Michigan High School News Show From The 90s Returns: ‘You Won’t Believe What They Got Away With’

This weekend we are honoring the 80s and 90s. We have already shared some of the news headlines Michiganders were talking about in the 1980s. Then I got to thinking about my years overseeing a high school news program in the mid to late 1990s. Looking back on it now, I still cannot believe what we got away with.

The 1990s Over-The-Top High School News Show That Started At Lake Fenton

This was an awesome precursor to my time as host of local Flint radio shows 'Just Bob and The Nite Time Party', 'Fenech on The Fox', and now the number-one rated 'Cars Morning Drive with Jeremy Fenech', even 'Jeremy Thompson and The Five O'Clock Rush on Evansville's 106.1 KISS-FM. Without the creative freedom I had while producing 'Blue Devil Talk', I'm not sure if any of those radio shows would have ever existed, and certainly not the way they ended up.

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It is not like we were overly obscene when we were producing one of the very first video news programs for high school students of that era. We simply had fun making the morning announcements over the school’s public address system, with music of the times, more entertaining and engaging, while making a ridiculous number of references to the 1990s.

How Blue Devil Talk Turned High School's Morning Announcements Into Comedy

Not only were we bringing simple jokes to normally boring school announcements, we were also creating commercials for our school newspaper and features from our video news program based on the trends of the time.

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We were simply spoofing commercials that everyone knew. From Gold Bond Medicated Powder to Rogaine with Minoxidil, Grey Poupon, Army recruitment ads, and countless spoofs of Budweiser commercials.

The Michigan High School TV Trend Of The 1990s

Lake Fenton High School’s “Blue Devil Talk” ran from January of 1995 to January of 1997. I was the producer and was hired by the Board of Education to keep the program running for a semester after I graduated in 1996. Everything was running smoothly until the person who was supposed to take over editing the show backed out less than a week before I left.

Why Blue Devil Talk Ended In 1997

Needless to say, Lake Fenton’s Blue Devil Talk came to an abrupt end. As the co creator, I was sad to see it go. With other area high school news programs like Kearsley’s K TV and Durand’s R TV also operating at the time, it felt like the end of something pretty special.

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Years later, Lake Fenton once again has a high school news program that airs daily instead of weekly. In fact, the old PA system is pretty much obsolete now. Teachers in each homeroom can play the daily episodes using a YouTube link.

But back in our day, we used the school’s Channel One system to broadcast the show to the entire school at the same time. We even had a time slot on Fenton’s public access Channel 19.

Why The Michigan High School TV Trend Of 1996 Can't Exist in 2026

Today, if you tried to pitch a commercial to a Board of Education that spoofs a beer commercial, you would probably be rejected and might even get the show cancelled.
Recently, I reached out to several of the old BDT anchors and reporters and we put together a 30 year reunion special of Blue Devil Talk. It never aired at the school, but it has already built a surprisingly large following on YouTube.

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Could your local high school get away with this today? Probably not, according to Lake View TV representative Braden Diehl, BDT's successor. But this endeavor prepared me for my radio career, and you can totally look back and see the sarcasm and the humor!

The 30 Year Blue Devil Talk Reunion Special

Enjoy the 30 year anniversary of Lake Fenton High School’s Blue Devil Talk. I want to give a huge shout out to original cast members Rachel Sharpe, Deidra Gillespie, Leslie Riegel, Nikki Hill, April Acetta, Derek LeMay and my favorite foreign exchange student who is back home in Costa Rico for making this happen.

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Not to mention my own kids, Ben, Hayli and Parker who appeared on the BDT Reboot specials. Enjoy the 30 Year Reunion of Blue Devil Talk... and try not to be offended by the 90s nostalgia! You may also see Cars 108 Legends like J. Patrick and George McIntyre appear in a special segment! Check out the full episode below, and the commercials we blatantly satirized after that!

We have got to give love to Johnny Hooper, who now owns the rights to the 'Blue Devil Talk Theme Song', and he also created a great custom jingle package for Cars 108.