About Our Staff
George Botos
Sales Manager
gcbotos@truenorthradionetwork.com
George is from East Tawas and has worked in radio advertising sales for more than 20 years. An avid sports fan and high school coach, George attended Tawas Area Schools and Saginaw Valley State University. He shares his life with his fiance’ Kelly and children Christian, Jared, Emily, and Andrew.
Brian Wave Morning Show Host & Production Dept.
brian@truenorthradionetwork.com
Brian loves Northern Michigan…especially fishing with his beautiful wife, Tina, and their children, Karlee and Hunter. Brian is a graduate of both Alpena High School and Alpena Community College.You can catch Brian, along with his trusty sidekick Ray, weekday mornings from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM playing the “Greatest Hits of All Time” on 99.9 The Wave. Brian says, “We play loads of great music, check out the news with Phil, find out what’sgoing on with the weather, play a little trivia, oh and we cook. Nothing better than cooking up something crazy like dilly taters’ at 6:45 in the morning!!!!”
He always keeps you up-to-date on silly things going on in the news and lets you know what’s going on in and around Northern Michigan.
As head of TNRN’s production department, Brian is responsible for writing and assigning many of the commercials you hear on 107.7 The Bay, 99.9 The Wave, and 100.7 Thunder Country
Mary G.Office/Traffic Manager
traffic@truenorthradionetwork.com
Mary G. has been True North Radio Network’s office and traffic manager for fifteen years. A Northern Michigan native, Mary grew up an “Air Force Brat”. In 1981 she got married and became an “Air Force Wife”. After a lifetime of living on Air Force bases around the country, Mary and her husband moved back to Michigan in 1992. Their family grew to include three children and four grandchildren.
Mary was hired April 25, 1994 by True North Radio Network. She has many job duties–billing, entering of all sales contracts, accounts receivable, accounts payable, preparing commercial logs and phone answering, just to name a few.
In her spare time, Mary enjoys spending as much time as possible with her children and grandchildren. Her hobbies include playing Bingo and watching many sporting events (Nascar Racing, Pistons, Lions, Red Wings…and others), as well as watching her own children play sports.
“I love working for True North Radio Network and enjoy being with my work family five days a week. After 14 years together, it’s like a home away from home.”
Phil HeimerlNews Director
news@truenorthradionetwork.com
Phil moved to Alpena in August of 2001 from a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up in a small town, about 45 miles northwest of Milwaukee. When not attending meetings, investigating story leads, or giving 107.7 the Bay’s Darrell Kelly a hard time each morning, Phil enjoys sports, antiquing, traveling, and sitting poolside.
General Manager / Morning Show Host
dkelly@truenorthradionetwork.com
True North Radio Network’s General Manager, Darrel has been in radio for almost 30 years. He graduated from Alpena High School and has a degree in electronics from the Cleveland Institute of Electronics. Besides fulfilling his duties as General Manager of TNRN, Darrel does the morning show with Phil Heimerl on 107.7 the Bay. He enjoys getting his listeners up and ready for another day each morning.
Darrel has spent his entire life in Alpena and enjoys the quality of life in Northeast Michigan. He has been married to Marcia for over 20 years and has 2 daughters, Ali and Ami, a dog “Zoey” and a cat “Kitty”. His hobbies include golf, helping out at the high school with basketball games, watching his daughters play various sports, and playing with the pets. Darrel decided in grade school that he wanted to be on the radio and still feels like a kid when he is on the air.
Ray McDadeWave Morning Show Sidekick and News Writer and Photographer
thewave@truenorthradionetwork.com
Ray McDade grew up in Alpena listening to powerhouse radio stations like CKLW and WLS and has loved the whole radio experience ever since. His hobbies include photography, outdoor activities, and spending summer days at Lake Avalon. Listen to Ray in the morning on 99.9 The Wave!
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Colleen PooleSenior Account Executive
cpoole@truenorthradionetwork.com
With an associates degree in the Arts and English, it only makes sense that Colleen has found her niche in the media industry. As a radio sales representative for over 20 years, it’s her creativity, problem solving ability, and tenacious nature that empowers Colleen to produce results for her clients. She believes that being a good listener not only provides valuable business information towards the solution, it is also very enjoyable to learn about her customers.
Mark RobertsSound Board Operator
Mark is a graduate of Alpena High School and Alpena Community College and a soon-to-be graduate of Baker College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Mark’s love of music and the radio business comes naturally as his mother is a retired elementary music teacher and his brother is a recording artist whose Christian rock band just played at the Cherry Festival in Traverse City.
Mark keeps extremely busy with his wood manufacturing business of 25 years, his part-time construction business, studies, and helping out at the radio station when needed. He has been married for over 15 years and has four active children, a dog named Molly, four cats, and a horse named Sally. His spare time is spent remodeling his home and running the kids to their activities which include karate, dance, bowling, golf, basketball, and soccer.
You can catch Mark running the sound board for sports events and remotes and helping out during the summer concerts at the band shell. Mark loves playing the WILDCAT GROWL! GRRRRR!
Be sure to tune in!
Steve SpeaksOutdoors Reporter
A retired Alpena Public Schools teacher who taught for 33 years, Steve Speaks is been exploring the wilds of Northern Michigan since first visiting the area from his native central Ohio in the late 1950’s.
As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Steve and his wife Ann moved to Northern Michigan in 1960 and have called the area home ever since. They raised their five children— Ray, Scott, Stephanie, Heidi, and Sarah—here and enjoy showing their eleven grandchildren (number 12 is on the way in February, 2009) the wonder that Northern Michigan has to offer.
Steve and Ann have lived in the same house for their entire tenure in the area and built a cottage in the early 1980’s on Presque Isle Point as their retreat from the “city life”. For Steve, fishing on Lake Huron occupies most of the spring through fall, with occasional fly-fishing jaunts on the upper reaches of the Thunder Bay River and the main stream of the Ausable River, upstream of Mio.
Winters usually find Steve ice fishing on Grand Lake with trips to the Fletcher Floodwater. This past year, Steve fished Lakes Erie, Huron, and the Wisconsin side of Michigan, not to mention the Tanneycomo Trailwaters near Branson, Missouri and the White River in Arkansas. Steve says, “It’s a tough life, but somebody has to do it.” Steve’s favorite kind of fishing is fly-fishing, but he spends most of his time trolling for Brown Trout and King Salmon. His favorite hunting is spring turkey hunting because the turkeys talk back, and as a teacher for thirty-five years, he got used to that!
Steve’s plans for the future are to avoid work, fish as much as possible, and enjoy his grandchildren.
Besides hunting and fishing, his hobbies include photography, camping, building, and travel.
(Steve and Ann have visited 47 states, with Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama yet to go.)
Steve has worked as True North Radio Network’s Outdoors Reporter since 1976 and we couldn’t imagine life at the station without him and his canine sidekick, Nelly.
107.7 The Bay Afternoon DJ
tim@truenorthradionetwork.com
Tim (or “Timmy Timmy Tom Tom” around the studio) grew up in Midland MI and graduated from Midland High School. Go Chemics! Tim then moved to Hubbard Lake, MI and decided that he wanted to become a DJ. He played music in taverns all across Northern Michigan before moving for a short while to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tim missed Michigan, so he moved back to pursue his dream of being on the radio.
Tim graduated from Specs Howard School of Media Arts Radio Program in May of 2010. After graduation, Tim moved back to Hubbard Lake, MI and started interning at True North Radio Network. TNRN soon learned they could not live without him and offered him a job doing the mid-day show on 107.7 The Bay.
Tim’s an avid sports guy. You name it he’ll watch it… but hockey rules all. Go Red Wings! He loves to fish, hunt, and just be outdoors. You can usually catch a glimpse of Tim in his natural habitat on Hubbard Lake in a boat or rooting for his beloved Ohio State Buckeyes.
Listen to Tim weekdays on 107.7 The Bay in Alpena, MI… right meow!
