Note: In the Dec. 17 print edition of The New Times, a printing error caused the last sentence of this story to be cut off. The sentence is printed in full below.

With 28 years in Syracuse radio, "Big" Mike Fiss
imparts his  knowledge to all who will listen
The New Times Interview

By Matt Mumau

The bitter cynics of Syracuse, who occasionally bemoan the fact that Christmas music creeps onto local radio waves earlier each year, have one man to blame: Falstaffian deejay and holiday guru “Big” Mike Fiss. His fascination with sugar plum fairies and reindeer named Rudolph is nearly as unwaveringly saccharine as his bright, cheery voice, and leads him to push nonstop holiday programming as far back as November. But few among us have the heart to bring humbug to the cheery 59-year-old from Manlius, least of all when he ecstatically giggles about the reason behind his fixation: “There’s nothing like the Christmas season! It’s a great season: It really, really is!”

His bubbly on-air demeanor belies a hard-fought throneship as one of local media company Galaxy Communications’ premier deejays on WZUN-FM 102.1 (Sunny 102), a station among the Salt City area’s most popular light-rock waves. This year’s Christmas season will mark the 30th year since Fiss has labored as a professional on-air morning personality (he’s spent 28 of those years in Syracuse), as well as the 27th year since his first foray into live, Christmas shows.

Although the local color he shares on the morning ride might lead some to believe that Fiss is a born-and-bred Syracusan, he’s actually a Bronx native. Fiss grew up with his mother, Sylvia, his father, Julius, and his two sisters, Jill and Frannie, in a two-bedroom apartment in the Park Side Projects, a racially diverse neighborhood made famous by author Richard Price’s 1974 gang expose, The Wanderers.  

Morning glory: Big Mike Fiss speaks with his Salt City audience on the Sunny 102 morning show. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO

Fiss graduated from the City College of New York in 1971 with a degree in speech and theater, but after taking a few graduate classes in education (as well as working as a taxi driver for a period of time) he decided that teaching was not the life for him. Instead, he took the New York State Civil Service Examination in 1972, landed in the upper-percentile of test-takers and was soon employed as a labor standards investigator by the state. He kept that job for two years until state budget cuts forced him to transfer to the Department of Motor Vehicles, a position that lasted about a year and a half. “I was actually a peace officer, believe it or not,” Fiss recalls. “I had peace officer status, which meant that I could carry a gun, which I was never, ever possibly going to use a gun on anybody violating either a labor law or a motor vehicle department law. The whole thing wasn’t really me, you know?”

Recalling his fond on-air memories at CCNY’s student-run station, WCCR-FM (City College Radio), as well as a brief stint at a Maine station that he sandwiched between grad school and his state jobs, Fiss then reconsidered a career in broadcasting. His airwaves quest led Fiss to a Florida station in 1978, then back up north to his long-running career in the Salt City. Always filling the role of morning deejay, Fiss was a major component at WSYR-FM 94.5 (94Rock), which later morphed into WYYY-FM (Y94), until he switched employers and landed at Sunny 102 in 2001. 

In step with his Christmas mantra, in 1989 Fiss began his legacy of producing annual holiday albums, which feature local musicians performing holiday songs. The CDs are sold to local music fans, and the proceeds from the albums have helped secure more than $100,000 over the years, all of which has benefited either the Ronald McDonald House or, more recently, the Elmcrest Children’s Center, which operates Casey’s Place, a short-term home for children with disabilities and serious medical problems. This year’s edition of Big Mike’s Christmastime in Syracuse is available at P&C stores throughout Central New York for just $6.

Fiss is also a member of the Syracuse New Times Syracuse Area Music Awards (Sammys) executive board, and has served as the show’s emcee for the past six years. Regarding his motivation for working with the Sammys, Fiss says, “The local musicians I know are all great people, who would do anything to help anyone. That’s why I am involved with the Sammys, in a way, to give back to them. I also put a lot of time and effort into those annual Christmas CDs as a way to help promote local musicians, and it even gives me an opportunity to play local music on the air in spite of a very formatted radio environment.”

A family guy to the core, Fiss gushes about his son, Andy, who is currently in graduate school at Indiana University, and his daughter Julianna, an undergrad at Vassar College. “The thing I’m most proud of is my family, my kids and friends,” Fiss says. He has been happily-ever-aftering for 36 years with his wife, Willie, a teaching assistant at Eagle Hill Middle School in Manlius.

Having collaborated with scores of fellow deejays over the years, Fiss has left a lasting impression on many of his contemporaries. Mark down Dennis Brogan—a 10-year on-air buddy formerly known as the “Dome Ranger,” and the current director of public affairs for the city of Syracuse—as an a-Fiss-cionado. “What made radio special for me was Mike making it fun,” Brogan says. “I used to say, ‘You drive the bus, baby!’ He gave everybody equal ranking. He’s one of those true friends that impact your life in a way that you never thought he would.” 

Fiss’ current boss, Ed Levine, owner and operator of Galaxy Communications, likewise enthuses about his star employee. “He’s a good listener, he’s got a very warm soul and he’s got a very warm voice. It may not be a classically trained, deeply based broadcast voice, but it’s very warm. People in this town have literally grown up with him. If you were listening to 94Rock, you’re now in your mid-40s. It’s extraordinary to have that kind of appeal.”

Fiss handles the daily dawn patrol from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.; he also hosts a Sunday morning smooth jazz program on Sunny 102 from 7 a.m. to noon. And Big Mike’s 27th annual “Old-Fashioned Live Christmas Broadcast” will take place on Friday, Dec. 19, 6:30 to 10 a.m. Performers will include Todd Hobin, Joe Whiting, Dan Elliott, PrimeTime with Paul Valentino, Donna Colton, Maria DeSantis, Steve Hurn, Jenny Pearson, Mystical Harrington and Brogan. You can see Fiss in person during the broadcast at the P&C supermarket, 5351 N. Burdick St., Fayetteville. Admission will be free. For more information, call 472-9111.