In this excerpt from WYSO Weekend we learn more about WYSO's Morning Edition host, Mike Frazier, who talks about performing with Weird Al Yankovic, and performing improv with a local nonprofit group.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Jerry Kenney: You're listening to WYSO Weekend on 91.3 WYSO. I'm Jerry Kenney and very pleased to have an in-studio guest for this weekend. You know him as Mike Frazier, WYSO's Morning Edition local host. Mike, how are you?
Mike Frazier: I'm well. Thanks for bringing me on WYSO Weekend. First time.
Kenney: Yeah, so people have heard your reports or conversations with local agencies and organizations. Is that something you enjoy about the job, getting out and talking to people?
Frazier: I do because — and I think a lot of reporters can say the same thing — it's a way to learn something new about something that you never really had a reason to investigate otherwise. Yeah. And talking to people in the community and hearing how people are contributing to the community or contributing to their specialty, it's just a nice learning experience and just getting out and meeting people who all make the Miami Valley what it is.
Kenney: Are you native to this community, the Miami Valley?
Frazier: Born and raised in Riverside. I live in Kettering now. I've been living in Kettering now for about a little more than 30 years.
Kenney: I want to talk to you about how you got involved in the station. So how did you first find out about WYSO and public radio? And then how did you become involved?
Frazier: Well, I wanted to be a meteorologist initially as my first career path and then realized that I couldn't stomach the math required for meteorology, I decided to go into mass communications and I was working at a computer lab at Sinclair and there was a a guy there who hosted the Alpha Rhythms show actually back in the late '80s. And he told me, 'Yeah, I'm at this radio station.' I'm like, you work at a radio station? 'No, I volunteer there.' They take volunteers? 'Yeah, I'll give you the name of the guy who works there and you know, maybe he can set you up with something.'
And that was Brian Gibbons, who I believe was the program director at the time. I called him up and two weeks later I was a volunteer. I was on the air sharing an air shift for what is now Midday Music.
Kenney: So you were on the air right away.
Frazier: Yeah, which might have been a mistake because I was horrible, absolutely horrible. But eventually I got a little better.
Kenney: So we do these staff interviews so their listeners can get to know a little bit more about people, and we've certainly learned a great deal about you. But you have some side interests. You are in a picture on stage with Weird Al Yankovic. Can you tell us about that?
Frazier: Well, you can't tell it's me because I'm wearing a Star Wars stormtrooper costume. I belong in in a cosplaying group called the 501st, which is a group of people who dress in screen accurate Star Wars costumes, bad guys, Darth Vader, stormtroopers, Kylo Wren, and such. Weird Al Yankovic has done a few Star Wars parodies. And when he's on tour, he contacts our organization saying, ‘Hey, I'm going to be in this town, I'm going to be in that town. Can you gather up some of your local troops? We'll teach them a little dance routine, and they can perform on stage with us.’ And that's basically what happens. So we go on stage for about five minutes in front of thousands of people, do our little dance routine in our costumes, and that's what happened. So yeah, it's a lot of fun. You know, I got to meet Weird Al. He's nice guy, really nice guy, really appreciates us doing that. Yeah, so that's one of my weird hobbies.
Kenney: Another one is you do some improv because I know you've done that for a long time. I used to watch you actually on cable access on The Crazy Knights of Improv.
Frazier: Sorry about that.
Kenney: Good times. So you still do that occasionally.
Frazier: Yeah, I'm part of a group called Life Unscripted Improv, which is part of the Springboro Community Theatre. We do shows about four or five times a year. We actually have one coming up on Jan. 17, 2026, if I can plug that. We're a nonprofit organization. We do it for fun. Proceeds support the theater. We're an open troop, so if anybody wants to perform with us, they can come to our rehearsals and if they feel comfortable enough and funny enough, they can eventually end up on stage with our troupe.
Kenney: Yeah. How might they get a hold of you? Is there a a website for that group?
Frazier: Yes, it's BoroTheatre.org or you can Google Life Unscripted Improv. We're on Facebook too, maybe a few other social media places, so you can contact us that way.
Kenney: Mike Frazier, your local host for a morning edition on WYSO. It's been great to talk to you.
Frazier: Jerry, thank you.
