Great Review of "Doin the Cruise"

Tom Lounges of the Northwest Indiana Times has a great piece in the paper this week about Mitch Michaels' Eckhartz Press book "Doin the Cruise". You can read the entire piece here. Below is a short excerpt...

DJ Mitch Michaels was at the center of the Chicago radio scene during what many consider “the magical years” from the mid-'70s to the late-'80s, logging air time on most every major Windy City radio signal.

During his nearly 50 years behind the microphone, Michaels helped to launch two top local stations, WXRT-FM and WKQX-FM, and he was part of the WLUP-FM (The Loop) "dream team" during the station's late-'70s/early-'80s heyday.

Earlier this month, Chicago-based Eckhartz Press released a well-written memoir of Michaels' journey across the dial, aptly titled "Doin' The Cruise: Memories Of A Lifetime in Radio and Rock & Roll."

"I fell in love with rock and roll, more specifically rock and roll radio, at a very young age and that love has lasted my entire lifetime," said Michaels, who just celebrated his sixth anniversary hosting the weekday afternoon drive on WERC-FM 95.9 The River in Aurora.

Michaels is old-school and defines the term "radio personality" as he tells stories and becomes your surrogate friend on the other side of the dial, the voice you turn to when you need company and want to share a memory or two. Michaels does more than say — "That was ..." and "This is ..."

"I live the music. I tell listeners about the bands, the ins and outs of the music, share a story about the song or something about a concert by that artist I attended years ago. I don’t just talk at my listeners, I talk to them," Michaels said. "I hang out with them and rock right along with everyone who’s listening, because what it all comes down to really is we're all the same. We’re all just fans."