Radio icon Mike Arlo is celebrating 50 years on local airwaves, and he’s not ready to say “Bye-cycle” any time soon
By Barrett Baker
If you’re a fan of music and you have an opportunity to sit down with Mike Arlo for a few minutes to chat, take it.
He is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge, especially when it comes to little known facts about classic rock bands and musicians. In other words, don’t play Trivial Pursuit against him when the subject is about music (he’s also a big Tchaikovsky fan, so even classical composers aren’t out of the question). Just for the record, you also might want to skip NASCAR categories.
Arlo’s vast knowledge of classic rock tunes not only stems from his love of music, he also just celebrated a half century of being on the radio in Coastal Virginia. Mike Arlo is currently the midday on-air personality on Classic Rock 106.9 The Fox (WAFX), a position he has held since 1996, but he got his start on sister station FM99 (WNOR) in 1975.
Throughout his career he has pulled listeners in not only by playing songs, but by explaining why he played them. Over those unprecedented 50 years, Arlo has become known to generations of fans for his on-air personality and public appearances—always sporting his signature handlebar mustache and two thumbs up to show how excited he is about doing what he’s doing.
His operations manager at the station, Mike Beck, sums up Arlo’s personality best by saying, “I’ve never known anyone as consistently positive, warm, and friendly as Mike Arlo. He is the same man on and off the air, and he makes every day a great day.”
Speaking of great days, one other celebrated “Arloism” is his daily signoff, “Bye-cycle. Make it a great day.” According to him, the “Bye-cycle” part came from a friend of his. It used to annoy the heck out of everyone, but it was an attention getter.
“The important part of my sign-off is the ‘Make it a great day,” explains Arlo. “I started doing that when I was working overnights when I realized, first thing in the morning, you can ruin a really good day with a bad attitude. I just want to remind people to always try to look at the positive side of things.”
Where the Needle Meets the Vinyl
Arlo’s family came to Coastal Virginia because his father was in the Navy, and Mike did a stint in the Naval Reserves from 1966 to 1972.
Before he got into radio, Arlo had “30-odd other jobs.” When he got started on the air, he was working as the floating manager for Thrifty Rent-A-Car in Norfolk, and credits a man named Tom Smith for generously giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream to be a disc jockey.
“The station would call and ask if I could do the afternoon drive, or the midday show, or the evening shift, and Tom would give me the time off when I needed to go, and actually sometimes had to pull his coat and tie off and do my work so I could go play on the radio,” says Arlo. “It was really amazing.”
Beyond The Radio Waves
In addition to being a well-known radio personality, Arlo has also been a cast member of the local TV horror show, Dr. Madblood. But his favorite thing about being locally recognized is his ability to give back to the community. He has helped to raise awareness and funds for the March of Dimes, the American Cancer Society, the Red Cross, Special Olympics, and local food banks, to name a few.
“There is the real benefit to this job,” he explains. “You can make a difference and be involved, and I think that’s just so important. It has been such a joy to work with charitable organizations in our area and I look forward to continuing to do so.”
One might think that, after 50 years in the business, Arlo would be considering retirement. But fear not, loyal fans. For now, he’s having too much fun to say “Bye-cycle” to radio or his followers.
THUMBS UP Left to right: Mike Arlo through the years at Norfolk Scope, with the Blue Angels, at the opening of Da Vinci’s Cradle at Busch Gardens, and photo at top, recently at the 106.9 The Fox and FM 99 studios.
Arlo’s Musical Memories Playlist
Being on the radio for 50 years and gaining a great following along the way, Arlo has a ton of memories to look back on. Here are a few of his favorites:
Third Time’s a Charm
“My first training session took place at night after they hired me. On my very first break, I froze and couldn’t speak. The second break, I did an entire weather break with this looong song intro and did the weather perfectly. When I was done, John, the guy who was training me said, ‘I’m sure that sounded great, except…’ and he pointed out that when you turn on the microphone you also have to turn up the volume so that everyone in radioland can hear you. So, after two tries I finally got it right, did the weather again and that time I said, ‘Metro weather, partly clappy…’ That was the beginning of my career in radio.”
Groupie Misdirection
“In the 70s, I met the guys from Firefall in the elevator of the hotel where our radio station was. A few of the guys from the band were going to a promoter’s party, but Larry Burnett and Mark Andes were just looking for a quiet place to have a drink away from the crowds. So, I took them to the bar downstairs, where we slid into the side entrance and grabbed a booth in the back. While we’re sitting there, this woman who had been to their concert that night and had a program in her hand came over saying ‘Oh, my God, oh my God.’ Mark and Rick looked at each other like, ‘here we go,’ and she says, ‘Oh, my God. You’re Mike Arlo. Would you sign this for me?’ I introduced Mark and Rick, and she said, ‘Oh, hi.’ She had no idea who they were.”
Whole Lotta Idol Chatter
“I was featured in an article just before the Virginia Beach Amphitheater had Page and Plant coming to town with John Fogerty. I had said some pretty nice things in the article about Jimmy Page—not only as a great song writer and one of the world’s premier guitarists, but he also produced all of Led Zeppelin’s material. So, I’m in the studio, it’s lunch time, and the hotline flashes. I’m in a break, so I pick up the phone and somebody says, ‘Jimmy Page for you.’ He had read the article and wanted to talk about the upcoming show. As we’re chatting, I realized I need to do a commercial break, so I told Jimmy to hang on for a second, then I turned around to a live mic and said, ‘Oh my God. I just put Jimmy Page on hold.’ But he stayed on so we could finish the conversation.”
Top two photos by David Uhrin. Archive photos courtesy of Hampton Roads Media Group.
Barrett Baker
