As a young boy, Mike slept with a transistor radio under his pillow wishing he could be on the air. His dream came true. Mike’s first broadcast was at the age of ten as a ham radio operator. By the time he was 12, he knew what he wanted to do with his life. Mike and four of his high school friends formed a rock n roll band and started playing weekly dances at the youth center. The band became a popular local group and fueled the fire that was burning in Mike's soul, he wanted his own radio show. Mike was most comfortable when he was performing and in High School he joined in on anything related to Show Biz.
His love for show business and his strong desire to compete were the perfect combination for his successful journey into major market radio, the competition is fierce and the pressure for a great performance is never ending, just the way Mike likes it.
Mike started working at 9 years old. One of his part time jobs would be the start of his life long career in broadcasting. "I was scraping gum off the floor in the hallway with a razor blade" He landed his first paying job in radio as a teenager, after going to work as a janitor at a local five-and-dime store. He reasoned correctly that the job would give him access to WKBI-FM, a radio station that rented the store's second floor. Mike recalls, "One Saturday I was there with Stubby King, the regular announcer, he was doing a broadcast and I was scraping gum off the floor in the hallway with a razor blade. There wasn't another soul in the building. Stubby was not feeling well. He handed me the script and told me to do the station break and the weather forecast. Next day, I was offered a disc jockey job at $25 a week. Mike continued his radio show though out his remaining high school days playing top 40 hits for his fellow classmates. Eventually, Mike persuaded school officials to permit him to attend classes in the morning hours and work at the local radio station in the afternoon. After graduation in 1968 Mike took the job of news director for WWYN Radio in Erie, Pennsylvania, until WWGO - FM in Erie offered him the Midday Show, Mike wanted to get back into music and took the challenge from the new 50 thousand watt FM top 40 rocker.
In 1970 Mike moved on to Penn State here he became program director. On a fall day in 1974, Mike was hosting his top 40 midday show and "oldies" request lunch time program for WRSC State College. Julian Breen, a program manager from Greater Media in Philadelphia, on his way from Coast to Coast on a Talent search for the new Philadelphia Oldies Station caught Mike's show and liked what he heard. A short time later, Mike St.John was moved to Philadelphia and was the first to broadcast his show on the New 95PEN, WPEN 950.