Nestled in a quiet west-side neighborhood, home to Milwaukee Radio Group, Mike Hightower spins slow-jams and hosts his show 'Moments in Love' down in the basement surrounded by audio equipment, a phone system and a mic. Hightower has been a Jammin' 98.3 FM staple for more than ten years keeping listeners company, offering love advice and facilitating interesting conversations Sunday through Thursday 7PM to midnight.
It's Valentine's Day evening and the phones are ringing with listeners eager to answer the question of the evening, 'Will the type of gift your man gets you ladies, will that define the rest of your relationship?' Hightower juggles keeping the music flowing, taking calls, ensuring callers stay in line and editing responses.
Hightower started his radio career as a teenager in the mid-seventies at the former WAWA hanging out recording 'slow-jams' until the station gave him his own show. He has always been drawn to love songs, 'Any slow-jam pop, country it doesn't matter - if it has a message and can make me (sniff wiping an eye), I love it. My philosophy is for everything that happens to us, good or bad, there is a record playing in the background and it's that slow-jam that really gets you tripped out.'
Hightower has worked most of his career in Milwaukee where he was born and raised. He spent a few years down in Oklahoma doing radio and TV, but returned to stay - bouncing around the airwaves at stations such as WLUM, WRKR, V100 and six others playing anything from rock to country to pop to R&B.
The relationship-advice element of the show intrigues Hightower and he takes a sincere interest in his listeners' dilemmas. Because the majority of callers are women, Hightower often reads magazines such as 'Redbook', 'Cosmopolitan' and other female-oriented publications to help relate to women and get ideas for future show discussions.
A heart-broken listener calls in saying her man called her the wrong name three times in front of other people on Valentine's Day. She is crying and determined to leave her boyfriend, although he has treated her well for the past three years. Hightower encourages her to take a two-day breather before making any decisions and begs her not to do anything drastic, 'I don't want to see you on the news tonight', jokes Hightower.
'Moments in Love' is Hightower's creation, but he insists he's not a 'Mr. Romantic', 'When we first started the show my boss wanted me to do the Mr. Romantic Love thing, I've never been that type of person. I'm very blessed to have a good voice for radio; I can get sexy and use it now and then to add a little dimension to the station, but at the same time, I want to be heard.'
Hightower consoles many callers about breakups and is divorced himself. He believes society makes divorce too easy and couples should stick together for better or worse. Hightower concludes most couples don't split simply because of cheating, rather it's boredom that's the root problem.
But many issues are caused, according to Hightower, by cognitive differences of the sexes, 'Men work on a level of logic, taking care of physical things -putting out fires, paying the bills. Women work on the emotional - 'if it hurts me it hurts all - there'll be 'heck' to pay for that.'
It's a blessing men and women are wired differently for Mike Hightower - there might not be a 'Moments in Love' if we were all in sync and completely understood the opposite sex. Milwaukee's air space would miss its only local, relationship-based program as well as Mr. Hightower's smooth voice, friendly disposition and compelling advice.
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