by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
Mike Cella is a talker. But as the morning host and assistant program director at AM-690, that’s a good thing.
“I like to talk to people,” Cella said. “When we go out, my wife tries to get me to leave 15 or 20 minutes early because she knows I will stay there and just talk to people.”
Cella, who could easily win an Alan Alda look alike contest, has been the host of AM-690’s morning show for a little more than a year. In May 2003, he moved to Jacksonville from Connecticut, where he also worked in radio.
“I was doing something similar in Norwalk, Conn. with Cox (Radio) when the opportunity to do some different things and get out of the cold came along,” he said.
Though he has lived most of his life in Connecticut, Cella said his relocation to Florida has been optimal.
“This was the perfect place to relocate to,” said Cella. “Jacksonville is very outdoor oriented. Almost every weekend there is something going on like a festival or a concert.”
He said Jacksonville’s many large bodies of water remind him of his previous home.
Cella has a crisp, yet conversational radio voice. He said contemporary radio personalities are using less of the typical deep, over-pronounced announcer type of voice and are becoming more day-to-day in their delivery.
“The greatest compliment is hearing people say, ‘You sound natural, just like you are sitting here talking to me,’ ” said Cella.
Though he doesn’t have to do much to maintain his voice, Cella does take some steps to protect it. He keeps his voice healthy by maintaining his weight and exercising daily. Before the show, Cella said he usually reads a couple of stories out loud to warm up.
“Overall, I try not to overuse it or stress it,” he said.
Though Cella has been widely received since landing in Jacksonville, he said some listeners have developed misjudgements about the morning show.
Because AM-690 tends to run conservative programing in the afternoons, Cella said his news program is sometimes pigeonholed as also having a right-wing agenda.
“That is a misconception,” he said. “The morning news program is right down the middle. We don’t do a lot of editorializing. People can listen to us and not get beat over the head with a certain slant.”
Cella has always been a fan of the radio and listened to it as much as possible when growing up. While in grade school, he used to smuggle a small radio with an ear piece into class so he could listen to the day’s baseball games.
“The radio is like a friend,” he said. “You can take it with you where ever you go.”
Cella said his favorite radio programs as a child were “Bob and Ray,” a New York area comedy show, and WNBC’s “Cousin Brucie.” Don Imus was also one of his favorites, but Cella said that show, and radio shows in general, have changed significantly over the years.
“The shows were cleaner then,” he said, “with no shock material.”
Cella’s interest as a radio broadcaster started when he was 12-years-old.
“I used to organize the other kids in the neighborhood and orchestrate an old-time radio show,” said Cella. “We wrote the scripts, created the sound effects, we did everything.”
His dreams of becoming a radio broadcaster developed into reality after he attended and graduated from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Since his college days, Cella said he has done everything in radio broadcasting that you can do, from sports to traffic to news.
As for now, Cella said he enjoys working and living in Florida. He currently lives in the Orange Park area with his wife Vicky and their daughter, Lauren, but said he hopes to live closer to the beach one day. They also have a 26-year-old son, Brian, who lives in Connecticut.
“I would like to stay in Jacksonville and enjoy the city’s growth,” he said. “The city will grow and I would like to set down some roots here. This is an exciting place to be.”