A La Crosse area radio show host who took over a show started by his father in 1948 is leaving the show after 44 years.
Mike Kearns said he remembered being on the air at WKTY for the first time with his dad on Christmas Day in 1959. He was seven years old.
He doesn’t remember exactly what his first words over the air were, but he guessed it was “Merry Christmas.”
Kearns signed off the Lead Balloon Show on Dec. 23.
“I don’t think a station could lose an on air person and have it be a bigger impact than Mike retiring from the Lead Balloon Show,” Mid-West Family Broadcasting’s production manager Ken Cooper said.
Throughout December, Kearns toured the area as an unofficial sendoff and celebrated his last show surrounded by friends and family.
Kearns will continue calling high school sports games as he has done since he was 20 years old with his father.
“He was very proud of what his dad, the legacy of the Lead Balloon Show and doing games,” longtime friend and color man of 18 years, Scott Erickson said of Mike. “It was tough, but being able to follow in his footsteps, that helped.”
Kearns and his father were inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame together in 2009 – the only father-son tandem to be inducted together.
“The tradition that Charlie started and Mike continued in the La Crosse market epitomizes what local broadcasting is all about,” WBA President and CEO, Michelle Vetterkind, said. “They have truly made a difference in the lives of so many people.”
Mike isn’t sure when he plans on retiring completely from radio. He still enjoys calling games.
But with his added free time, he definitely plans to make the most of it with his high school sweetheart Dawn, their two children Patrick and Erin and, of course, his three grandchildren Rylie, Reagan and Rory.
Dave Carney and Matt Skradie took over mornings at WKTY on Dec. 27.
