Features

Perspective: Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson
President/Creative Director
Groundrush Media
Atlanta GA


Job history
My first job was working as a board operator at a local radio station in the Virgin Islands my freshman year of High School. I would simply play music on the weekends Sat & Sun from 12am-6am. My Dad saw the love I had for the broadcast industry so he would drive me and pick me up from work every weekend. By my sophomore year I was promoted to being on the air from 12am-6am on the weekends. So now, if you can imagine a teenager actually speaking on the radio at that age, I was in heaven. I worked at that radio station throughout High School and once I graduated I decided not to go to College right away.
I continued working at the radio station in the V.I. and then became a Radio Disc Jockey working 6pm-10pm M-F. Two years after high school I was still working at the radio station and I decided to explore my options and take a shot at applying for a job at a Major Market station. In the spring of '94 I landed a job with WXYV Radio (V-103) in Baltimore Maryland, replacing one of their legendary Disc Jockeys Frank Ski who had just been promoted to Morning Drive on V-103. I spent 3 years in Baltimore and eventually also became the MD of the station.
I started getting bored with being On the Air but I didn't want to get out of broadcasting so I found an opportunity to become the production director at a Radio-One Station in Atlanta, Ga. Hot 97.5. My basic duties consisted of voicing and producing radio commercials for the radio station. I put so much of my energy in perfecting this craft that what happened was, clients of the radio station started contacting me directly to do their commercials. Now keep in mind, clients were suppose to get their commercials produced at no charge because they were doing business with the radio station, but people would actually pay me on the side to do their commercials because according to them I was really good at making commercials that were away from the norm. Long story short I did so much side business that my side hustle was making more money than my check, so I paid more attention to that than what I was actually hired to do. My wheels started turning and I started thinking that if I keep this up I can raise enough money to go into business myself and start a voice-over/radio production company.
I played both sides of the fence for quite sometime. I was getting a check from the radio station and getting crazy loot from my hustle. I took every penny I had and started to invest into recording equipment to build a studio in the basement of my home. I achieved the goal of getting my studio at my house and then it finally caught up with me, the radio station found out that I was getting paid by clients to do spots and that was not acceptable. The General Manager at the time, Mary-Catherine Sneed, fired me because of this, which she had every right to do, but I must say that was the best thing that ever happened to me. The day I got fired from Radio-One I sat on the couch in my living room for about 10 hours wondering if I had enough faith in myself to go into business for myself and something in me just snapped and said "If it doesn't work out you could always get another job, but you will always wonder what would've happened if you didn't try."
That was it. I was also very surprised that the client list I developed at the radio station kept coming back and the list kept growing of people that I did Radio commercials for. I decided I needed a name for this company and one of my best friend's girlfriend suggested I call the company Groundrush Media because it would totally signify the quality of work you produce, very high energy, adrenaline rush, creative type of work. June 1999 was the birth of Groundrush Media. Since then I moved the company out of my basement in McDonough, Ga. into and unbelievable property in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The company has grown to 17 employees and I have added on two other Departments to make Groundrush Media not only an audio company but also an unbelievable vibrant multimedia creative firm. We offer Audio imaging, TV/Post Production Imaging, and Digital Media Imaging (Web Design/Print Design/Illustration/Graphics).

What are you currently working on? Your day-to-day responsibilities?

Groundrush is currently working on numerous projects, just to name a few:
Usher's Confession Special Edition Album TV commercial
3 Days Grace TV Commercial
Jay Z and R Kelly's Unfinished Business Album TV Commercial
A web site design for a nightclub in Germany called Club Static
Radio Commercials for a new energy drink called N Motion for it's national launch
The list can go on & on & on……

My day-to-day responsibilities include one thing, come to work and be creative. I head up the creative at the company and my partner Michael Gidewon heads up the financials and office duties with the administrative staff. So my duties are kind of fun but can also be very mentally draining. I have to constantly stay ahead of who's doing what in every media facet that we are involved in and believe me, I always run across those days when I have a major creative block.
But I love what I do and my staff and I always manage to amaze ourselves every time so I wouldn't have it any other way.

What inspires/motivates you?

I have several mentors that have and always will inspire me. Pat Garrett one of the unbelievable Voice-Over artists of our day. He is also a very close friend who took me under his wing and showed me the ropes to this game. Mitch Faulkner is another Voice-Over Artist that always amazed me. Ted Turner, the fact that he built his empire on his own to become a Media Mogul. (which is where we are trying to get to.)

What are your biggest challenges or the downsides of what you do?

Our biggest challenge in what we do is the fact that we are not in New York or LA where most of the companies that do what we do are located. We are slowly overcoming that obstacle as we prove to clients that with the way technology is today, Groundrush Media can supply you with creative wherever you are in the world and chances are we will do it better and faster than the guy in your backyard.

How do you balance your personal and professional life?

What personal life? (lol) Seriously, It's hard and I have to make a real effort to say when your at home your at home and work is work. I am always moving so it's hard for me to keep still and I am always thinking and there was a time in my life where work would fill the void of having something to do. Now I have learned to replace that with more recreational stuff like playing golf, now that's all I want to do. (Just kidding) I have learned that true success is learning how to balance your life because a very important part of the success equation is having time for yourself.

What career achievement are you most proud of?

Groundrush Media. Calling that my own.

What was your biggest personal/career mistake and what did you learn from the experience?

I don't really look at anything I have done as a mistake, I look at it like this if, I had done anything differently, "screw ups" and all, I might be somewhere else.

Was there ever a time where you thought you might not succeed in what you're doing or if this was the right thing to do with your life? Please explain.

The first two years in business I felt like that. I feel like I set my expectations for being in business a little to high, such as going after clients I know I wasn't ready to tackle, and then falling on my face when I was denied the business and I never understood that it was about paying dues and realizing my newly found company was still in its infancy stage and that it would take some time for me to develop the credibility to get the bigger accounts so the company could grow. I was really trying to walk before I crawled. I wanted to quit several times, but I made a promise to someone very dear to me a long time ago that I would never quit; I would never give up, because they left me with an opportunity to be great and I continue to do this in their memory. (But that's another story)

Guiding principles?

Work hard. Never give up, because there is someone else out there that is trying to get to where you're at and if you allow it they will pull the rug from under you. Also, be humble and always practice doing good business.

Birthday? Where you grew up? Where you went to school?

My birthday is October 15, 1973. I grew up in St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands and went to St. Joseph's High in St. Croix. Then I attended University of MD College Park and continued at Georgia State but never graduated.

Message Mike Johnson and tell him what you think

Ray Tamarra

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