Weekday Mornings 5-9am
FREE BEER
One of the founding members of the show since its inception in March of 1997, Free Beer sets up most of the bits on the show. Free Beer is known for many verbal screw-ups, a vast sports knowledge, and occasionally laughing like Ricky Ricardo from old episodes of “I Love Lucy”. Occasionally known on the show by the alternate nicknames “Burn King” and “El Matador”, Free Beer spends free time playing basketball and hanging with his lovely wife Amanda, and his sons Henry, Oliver and Hayden. On the side, Free Beer is the lead play by play announcer for Compass Media Networks coverage of the national game of the week, as well as handling some NFL and college basketball games.
HOT WINGS
Hot Wings, the other founding member of the show, is from Lake Orion, MI which, for reasons unknown is pronounced Or-ee-un instead of Oh-RI-un, like the constellation. Hot Wings, also known as “Mayor of Awesometown” and “Minista of Flava”, and loves muscle cars. He writes daily commentaries about politics and pop culture called What Hot Wings Thinksthat will likely reference one or both of those things. He is oddly and prematurely knowledgeable about trees… a skill he picked up from his father who wears black socks and dress shoes with shorts and has a tendency to singe his hair around gas grills. Hot Wings believes he can tell time just by looking at the sun. He likes home improvement and knows just enough to be a pain in his own ass, taking on projects that seem easy, but take him weeks. Hot Wings is married to Kerri. Together, they have two sons, Grayson and Liam. The first kid took 6 rounds of IVF. The 2nd took 2 glasses of wine and hardly any effort. Hot Wings also has a dog, (Bubba) and one cat (Setzer), which was a stray cat that Hot Wings almost ran over and is named after Brian Setzer who was the leader of an ’80s band called The Stray Cats.
STEVE
I was born and raised in New Jersey…but no one from New Jersey calls it “New Jersey”. It’s simply “Jersey”. I grew up there, went to college there at Monmouth University. After realizing that I had no desire to take Microeconomics, I figured I’d be a Radio major and work for the college radio station, WMCX. Some highlights include interviewing awful bands, saying the F-word on the air a few times and excelling at mediocre radio. It got me a job, though. I worked for a number of years at 105.7 The Hawk, which is where my paths crossed with the Free Beer and Hot Wings show. I started out running the board for them in the morning and eventually ended up being the Assistant Program Director of the station. Then I worked for the NHL in New York City for almost a year. Now I’m here.
I bought my first house last year. Within a month of buying the house, I got a dog. I also put up a white picket fence. I guess it’s my own little version of the American dream.
Random facts: At times, I’m a walking contradiction. I’ve run marathons, but in no way consider myself a runner. I make a mean tuna melt. If there’s a television show on about some blue-collar job, I probably watch it. That’s about it.
KELLY
Kelly “Cheese” Cheesborough is the newest addition to the FBHW family and landed here by way of Atlanta, GA. Not to be confused with “HOTLANTA” – which she swears is not a place. Kelly’s a military brat with four brothers and often compares her big crazy family to the early 2000’s sitcom Seventh Heaven.
Kelly got her start in radio as a mid-day gal on an alternative station in “HOTLANTA” by free style rapping her resume. True story. A few years later she landed a gig with a morning show as a producer and co-host and that’s how we met the Cheese.
While she’s known for her love of corn dogs, you can also find Kelly on her yoga mat or hanging out with her cat Shadow. Or any cat. Or puppies. Or babies. When she’s not obsessing over a strangers puppy or an adorable child, she’s out and about exploring the city through breweries, live music, day festivals and good food.
