Michael E. Hayes

Hustling for his future boss’ attention, Mike Hayes paid for a billboard back in 1986. “Hey, La Crosse,” it said, “hire me.”

Come that June, he posed for a picture in front of a new message: “Hey, La Crosse, I got the job.”

He got it, he loved it, and he never left it.

Michael Edward Hayes, 70, the voice of mornings and more at WIZM-AM (1410) for 38 years, died of pancreatic cancer Nov. 28. 

He had been off the air for the five months since his diagnosis, the only significant break in a career that earned him friends, countless fans and a 2022 recognition as one of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association’s Local Broadcast Legends.

Professionally, “he never wanted to do anything else,” said Mark Hayes, 42, of Marquette, Michigan, one of his three sons.

Station programmers weren’t on the radio enough, and managers spent too much time in meetings. Mike just wanted to host “La Crosse Talk” in the morning, “Coulee Region Cooks” on Thursday, and the “Mike’s Market” weekend swap meet show, ending each broadcast with his signature reminder, “Don’t forget to hug your kids.” 

Away from work, he loved classic rock, cooking, what his boys describe as “cheesy sci-fi,” travel, his periodic pontoon boats, and doing more of what he’d done professionally at stops in northern Michigan, several eastern cities, rural Kansas and finally La Crosse:

Talking.

“We all used to kind of roll our eyes when we’d go to the grocery store. It was an hour, minimum, because he talked to everyone,” said eldest son Matthew, 44, of Chicago. “If he was looking for something, he’d find someone stocking shelves and say, ‘If you were a can of tuna, where would I find you?’ “

In any setting, said son Andrew, Mark’s twin, Mike might suddenly act out a scenario, penetrating a silence by making up a back story for someone or something. 

His family came to realize he was practicing, said Andrew, of Madison. “He was just filling dead air.”

Mike spoke his first words in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, northwest of Detroit. 

The eldest of three children of Vince and Fran Hayes, he held fairly standard student jobs – grounds crew, snow removal, stadium security, even working the line at a Chrysler plant -- through high school and into college.

But he was fortunate enough, he later said, to realize that his favorite implement was a microphone. He earned a certification from a regionally renowned broadcast school, and climbed the radio ladder until he found a rung that felt like home.

Through his tenure at WIZM, he lived first in La Crosse, then Onalaska and finally Stoddard. 

Years ago, he told friends, he was approached about running for mayor of La Crosse.

He wasn’t interested, Mike said, because he liked knowing that as a radio host, the people he ran into in public would likely have kind words for him – and if he attended a supermarket opening, he was getting paid to be there.

His dad’s nature, Matthew said, was to focus on the simple and the positive. 

“He was kind of like a hobbit. He liked cheese and beer and a warm environment,” Matthew said. “He loved good friends and food and cheerfulness.”

He’d scrunch his face and play air guitar during the instrumental breaks in his favorite tunes. He could hear a passage from “Star Trek” or “Bones” and, with his back turned as he rummaged in the refrigerator, deliver the next line.

Then he might emerge with the makings of what he liked to call “refrigerator door sauce.”

The kids might just want chicken nuggets and fries, and that was okay, “but he’d talk us out of just wanting ketchup,” Andrew said. 

His philosophy was to add rice vinegar, maybe some Sriracha – “whatever it took to make everything a bit better.”

Mike would send his young kids back to their mom with recordings of him reading their favorite books. “It was like our own personal Teddy Ruxpin,” Andrew said.

He’d say he loved the boys “uppa sky,” as in up to the sky, which became enough of a family byword that when Mark was home-brewing beer, he gave the name to an Irish red ale.

Another inside reference was the “hug necklace” – actually two hands clasping, in silver. Until he had a cancer test in which metal would interfere with the machinery, Mike never took it off.

“It was his way of connecting with his boys,” Mark said.

Andrew had said long ago that he wanted it, so it’ll wind up with him.

The others, like countless thousands of listeners, are left with memories, smiles, recipes, and a reminder: Don’t forget to hug your kids.

Along with his three sons, Matthew’s wife Ashley and Mark’s wife Sarah, Mike Hayes is survived by grandchildren Aiden, Iris and Leland, and sisters Aimee Franke and Marcy (Neal Rubin) Hayes of Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Respecting Mike’s wishes, there will be no formal services. Suggested recipients of memorial donations are Paula’s Purse at Gunderson Medical Foundation, Gundersen’s Hospice & Palliative Care Program or Big Brothers Big Sisters of the 7 Rivers Region, 315 4th Street S., La Crosse 54601.