Where’s Fresh FM’s Mindy?
My “blog”(ugh) has been getting a lot of extra attention lately for two reasons: one, the post about the Super Bowl and why establishments can’t say they’re holding a “Super Bowl” party, and two, because people are trying to find out what happened to Fresh FM’s morning show host, and local radio veteran of over 20 years, Mindy Williamson, who is mentioned in my critique of a former weekend host which I’ve since removed from my blog.
Anyway, WordPress blog owners can see what people are searching, and because I mentioned Mindy in a post, they’re being directed to me. So, since it’s kind of like people are asking me, I guess I’ll tell them: Mindy was let go (canned, fired, relieved of her duties, however you like to say it). Simple as that.
The London Free Press reported the news the first day she was off air, explaining that Corus (the parent company of Fresh FM) wanted to “go in a different direction”. This is somewhat understandable, Mindy has been in the business for over 20 years, which would estimate her age as a little out of the demographic that Fresh FM is trying to reach (17 – 35 year old females if I’m not mistaken). And this isn’t ass-kissing, but you wouldn’t know she was older than that, people that know Mindy well know that she is still a cool party chick who could probably outlast anyone in her demographic on any night of the week, but this is the entertainment business and if this was MTV, she would have been let go for being too old at 25 (note: that’s not me saying that they let go of Mindy because of her age, that would be libel if it’s untrue and would also be illegal for a company to do, I’ve got enough friends at Corus without needing to become acquainted with their legal team, I’m sure the reason was something else entirely).
I had the pleasure of being taught by Mindy during my years as a broadcast student (something she might deny if anyone asked, I haven’t made a ton of friends in the business since then for comments like the one I made in the first paragraph), and I’ll tell you that she’s doing just fine. I have a theory about where she may end up next based on some inside knowledge I gained over the last week or so but I’ll keep that to myself for now (a hint: she may not be done here in London and could possibly join a former friend somewhere else, it’s just a theory for now though).
So, that’s what happened to Mindy from Fresh. It should make Mindy happy to know that she has a lot of fans who wonder what happened to her, clearly people that were invested enough in her work to want to find out what happened to her and would probably listen to her on another station here in London (which, if my theory is correct, could be sooner than later).
Update – February 20, 2011: It would appear my theory was incorrect. These things happen…
Update – October 27, 2011: After a short guest hosting stint with Ken Eastwood, 102.3 BOB FM has decided to make Mindy a permanent fixture on the station. Fans of Mindy will be able to catch her in the same timeslot they used to enjoy her in, and not have to hear any Kesha. It’s a win-win! 🙂
A Dose of Buckley 
February 4, 2011 at 4:14 am
[…] NOTE: If you’re finding this article while trying to find out what happened to Fresh FM’s Mindy Williamson, read my article on “Where’s Fresh FM’s Mindy?“ […]
July 23, 2011 at 3:29 am
Worst thing they did was let Mindy Go…..I stopped listening to Fresh FM when that happened…she was awesome…funny, great come backs and one liners……Miss her on air…..hope I bump into her sometime….just to tell her she is GREAT!!!!
August 11, 2011 at 6:11 pm
I was on maternity leave for a year, and when I came back to work in June, the first thing I noticed was Mindy’s absence on my morning commute! The new girl is fine, but please let Mindy know that I was a fan of hers too, and enjoyed listening to her every morning on my drive to work. I wish her well!
October 27, 2011 at 10:58 am
Your theory was correct, Mindy is officially hosting the morning show on Bob FM with Ken, and they are great together.
December 5, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Best move Corus made! I find it hard to believe she lasted as long as she did. Heres my inside. She was canned, bottom line. Getting paid an absorbanent amount of money for reading the news and nothing else. About a three hr work day to be specific. Radio in london is completely over rated and has little to nothing to offer a listener, theyve (Corus) iare on the right track blowing out overpaid talentless “personalities.” Astral, Standard and Blackburn should follow suit and bring out their giant can of radio pledge so London can start to enjoy the airwaves again with fresh new talent. Dust the lack-of-luster fossils currently occupying the air and give the jobs to some young vibrant folks who can make radio worth listening to agian.
April 25, 2012 at 1:50 am
To leonard.. If you ever read this. It is totally untrue that all she did was “read the news and nothing else”. She had many other responsibilities like the DAILY original “world according to” segments, which would take her an hour or 2 of research nightly tp come up with, as well as daily blog posts that corus demands, and mc ‘ ing events for corus a couple times weekly, and recording commercals. You obviously have a very skewed vision of her work day if you think it was only three hours,(the show itself was 4.5 hours long) it was more like 6 at the station, with an addidtional 2 or 3 of research at home nightly. Dont talk sh*t if you dont know what your talking about. Its completely unfair to call her talentless, and if radio is going to get better in london, (which i agree, it sucks) that will come from the program directors that play the same song 3 times in an hour.