Mike in the Night was an MC, a radio Engineer,a producer, a Remixer a Radio personality he earned
each and everyone of those titles with years of hard work and dedication ., but the title that I remember
him the most by is ” FRIEND” …..No hard work or dedication there…he was my friend ,naturally and
without effort he earned my trust, my respect, my love and admiration. He was hard headed and stubborn
,a little too frank at times ,but he was REAL. Real in an industry run by “Not so Real ” . people
He came alive behind the microphone ,a place where his looks ,his weight didn’t matter. Where he would
be judged solely on the sound of his voice and what he had to say. An unmistakable voice , heard by
hundreds of thousands of people on commercials, on the airwaves and from nightclubs all over Miami
since the early 80s. A voice that could inspire and motivate anyone who heard it ,to immediately get up
and dance. The nightclubs needed him , he WAS the party.
In 1995 he would produce the hit record ” Macarena ( Bayside Boys Remix )” on RCA records , allowing
him to construct a state of the art recording studio in West Miami. He follwed with hit ” Caliente”. and
continued to record countless of local and national artists , in many instances without charging studio time just to stay busy until the next radio gig popped up.
He was one of the youngest on air talents at legendary Miami radio station Super Q whose unique
format would be the model he would dream of using again someday on Miami’s airwaves. He recieved
that oppurtunity briefly for a few years on his return to radio after a few years absence on Miam’s Clasica
92.3 FM where he shot to the top of the ratings with unheard of numbers for a weekend show.The
happiest days of his life in my opinion. He was on top of his game . Programming “on the fly” playing the
music he wanted and knew Miami audiences craved but could not hear it anywhere. He manned the
controls at Salsa 98.3 FM on the weekends where we enjoyed a few years with a popular mix show
.After a financial dispute at one of the stations , his stubborn side got the better of him and he resigned ,it would be his last radio job before his untimely passing. He returned to the nightclubs as MC, vowing to return to radio under his terms,but the days of the ” RADIO PERSONALITY” was fading.
Replaced by minimum wage board operators with a few pre-programmed sentences here and there between
commercials and station IDs. On one of our 1 hour long drives to a nightclub we came up with the idea for
OPEN HOUSE RADIO .
“Cerrone, Leroy Gomez , Alec R Costandinos , Gloria Gaynor The Program slowly caught on .Stations in
New York,France, Brazil, Spain began playing the program. The program we created. Our bond grew
stronger.We would spend most of our ” production” time socializing and dreaming of ” What ifs” We
proved to each other that we could do it. The talent was there even though the jobs weren’t. We were
happy ,Open House Radio was ours . We often discussed the historical value of our programs as a
musical refrence to those years, delving deep into the Disco subculture almost as if studying religion or
the meaning of life itself. We had fun making those shows and looking back I preserved a little piece of
my friend in those 90+ shows that I selfishly kept here on Earth when he left.
I’ll be back making more Open House Radio shows. The way Mike used to, because when you love
something as much as we did ,it’s hard to stop.
Alex Gutierrez
By Mario M. Taboada
12-14-2012
The other night at Mikey Triay’s funeral, I chose not to speak publicly, but if I had, this is what I would have said. This is in memory of, and my tribute to a “bonanza” of a man.
I guess it’s only fitting that I point out that Mikey’s contributions to Radio were not limited to Programming, Music or Engineering. Mikey genuinely understood the “business” side of Radio…he embraced it and he enhanced it. Mikey was a true friend, and a very important allied of the Sales department. We in Sales loved him for that, we respected him and appreciated his efforts and enthusiasm. Mikey rarely said “no” to hosting a Remote or a Live Broadcast. He was always there when called upon to host a concert or event. You could always count on him to voice a commercial at a drop of dime, even when there was no compensation attached. He always gave it 100%. Mikey was always on time and he was always prepared. One thing was for sure, Mikey was going to do whatever it took to make the job-at-hand a success. And he was ready to do it again and again. It’s safe to say that Mikey significantly helped generate a lot of revenue for Radio over the years…and for that, Radio was better and many of us benefitted from it.
I’d like to share with all of you an anecdote that created a special bond between Mikey and I. A long, long time ago in TV land, there was a television series called “Bonanza”. It chronicled the lives of four brothers out in the Old West…they were the Cartwrights. There was this one brother… a strong and burly behemoth of a man, who was also very sensitive and naive at heart. He was like a child…a big teddy bear like Mikey. After working with Mikey for a while, back in the early eighties at Super Q, I approached him one day and asked him, “Mikey, you know that TV series, Bonanza?” He replied, “yes, why?” I said to him, “you remind me of one the characters on the program and if you don’t mind, out of respect, I’d like to call you “Hoss” from now on.” He was okay with that and from then
on, whenever I approached him and we were alone, I’d call him, ‘Hoss”. And if we were among other people, again out of respect, I would then refer to him as Mike or Mikey.Many of you, at one time or another probably shook Mikey’s hand. If so, I’m sure you felt the same way I did…this was a strong and mammoth hand. It certainly dwarfed mine. His grip was almost intimidating. Yet just as quick as you were impressed by the size of his hand, you were immediately comforted by the equally soft touch of his gentle and sincere soul. That was Mikey, he really was a gentle giant.
At the funeral, I noticed a common gesture by Mikey throughout the slide show presentation in memorium…a
simple sign that again well defines his character. In every slide, when Mikey was posing next to someone
“famous” or important…there was that “giant” hand again, this time serving as a “pointer” toward the other
person. It’s as if he was directing the attention away from himself…and indicating to all of us, like a child, that the person next to him was someone he respected, someone he admired or someone he approved of. This was another sign of how unselfish he was…just a simple kid in awe.Mikey, thank you for coming into our lives and adding a giant-size amount of contribution to Radio, and an equal-size amount of love to all of us.
“Good-bye, Hoss…I will miss you!”
Miss You …..Mikey….
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