After years of community theater and college productions, I realized acting would never afford me the lifestyle I wanted, so after graduating from SDSU I started work on my teaching credential. My dad was a teacher for over 35 years and my mom was an elementary school librarian, so I figured I'd be a natural. I subsequently fell into radio in 1988, when I convinced a San Diego airwaves baron to give me a chance in broadcasting despite my appalling lack of experience. For 20 years I delivered traffic reports on virtually every radio and TV station in San Diego. At the risk of sounding ancient, I started in radio before the digital age… there was no Internet, so we listened to scanners to get news and traffic information and our boss would make us recite all the exits of the area freeways in order. You had to know your stuff before you were allowed to be on the air.
I'm a third-generation San Diegan, so I try to bring a unique perspective to the news each morning on The Mike Slater Show. Actually, it's just fun to trip up the new guy from Tennessee. I really wish we could have gotten him to eat a Delta Smelt Fish Taco before he found out they're protected critters.
I have two incredible sons… Stuart is 21 and a submariner with the Navy and Conrad, 18, is taking a year to work at our favorite ski resort in Utah. I love that they are out making their way in the world -- I just about have the empty nest thing beat. My house sits on six acres which demand constant weeding, mulching, and fertilizing, and now that my brawny boys are elsewhere, my weekends are usually spent outdoors with some sort of farm implement. But I've had a love affair with the movies since I was a kid, so when I want a treat, I hit the theaters. Kicking it with family and friends or sitting with a good book and an exceptional wine is marvelous, but I love it when someone says, "Hey, have you ever been to…?" because that means there's an adventure to be had and with any luck, there will be a lot of laughs as well.
