1 week Ago By Tracy Briggs
FARGO — Amanda Lea is usually all laughs and good vibes on Big 98.7’s Morning Show, which is exactly what you'd expect from an early morning radio host. But on Wednesday, listeners heard something totally unexpected: Amanda, through tears, shared a heartfelt message that stopped everyone in their tracks.
You've been with me through every chapter of my life. Fifteen years ago, I sat behind this microphone for the first time, not knowing how much this show and all of you would come to mean to me. That's why it is so hard for me to announce that it's time for me to step away.
Lea has been a fixture in the local radio scene since 2009, when she moved from Denver to co-host The Froggy 99.9 Morning Show. In 2013, she transitioned to Big 98.
7 during its launch, where she became an integral part of the morning lineup. Lea and her radio partners (who have included Jesse James, Pike Taylor, and Gordo) have won "Best Local Radio Show" in The Forum's "Best of The Red River Valley" competition five times, most recently in 2023. She explained to loyal listeners why now is the time to call it quits.
My kids are growing fast, and I want to be there in the mornings, making memories with them like I've made with you. In an interview with The Forum, Lea said the decision had been weighing on her for months. Her thoughts kept returning to her mother, Barb Wohlwend — the woman she lovingly called “Big Momma.
” Over the years, Lea has shared stories of her mom’s strength during a long battle with cancer before her passing in 2016 at just 54 years old. “I’ll be 40 this year. I just felt in my heart I needed to change.
After losing my mom so young and I realized every moment matters,” she said. She was quick to point out that her employers at Radio FM Media have been ‘amazing’ and ‘supportive’, allowing her flexibility with her family and even letting her bring her kids — Sidney, 6, and Briggs, 4 — to work. “I did not miss a beat.
Nancy Odney and Jim Ingstad, that company, have bent over backwards to make sure that I had all of those memories,” she said. She said it came down to the self-induced stress of trying to give 100 percent to everyone. “I think I'm probably a perfectionist.
I put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel like if I’m not all-in everywhere, I’m failing,” Lea said, echoing a message that hits home for working moms everywhere. She said the littlest of moments led her to make one of the biggest decisions of her life.
“My daughter was starting kindergarten. She’s a girl who wants her hair curled in the morning. She's a girl who wants her mom to take her to school, do all the things and when those things start weighing heavy on your heart, you start making decisions that you never really thought you'd be making, because, of course, I was gonna die on the radio!” she said.
She doesn’t rule out returning to radio someday. In fact, she hasn’t ruled out anything in this giant leap of faith. “Everybody’s asking, 'What’s your plan?’ I don’t have a plan! My husband’s losing his mind a little.
He’s like ‘OK, this is great! But we have bills to pay,’” Lea said with the throaty laugh listeners have come to love over the years. Her official last day on the air is Thursday, April 10, where she hopes to share stories and memories with co-host Gabe Glidden. After that, she said she just wants to enjoy the summer with her kids, savoring the moments she only gets on weekends when she can sleep past 4 a.
m. “My Saturdays and Sundays are so great because my kids roll over and say ‘good morning,’” Lea said as she started crying. “I’m probably the most excited that I’ll get to do that every day.
” As much as she’s looking forward to morning snuggles with her kids, Lea said the hardest part is saying goodbye to listeners who’ve become like family — people who’ve stood by her through some of life’s biggest moments: a stroke at 26 , a divorce, the loss of her mom, marrying her soulmate Nick and becoming a mother. Wednesday morning, as she sat nervously in front of the microphone, she felt like she had a sign from her own mother that she was making the right decision. “Right before I went on air to make the announcement, I just had all the feelings.
I was really anxious. I just started praying and I looked out the window at work, and I saw a beautiful rainbow," she said. "I've never had that as a sign from her.
It's usually in the sunsets, and it was just that moment of, OK, she'd be really proud of me, because she knows how hard this is for me, but at the same time how important it is for me.”.
