Remembering Mike Hayes

We received the sad news during the long holiday break. WIZM’s Mike Hayes had passed away, several weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For many La Crosse radio listeners not old enough to remember WIZM before Mike Hayes, it feels like he’s always been here. Hosting La Crosse Talk on weekday mornings, chatting about food on Coulee Region Cooks, or helping folks buy and sell stuff weekends on Mike’s Market. Mike had worked for a lot of stations around the country before arriving in La Crosse nearly 40 years ago. Clearly, he found a nice area to call home, and he had plenty of friends in the region, and even more listeners he didn’t know who personally considered him a friend on the air. Just two years ago, Mike was inducted named a “local legend” by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, and he said this fall that he was planning to get back into the studio, after the diagnosis. Things didn’t happen that way. We worked mornings together for a long time, and it has been hard to adjust here without him. But Mike Hayes definitely has had an impact on the La Crosse community, and you know for sure he’d ask you to hug your kids.

— Brad Williams