By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
In case you haven’t heard, WEIS radio recently welcomed a new on-air personality to its broadcasts, but he’s certainly a familiar voice to folks in the Lansing, Michigan area.
Longtime sports talk staple David “Mad Dog” DeMarco recently joined the station here in Centre. He will be covering local area news happenings and handling afternoon news reports for WEIS.
DeMarco was a 26-year sports talk veteran in Lansing for WVFN 730-AM. He did more than 2,500 live sports talk radio shows before retiring last year. He started on April Fools’ Day in 1996, with his last show on Friday the 13th in May of 2022. Those two dates, DeMarco said, were “an act of God” and not by his design.
So how did DeMarco discover radio for his career and make his way to the Cherokee County area? WEIS Sports Director Shannon Fagan sat down with DeMarco to discuss that and more below.
SF: We’ll start with the obvious question first. What drew you into radio?
DD: “I was a national caller on a sports talk show out of Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1990s. It was called “Papa Joe Chevalier Sports Buffet Party.” I was a faxer, then I became part of his show nationwide. I said ‘You know what? I want to do this.’ They started this show called “The Sports Guys” in Lansing, Michigan on WVFN 730. That station still exists. I just came from there a year ago. They started this show “The Sports Guys” and that’s where the “Mad Dog” started.”
SF: Since you mentioned “Mad Dog”, how did you get that nickname?
DD: “Well I didn’t take it from Chris Russo. There used to be a professional wrestler call “Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer. I used to follow those guys, the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) with Gordon Solie, with Rick Flair, with Dusty Rhodes and Paul Orndorff as they’d come around Lansing and Grand Rapids. I’m sort of a wrestling aficionado historian. I could imitate Buzz Sawyer, and my cousins just started calling me “Mad Dog”. Being Italian, that just sort of stuck. That’s how I got the nickname.”
SF: I believe I read where your family’s business was DeMarco’s Bar in Michigan.
DD: “DeMarco’s was there over like 85-90 years, 600 South Pennsylvania. It was four families. My grandparents started it. I was born into the restaurant business. I was going to be a restauranteer. My wife (Carole) is too by coincidence with her late husband Mijo. They owned Mijo’s Diner in Lansing, but the pandemic closed it. It was a great place. Our place was renowned. It was very, very sought after. A lot of people came to it. I learned a good work ethic out of it. It was closed, but then it was opened by a gentleman I knew who bought it. It was called Leo’s Outpost. He put about a half a million dollars into it. Just a year ago in the fall, he closed because of the pandemic. I think there’s another family who is going to re-open it. It taught me a lot. It taught me a lot about sports, I know that.”
SF: Were you able to do any of your shows from there?
DD: “DeMarco’s was closed when I first started, but I did three or four shows there (when it was Leo’s Outpost). In 26 years on the radio, I did over 2,500 combined remotes, sports shows, draft parties and live shows. We even had Kentucky Derby parties.”
SF: You and I were talking a little bit about Barry Sanders earlier. You’ve got quite the laundry list of athletes and celebrities that you’ve interviewed throughout your career. Who are some of the most memorable interviews you’ve done?
DD: “I’ve gone twice to the late Muhammad Ali’s home in Berrien Springs. I shared a tuna fish sandwich with him. I went with my friend Bob Every. Johnny Smoltz grew up two blocks from me. It’s sort of strange a guy who went to my grade school at Saint Gerard, and he did go to Lansing Catholic where I had gone for one year and then he transferred to Waverly. How he got into the big leagues is an incredible story. I really didn’t know him as a young kid, but he was my cousin’s best friend and they still are best of friends. Just in a small per capita, all the professional athletes that came out of the mid-Michigan area: Magic Johnson, Johnnie Smoltz (there’s two hall of famers), you have the Vincent brothers, Sam and Jay, you have Al Horford, you have all the hockey people. We’ve had a hell of a lot of people, just out of that small area.”
SF: A lot of folks don’t realize it wasn’t just talk radio you did. You also wore another hat in sales. How were you able manage the two?
DD: “I was like Clark Kent. I have a regimented sales background in radio and media. I love sales. For 9 ½ years, I was on from 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. I would get up at 4:20 and be awakened by my TV, starting with ESPN. I’d stop about 1:30 or 2 o’clock and then go into sales. I got married for the first time when I was 54 years of age. I just celebrated my ninth year of marriage with my wife Wednesday night. I couldn’t do that anymore. I was back from 3 to 6. I loved sales. Anything you put your heart into you want to turn into a vocation. It’s sort of like broadcasting. I’m going through a time period now where I have to learn a lot of different new things with editing, cutting and pasting. Sports radio I listen to around the country and a lot of the younger guys and women just take it for granted. A lot of negativity comes out of people because they think that’s what sells. What sells is being genuine and doing your homework and trying to be non-conformist, trying to be like an artist or entertainer, being your own person and finding what you’re all about and grabbing on to that and staying with it. When you’re trying to be negative all the time, it gets old after a while. Sales go along with broadcasting. TV and radio stations can’t run unless there’s revenue coming in.”
SF: So how did you come to find Cedar Bluff?
DD: “Coming up on three years ago in July, my brother and sister-in-law, Pat and Tracy Dreps, lived in Acworth, Ga., for 14 years. They had a condo on Weiss Lake. We were visiting them. My brother-in-law bought two lots on The Bluffs in Cedar Bluff. I’m a real historian with Native Americans and with the Civil War. He brought us up there and he had two lots. He said ‘Dave if you want to buy this lot from me I’ll sell it to you.’ I walked the perimeter and my wife was like ‘He’s never going to go for this.’ My parents, Ed and Corky DeMarco, they’re deceased now and I was close with them. I’m an only child. They just jumped in my head and they said ‘Dave you’ve got to do this.’ I came back, put my hands on my wife’s shoulders and said ‘We’re moving here.’
“We proceeded to get back to Lansing and kept it QT. My brother and sister-in-law are going ‘Wow, that’s pretty wild.’ They had to move out of their house in Acworth. They lived in Dallas, Ga. Coincidentally, that’s where my stepson and my stepdaughter, my son-in-law and my two grandchildren live in Dallas, Ga., from Dallas, Texas. We came here. After they went back to Acworth, we stayed at the fish motel (Weiss Lake Lodge).
“We came here because I had investigated WEIS radio and Jerry Baker. My wife Carole and I walked in the door and he was standing there. We did an impromptu interview three years ago. We proceeded to sell our home in Lansing. We moved into my stepson’s home for about nine months. We lived in Carole’s aunt and uncle’s home.
“People didn’t know I was going to make this move. After I told Townsquare Media that I was going to do this, we moved. To this day they still let me sell advertising for Michigan State and Detroit sports. I have a good rapport. I did it last year and I’m doing it this year. We lived out of a box for two years. When we finally got into our house on The Bluffs, it was like Christmas opening boxes. It was like ‘I forgot I had this thing.’ My stepdaughter and her husband and my one grandchild then and my stepson and three of their dogs transitioned from Dallas, Texas to our home for 3 ½ months. They moved out right before Thanksgiving into their home in Dallas, Ga. It’s been my wife and my dog Missy and myself and my brother and sister-in-law and niece and nephew. Now I work here.”
SF: There’s a little difference between covering news and sports. How have you acclimated yourself so far?
DD: “There are a lot of different moving parts to it, but I have one of the best guys in the country teaching me (Jerry Baker). He’s teaching me to do it the right way. Marc Summers is a guy who’s a good backup who’s done this a hundred years. It’s like Allstate. I’m in good hands here. I’ve already met four mayors. I met the mayor of Collinsville, Gadsden, Piedmont and Cedar Bluff. In four days I’ve met four mayors so that’s pretty good.”
SF: I believe you were telling me your nephew attends Cherokee County High School?
DD: “My nephew plays sports for Cherokee County High, Sam Dreps. He transferred as a sophomore from Paulding (Ga.). He played football and this year he ran track. He’s gotten a lot stronger, a lot faster. He’s one of the fastest kids on the team. Hopefully that will translate on the field. There are more moving parts than having speed and strength. You have to know how to execute. He’s 16 years old. I’m looking for really good things from him. With (Jacob) Cornejo there, he’s one of the best players in the state of Alabama. They have a new quarterback. Their coach (Jacob Kelley) is real good. They’re very well supported.
“There are a lot of different high schools in this area. I’m still getting used to all of them. I’ll be attending games and watching Sam and his teammates with my wife and brother and sister-in-law. I think my niece Lily will go there too.”
SF: Have you been able to catch any athletic contests around the county so far since you moved here?
DD: “I went to (Sam’s) football games last year, but that’s about it. I know there’s good football in this area. There’s good baseball in this area. That was my background in high school. I was a utility guy. I played outfield, third and second (base). I played a lot of softball. I’ll be 64 in October, but if I played ball now, I’d break an arm or a leg.”
SF: Think you might be up for talking a little high school and college football on The End Zone Show Thursday nights this fall?
DD: “I think I would enjoy that. I love college football. I was fortunate enough to do two tailgates. I did a tailgate from Michigan State and then I did the post-tailgate for Alabama on 100.9 in Tuscaloosa. They don’t fool around with Alabama football. I had to watch every frame. I did 11 of the 13 games. I charted two pages of notes.
“When (Jahmir) Gibbs and (Brian) Branch were drafted by the Lions, who have stunk for the last 50 years, I knew a lot about those guys. They’re really good players. Brian Branch could be one of the top steals in the draft. He might have to work on his speed. His 40 was like 4.5, but that’s not football speed. He’s an athlete. Jared Goff had a good season at the end. Now Aaron Rodgers is with the Jets. They could be a lot better. They’ve never gone to a Super Bowl. I don’t know if they’re going to go there this year, but they’re going to be better. They’ve had some good draft choices.”
SF: Just to wrap up, anything else you’d like to say to the WEIS listeners?
DD: “To the people who have lived here all their lives, you’re very fortunate because this is a great place to live. I love to fish. I don’t have a boat, so if there’s anybody out there who wants to invite the “Mad Dog” to go out on Weiss Lake, I’m more than culpable. I have my own fishing pond and that’s on The Bluffs. I go and fish down there and I do pretty damn well.
“I just think this is a great place for my wife and I in the twilight of our lives. My wife is going to be 61 and I’ll be 64. It’s just an outstanding place. I’m 11 hours from visiting cousins in Lansing. My stepdaughter and my son-in-law live in Dallas, Ga., and they’re an hour-and-a-half away. I love it here and look forward to meeting a lot of people in the next coming months. I get to work with excellent guys like you, so it’s cool.”