Mike Gastonguay

Mike Gastonguay is a former media personality who operated in Boston, MA and briefly in Los Angeles, CA. Gastonguay specialized in sports reporting for several regional media outlets.
Michael Charles Gastonguay was born to Joel and Janine Gastonguay on March 1, 1983 at Salem Hospital in Salem, MA. Gastonguay attended Beverly High School where in addition to regular academics, studied broadcasting and media under the direction of educator Robert Dunn. Gastonguay later went on to Emerson College where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism in 2005.
Gastonguay debuted on radio in 1997 as a High School Student Reporter for the former WESX-AM Radio in Salem, MA. He provided pre-recorded sports updates for “The Breakfast Club” hosted by Larry Burnham and long-time local broadcaster Al Needham. Just a freshman at the time, Gastonguay specialized in high school hockey updates for the Northeastern Conference. He worked with for WESX for the better part of 3 years.
In August 1998, Gastonguay developed the concept for a joint media effort combining television and internet, titled “sportsWIRE.” sportsWIRE featured local & national sports information and links via web pages created for free web hosting networks Geocities and Freeservers. sportsWIRE TV debuted as a monthly special in 1999 on MediaOne’s Beverly Community Access (later titled BEVCAM) featuring coverage of high school sports, local adult roller hockey, college sports, and (as part of his volunteer efforts) the annual regional Special Olympics games. A spin off on sportsWIRE, wireMEDIA, was later developed as a medium for non-sports related entertainment including music and travel. Popular Boston DJ, DJ Die Young (then known as DJamieM) was a frequent contributor to the music pages of wireMEDIA. sportsWIRE, and Gastonguay’s overall media efforts, received commendation at the 2001 Beverly High School Senior Awards as well as a citizenship commendation from Beverly Mayor William Scanlon. sportsWIRE concluded its web and TV coverage on June 28th, 2001 featuring a special farewell speech delivered on Gastonguay’s final TV episode. The episode was viewed at a private outdoor party hosted at his family residence. Gastonguay later returned to BevCam in 2006 as a guest analyst for Beverly High School hockey.
Gastonguay made his return to radio on September 23, 2001, as a sports staff member for WERS-FM Boston at Emerson College. His first appearance on “Sports Sunday” featured news and reaction to the untimely death of University of Maine Men’s Hockey head coach Sean Walsh. He would later work in tandem with former WERS hockey beat reporter Marc Manville. Gastonguay took over as hockey beat reporter in 2002 while working as assistant sports director. He was a regular contributor and frequent host of the program until taking the reigns as WERS head sports director in 2004. While working a hockey beat reporter, Gastonguay covered the Boston Bruins, Hockey East, and other minor and interscholastic hockey. He also was a regular featured guest on “Sports Remix” hosted by Gordon Duke and Jim Delung on Emerson’s campus radio station WECB. In August 2004, Gastonguay parted ways with WERS to pursue internship opportunities in Los Angeles, CA. Gastonguay would approach WERS about a return in 2005, but opted not to pursue due to the intensive direction of then sports director Evan White, whom can be traced to the ultimate dismantle of the WERS Sports Department.
In September 2004, Gastonguay moved temporarily to Los Angeles, CA and interned at KXTA-AM (now KLAC.) He served as an associate producer for “The Loose Cannons” featuring Steve Hartman, Mychal Thompson, and Vic “The Brick” Jacobs. Dubbed “Boston Mike” in October 2004, Gastonguay worked in Burbank while continuing education at Emerson’s satellite campus. Gastonguay left KXTA in December 2004 upon expiration of his internship, but not before obtaining his first major market head producing credit for a commercial radio station while filling in for producer Sonn Eidem on Joel Myers’ “Lakers Reloaded” broadcast.
After returning to Boston for his final college semester, Gastonguay contributed occasional articles to InsideHockey.com. Gastonguay attended his final Beanpot and Hockey East Championship as a beat reporter in 2005. Gastonguay’s last article was published in 2008, highlighting the new AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks.
Mike Gastonguay currently resides in Danvers, MA not far from his birth home, with his girlfriend Heather Madden. He is currently working as a manager of Real Estate appraisers and is not an active member of the media, but frequently “Tweets” and Blogs his (often biased) opinions of sports and entertainment on popular social networking sites.

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