Mike was born November 17, 1981, and grew up in Freeport and Wantagh, New York.
While growing up, Mike did his own personal projects. You could call them "hobbies." He made home
video episodes of a show with his cousin. The show had 167 episodes between September 17, 1994,
and June 24, 2001. Not bad for a home video hobby. As for home audio, he did play-by-play for his
friends beginning on September 12, 1998, on his audio recorder for what he called "The PAL Today."
When he left the Nassau County PAL (Police Athletic League), the show became "Bowling Today."
Finally, in September 2000, he settled on the name "The Bowling Show." Mike ended the show's run on
July 21, 2001. He then did a few reunion shows in 2003 before doing the last one on June 21, 2003.
With his remaining spare time, Mike watched The Weather Channel. He didn't watch merely for the
weather. He also watched for the local forecasts to hear the music excerpts that were played. This
began in the late 1980's. So, Mike got to hear artists and groups like David Benoit, Dan Siegel, the
Crusaders, Dave Grusin, David Arkenstone, Pat Metheny Group, the Rippingtons, George Benson,
Jean-Luc Ponty, John Tesh, and Larry Carlton. He never thought of buying the artists' CDs until his
late teens. Since 1997, he has amassed hundreds of CDs. They are all on shelves in his room.
On October 5, 2001, while attending Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus in Brookville, New
York, Mike put his collection to use and began a show at WebRadio WCWP called "The Mike Chimeri
Show." Every week, he played music from his vast collection. For many of the first 22 shows, he felt
he needed to include music from WCWP's studio library (later renamed Studio 3), but after the 23rd
show, all music was from his collection.
He also spent time with C.W. Post's campus television station, PTV, acting as a jack of all trades. He
operated all three studio cameras, the video switcher, the telephone hybrid, the audio mixer, and even
hosted two episodes of "Talk Live," a talk show with a different topic each week.
Mike graduated in January 2004 with a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) degree in Communication Arts.
Yet, he continued "The Mike Chimeri Show" until May 5, 2004. He attended commencement a few
days later on May 9.
On July 13, 2004, he resumed his career as an on-air personality with "The Instrumental Invasion" on
WGBB-AM in Freeport, New York (the studios were in West Babylon, however.) Once again, he used
the music from his collection. He had to. WGBB did not have a library. The show was on Tuesday
nights for the first three months before moving to Thursdays on October 14. Overall, there were 43
episodes of "The Instrumental Invasion" before Mike decided to end the show for good on May 5, 2005.
Six days later on May 11, he returned to the place where he began, WebRadio WCWP, to resume "The
Mike Chimeri Show." Once he returned, he recorded 68 interviews with 48 different guests (plus one
interview during a WCWP 88.1 FM special broadcast). The guests came from a variety of fields:
music, acting, politics, meteorology, game shows, theater, and career counseling.
He became a regular--and to a certain extent, still is--at jazz-oriented musical performances, seeing such
national groups as the Rippingtons and Long Island-based groups as the Dharma All Stars.
On October 13, 2006, Mike's five-year career came full circle after making a decision the week before
to move his show to Friday mornings. Mike began on Fridays at 7PM Eastern, and this time around,
the show aired at 10AM Eastern.
However, on December 4, Mike made a tough decision to finally end "The Mike Chimeri Show" for
good on Friday, January 5, 2007. The final show was a nice send-off and the end of a great era at
WCWP.
Beginning in the Fall of 2006, Mike began to move away from referring to his music as "smooth jazz,"
despite the "smooth jazz and [even] more" tagline for "The Mike Chimeri Show." He says it isn't so
much smooth jazz that he has played as it is contemporary jazz...and occasionally traditional jazz, jazz
fusion, and new age. Also, the influences for his on-air style are NOT smooth jazz station DJs. He
instead credits various game show hosts, sportscasters, former WABC-AM (and later WCBS-FM) DJs,
and his own knowledge and personality for the way he sounds on the air.
On May 22, 2007, Mike launched his own station on Live365 Internet Radio called MCJN: Mike
Chimeri Jazz Net. The station only lasted 6 1/2 weeks and signed off on July 7. Still, it was a
rewarding and worthwhile experience.
On October 7, Mike hosted "The 2007 Mike Chimeri Alumni Show," an alumni weekend radio show, on
WCWP 88.1 FM.
On October 29, WebRadio WCWP was shortened to WCWP.
On March 1, 2008, Mike adopted a new tagline: "Making contemporary jazz fun for you!" The reason
for the new tag is his goal has always been to make contemporary jazz fun, as well as informative, for
his listeners.
