Studer Community Institute

Mike Wiggins tapes his last BlabTV show… maybe

December 19, 2014
/ Randy Hammer
/ training-development

A photo from the late 1980s of Mike Wiggins and his father, Charlie, taping the Garden Spot on BlabTV. I wouldn’t call this week a changing of the guard, but the past several days have certainly been a milestone in BlabTV’s evolution. First, we signed former Escambia High School football coach Willie Spears to co-host a new morning show that will premiere on the station early next year. (If you missed that news, check out Bill Vilona’s story on PNJ.com. Then on Tuesday, staff members from Pensacola Today and BlabTV moved into our new offices on Palafox Street across from the Saenger Theatre. (If you missed that news as well, check out this story on PensacolaToday.com.) On Wednesday, Quint Studer gave the go-ahead to spend more than $100,000 on a new studio set. And while everyone here is excited about the new office and new studio, we’re even more excited about the Talent Search Show, a six-part original series that airs Sunday night at 8 on BlabTV. (Channel listings here.) The series chronicles the October casting call Blab made back in October and drew more than 250 applicants. From those 250 applicants, BlabTV staffers Claire Campbell and Kendall McCrory selected a six-member crew I kept running into this week as they worked on a 30-second commercial that Mayor Ashton Hayward and the city will use to promote downtown tourism. (Link) But on a more somber note, I also ran into Mike Wiggins this week in the station’s lobby. For more than 25 years, Mike has been a fixture on BlabTV. On Thursday, he walked into our studio, taped a short goodbye message, and signed off for the last time. “It’s a little sad,” said Mike, who has hosted a gardening show on the station since the 1980s. “Dad used to do it with me before he got really sick. That was 2000. So I have to say it’s a little sad to walk away after doing this show for 26, 27 years.” Earlier this month Mike sold his Wiggins Lawn Spray Service to Lawn Master, which takes ownership of the company on Jan. 1. “I have to say, I loved working with the staff at Blab,” said Mike. “They are so professional. But the real reason I loved it so much is that I always got a response, a business response. People would call and say, ‘I saw you on television and can you send someone out to give me a quote.’ That absolutely made Blab and the show worthwhile for me.” Mike said his one regret is that he won’t be around to tape his show in the new studio. "I don’t want to say Blab is an easy sale in this economy, but it’s a smart sale," he said. "With everything you guys are doing now in terms of programming as well as all the upgrades, it’s going to be great. There are so many advantages that Blab offers.” Over the years, Mike recorded his gardening show in all three of BlabTV’s locations. “When we started,” said Mike, “the studio was in Sanders Beach, then in a building off Pace Boulevard, and then Blab relocated downtown to where it is today. Our most successful run was when we did the show live on Sunday nights with phone calls. The switchboard would light up the entire time. I think we were the only garden show at the time.” That was in the early ‘90s before Twitter and Facebook and high-speed Internet service. Call-in shows lost some of their luster as a result of the Internet explosion. “I have always liked the Blab model of customer interaction,” said Mike. “I can’t remember when we started taping the show rather than doing it live. But Blab has always allowed me to get before customers to tell them about my business. And as I said earlier, I always got a response.” In addition to his gardening show, Mike, a former Pensacola mayor and city councilman, used to host a show for the city as well as other BlabTV shows. “You know what the best show ever was on Blab? Good News Pensacola,” said Mike. “Dick Appleyard, Buzz Ritchie and I used to do that show. Now that was some fun. We felt there was a need for a show that focused on positive news and we had a great time with it.” It was a little sad for me to watch Mike tape his good-bye message on Thursday. He has been such a great ambassador not only for BlabTV, but also our community. I suspect, however, this won’t be the last we will see of Mike on BlabTV. I bet he will become a regular on our morning show, as well as other shows to come. He is just too much of a community fixture to just ride off into retirement. And Mike is also proof that while things change, other things don’t. When you watch his goodbye video, notice the shirt he’s wearing. And then notice the shirt in 1980s photograph at the top of this page. Mike’s fashions obviously haven’t changed over the years. And neither has his class. [vimeo id="114993792"]

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Mike Wiggins tapes his last BlabTV show… maybe

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