Michael Ridley

Born in the Natural state, Michael moseyed across the Red River into Texas when he was four.  The story goes that on his last day of preschool in Little Rock he actually quoted Davy Crockett by saying “You all can go to Hell, I’m going to Texas”.  However, there are serious doubts Michael knew who Crockett was at the age of four.

Michael’s family settled down in the small town of Quinlan where he grew up and attended Ford High School.   Michael ran for a place on the Quinlan ISD Board of Trustees when he was still attending Ford as a senior.  Many folks around town including several teachers felt he had a chance of winning, which many believe led to him receiving straight A’s his senior year and graduating with honors, however the truth still remains a mystery.   Michael lost the election by 85 votes.  He lost by an even larger margin the following year.

After graduating from Quinlan Ford in 1999, Michael was accepted to the University of North Texas but instead enrolled at Texas A&M University – Commerce to stay a little closer to home.  He took his sweet time, but finally graduated from A&M-Commerce in the spring of 2005 with a degree in Radio & Television Broadcasting.  Michael actually joined the KETR staff as a student worker in the fall of 2001.  Michael climbed aboard the Bluegrass Special with Bill Ogden and has been the engineer for over a decade.  The word around Northeast Texas is that Bill Ogden remains on the Bluegrass Special simply for the fact Michael won’t stop the train and let him off.  With Michael at the controls it is possible Bill could be stuck on the Bluegrass Special for another 30 years.

The next time you are on the campus of A&M-Commerce on a Sunday, who knows? You might just get a glimpse of the mysterious Michael Ridley.