The man behind the mic

We listen to him every morning, hear his outrageous antics and laugh at his crude humor; but no one really knows the man behind “Hurricane” from the MJ Morning Show.

He’s a down-to-earth guy that’s been obsessed with radio his entire life, who is living his dream right now and knows the importance of learning everything about his trade.While his first real job in radio didn’t come until he was in college, he knew what he wanted to do since childhood.

“I was fascinated with the fact that – music is coming out of a box and I was really fascinated on how that worked as a whole broadcasting thing,” he said.

What really cemented his desire to go into radio was a comment from a stranger.

“Some guy, some backward-ass redneck, said, ‘Boy you got a great voice, you should go into radio,'” he said. So, he did.

Most listeners don’t even know his real name is Andrew. So how did he come up with his radio name, “Hurricane Hitman Stevens”? Well, it’s a long story.

Originally, he was “Boner” on Power 93, The Power Pig. “Back then we were rude, crude, socially unacceptable. We were the Power Pig and the name went with the format, went with the station,” he said.

However, after the station started to jump in the ratings, it was time for a more adult atmosphere. “Then everybody started changing their odd names,” he said.

So, his program director came up with the idea for Hurricane and then putting his real name with it, making “Hurricane Andrew.” Originally from Miami, Hurricane didn’t think that was such a great idea. So, he took the name Stevens because it is a very popular name in radio.

“I came up with Steven, because everything in radio – the most common last name is Steven,” he said.

But “Hurricane Steven” was still a little boring. So one day, while watching wrestling, he got the name “hitman”. Thus, “Hurricane Hitman Stevens” was born.

Today, “Hurricane” is much more than just a radio personality. He’s also the executive technical producer of the show. Being on one of the most popular morning radio shows doesn’t come without its share of disappointments.

“I lost a lot by being “Hurricane” from the MJ Morning Show because nobody really knows who I am,” he said. “Nobody knows our real names. I lost that.” Hurricane takes his role on the show seriously.

“It’s an image and everybody’s got a fake name – in radio,” he said. But Hurricane wouldn’t change what he has, he just longs for equilibrium. “I love what I do. I want to try to balance it out,” he said.

The sheer joy of the job is why he gave up his normalcy.

“I like entertaining people. I was the class clown in school, and now I get to be the class clown for life,” he said.

Perhaps more importantly, he loves the people he works with.

“I’ve worked with MJ for a very long time. We’re all brothers, we’re gonna fight, we’re gonna have a great time. You know there’s good times, there’s bad times, just like any other place – I cannot say one bad thing about them,” he said.

His advice to those who want to follow in his footsteps: “Learn as much as you possibly can about radio – from throwing out the garbage to programming a radio station – Make yourself an asset to the radio station,” he said. “Always keep an open mind for radio because things change over time. You’re gonna be forced to learn new things.”