How Lori and Jeff From Maine’s Q Morning Show Helped Me Grow as a Human

You're about to get a peek behind the scenes of radio in general but also a radio career in general.

It's amazing to think that my entire career in actual professional commercial radio doesn't even equal the long stay that Lori Voornas and Jeff Parsons have had in just their one stop as the morning show on Q97.9. In fact, you probably need to include my years on college radio at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts to even come close to their stay on the Q.

You might know (and honestly, there's a solid chance you still don't) that I host the afternoon show on Q97.9 right now, but when I first started on Portland, Maine radio three years ago, it was as the morning host of 94.9 HOM. The same 94.9 HOM that Lori and Jeff will now host mornings on starting this Monday, May 15.

When I was given the opportunity to hop over to afternoons on The Q, it came with a management role. One that I've had in radio for almost a decade now. But the one thing that I had never done from the time I began the management portion of my career in radio? Oversee a local morning show.

My entire career as a manager in radio, whether it was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire or Tulsa, Oklahoma, involved nationally syndicated morning shows. Yet here I was, now taking over a legendary radio station with an even more legendary local morning show -- mainstays in Maine for over two decades.

I was terrified. Convinced that they were just going to eat me alive. Because while I had gotten to know Lori and Jeff as a peer for almost two years and got along with them real well, it's a massive change to go from the guy hosting the morning show on the station next door to actually managing the station they've been on for over 20 years and, in turn, managing them.

And I was terrified for no reason.

From day one, the only thing I ever received from Lori and Jeff was a warm welcome and an insane amount of support.

There was no ego I had to deal with. There was no, "We've been doing this 20 years kid, who the hell are you? Shut up and know your role." And considering I walk around with the most paranoid and guilty conscience ever, that's just what I assumed I'd get.

But never once did I feel like I was second to them or beneath them. They saw me in the shadows standing behind them (metaphorically, I'm not some creepy stalker they make true crime podcasts about), reached out, and brought to me stand beside them. And that's how I always treated our relationship.

Because regardless of what my title was, I was honored to be seen as a member of the team that was given the chance to stand along with two legends. Not in front of them. Not behind them. But right next to them.

From getting to drive in the annual Bikers for Boobies event with Lori that benefits Cans for a Cure (both of which will still stay with Lori and Jeff when they make the jump to 94.9 HOM this Monday) to being able to broadcast with them live from the actual Cans event itself -- we've always been a solid squad.

And somewhere, in between all the laughs, all the fun, all the venting in the cone of silence, they helped me find my voice. They helped me find my confidence. They helped me become a better leader.

But most importantly, they just helped me grow as a human overall.

And I couldn't be more grateful that I've had the chance to work with (and still do, since they're only a studio away) the best duo in Maine radio.

Thank you, Lori and Jeff. For everything.