast success in its first four years-which seems to have coincided with the transformation of its namesake.
Michael "Mikey" Esparza was the third child in a military household. His family moved around when he was growing up . Esparza had a rocky childhood. An incident at age 5 left him with shame and low self-esteem that would affect his decision-making into adulthood. He lost faith in the beliefs his parents instilled in him through the Catholic Church. He had a strained relationship with his parents, and in his teenage years he rebelled.
After Esparza missed a substantial number of classes in his senior year, one of ' his teachers informed him he wouldn't have enough credits to graduate. Rather than waste his time, Esparza dropped out of high school. His parents then kicked him out of the house to fend for himself.
Esparza moved from northern California to Tucson, Ariz., to live with his brother. There he earned his GED and got a job working at a local radio station. He was a board operator for the overnight shift, which gave him experience with the mixing console.
In his downtime, he'd prank call other radio stations with different voice impressions. Esparza became a regular caller to Robert Foster's radio show. His proficiency was such that Foster recommended him for a job. Little did Foster know Esparza would eventually take his job.
In keeping with his nomadic lifestyle growing up in a military household, Esparza moved from one station to the next. Each stop was an opportunity for experience, networking and refinement. In 2002 Esparza had a nationally syndicated show out of Dallas. This success afforded him a large home, a handsome paycheck and fame. In a posting on his website, Esparza said, "Women seemed to like me, which fueled my fragile ego. My friends were in rock bands that played both small clubs and giant stadiums. People wanted to know me, and I was aware of it. I was cunning and manipulative and full of hatred for almost everyone."
His lifestyle took a toll on his body. His drinking was quickly becoming out of control. "I would drink to the point of getting sick, then throw up and drink again," he said in a recent phone interview.
Esparza had become a "shock jock." His show regularly used audio clips of marijuana bong hits. The simulated bubbling sound elicited both criticism and ratings. Controversy erupted in July 2002, when he commented on the case of a recently kidnapped teenager who had chewed through her duct tape bindings. In response, he had quipped, "That's why I don't use duct tape. That's why I use nylon rope." His comments put his critics over the edge.
Eddie Pappani, one of Esparza's co-workers and longtime friends, said in a recent interview, "Anything can be taken out of context and put into print and look kind of sketchy. We all felt bad about it but we weren't trying to be too sensational."
Critics complained to the FCC and encouraged advertisers to pull their sponsorship of the show. Clear Channel, which owned the station that carried his show, suspended Esparza.
Upon returning to the show, Esparza unrelentingly carried on in his brand of humor. In response to R&B singer R. Kelly's run-in with the law and an alleged statutory rape caught on video, Esparza wrote a song parody titled "The Statutory Rape Song." While the song wasn't meant to be taken seriously, the lyrics were deemed inappropriate by community action groups like Concerned Women for America. Esparza's dry and dark humor fell on deaf ears. Critics overwhelmed Clear Channel with complaints. Esparza was fired.
The humbled team took a large pay cut and moved to the night shift at San Diego's Rock 105.3. Esparza, Pappani and Rick Johnson relocated, taking refuge in a San Diego hotel room while they forged ahead with their new program.
Shortly thereafter, Esparza was offered a morning show in San Jose. Esparza's reputation had been compared to that of Howard Stern. This was considered a success in the industry. But still, Esparza thought the show needed to be different. Gone were the strippers, the sex talk, and the callous attitude. He couldn't carry on with the same format for his show.
Pappani and others were skeptical. Sky, a newer show member, seemed thrilled.
The changes proved successful, as the show's ratings for its demographic were just behind Howard Stern and two Spanish-language programs in San Jose.
The show was doing well, and yet Esparza was drinking all the more. As his drinking increased, his focus on his work began to wane.
"Had a hard time focusing," says Pappani. "He was going through so much stuff in his personal life I don't think the show was one of his priorities."
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