Dear Younger Me
As I continue to settle back into the Joy99 family, and now most recently with my wife and co-host Amanda, I can’t help but think about what “younger me” would have thought if I told him where he’s at now…even for this small aspect of our life.
Join me on this journey for a moment…
I’ll start in December 2003. I’m graduating from Grand Valley State University with a degree in Broadcast Communications. I remember being in the Van Andel Arena with hundreds of other students with the thought of, “Where do I go from here?”.
TV just wasn’t for me, and I grew up surrounded and involved in music, so I turned my pursuit to radio. At the time, I was diving deeper into my faith and learning about the existence of Christian music, so my pursuit refined into Christian radio.
The short of this season was that I got my foot in the door with WJQK (JQ99 at the time) thanks to Tommy Dylan, helping to run the board for live broadcast and be an extra set of hands until August 2005 where I found myself with a full-time opportunity, thanks to (Big Daddy) Troy West.
For the next 9 years I was a utility player assisting with website maintenance, production, helping with news on our sister station, promotions, and eventually I landed on the air (overnights, weekends, fill-in - I even hosted afternoons between dedicated hosts) and took over the music direction.
God would open a unique door for me in October 2014. He would bring me to a new station in the Grand Rapids Market and join a morning show team, which is where I essentially met, Amanda!
Flash forward to May of 2025 and after 10 years of an amazing ride on the morning show, Amanda ventured off into non-profit work with Kids Hope USA. I would go on to hold down the show solo for a month before I was ultimately let go.
However…In God’s goodness, days later, he saw fit to re-open a door with WJQK (now Joy99) and become an updated utility player by assisting with digital efforts, listener engagement, and filling in on-air as needed.
Then, a few weeks ago we all learned of Ceci’s upcoming departure because of her own God-given open door. This whole moment resulted in Amanda and I bringing the band back together (so to speak) and now hosting afternoons on Joy99 on November 10th, 2025. It must be a good week to start hosting a show…our former morning show started on November 3rd, 2014.
This is very much an abridged version of my radio career. There are many other stories that we might get a chance to unpack together over time. But…along the way, there have been some major players, like Tommy, Troy, and Amanda.
On the first day of our afternoon show, Amanda and I found ourselves in the same studio I used to work in early in my radio career with some of these major players and new friends, and I thought to myself…
“If you could go back and tell younger me of the journey we’ve been on and how one day we’ll be standing in a room we’ve been in before, engaging in conversation with individuals that helped us get into Christian radio, we would not believe it.”
But God, right?! In a world that seems to demand logic, supporting evidence, rationale, and more…God is the ONLY answer to this beautiful journey.
You know how a pastor or youth group leader will talk about how we only ever seeing a small portion of the painting God has for our lives? Well, if you look at any one piece of my story, it’s certainly just a small portion, but if you zoom out and view the entirety of it, you’ll find God’s fingerprints are all over it. Zoom out some more, and I’m convinced there is still more to reveal.
I share this story in immense gratitude, but I also share it as an encouragement to YOU! Perhaps you find yourself in a “small portion” moment right now, but don’t forget that each “small portion” is going to reveal God’s beauty in time.
So, look back from time to time and check on the progress He’s making in your life. Not only will it encourage you in your trust of Him, but I imagine that many of those “small portion” stories could help others through theirs.
Thanks for joining me through this quick recap, but I also know that many of you have been around through this journey in real life and real-time and I sincerely thank YOU for your kindness and support that you’ve shown me and Joy99!
Blessings,
~Jeremy