About Andy
Personal Message
Andy O
I’d like to welcome you to my page for the campaign to be a Muskegon County Commissioner for District 2 in the County. I have served as the Mayor Pro-Tem in Roosevelt Park in the past and I did attempt a run for the State House in 2018. It’s my hope that you’ll find enough information about me here that will assure you that I am the best qualified candidate to help Muskegon County and all of the residents in it continue the path we are on, which in my view is remarkably good, but we have some areas to work on as well. To me, getting that work done is a lot more important than being seen for the work or trying to “stand out” with any personal agenda.
I grew up in Sparta, and a majority of my younger days were spent in Muskegon, Grand Rapids had yet to begin to become what it is, and Muskegon was booming in my teens and early 20’s. Life brought me here in a career move in 1999-2000 to be a morning radio host, and like so many others, I figured it would be a temporary thing. Well, temporary being the rest of my life…that’s what it’s become. I was still struggling some back then, I was given sobriety in 2003 which was the first gift Muskegon knew I needed and since, my life has become something I have never imagined. My wife Cindy and I live in Cedar Creek Township. We have 9 grandkids from ages 16-10 or so and everything I missed in life has been made up by her. I left my radio career in 2012 as the values of the company no loner reflected my idea of how local media should operate in a community to best serve under a federal license. It was a choice I never believed I’d have to make. My radio career was based on the idea that I had my dream job. I had jobs before that that I HAD to do to get by, and it was very difficult. All I ever did was remember that it was up to me to remember the struggle that some had to deal with because they HAD to work to sustain instead of what they WANTED to do. It was my role to be their companion while they worked and provide a laugh, provoke a thought or call to action on a cause.
After a year in NASCAR. I came back and tried a couple of things…..but it was pretty clear that I needed to establish something on my own. With a GoPro Camera, I began Positively Muskegon. It was a blog to showcase those who can do the most incredible things, with almost nothing and truly deserve the spotlight. Today, that little first blog id just shy of 700,000 page views. All built on belief in those who can. Later came The Muskegon Channel and Muskegon Channel Radio. Followed by management of Public Access TV Channel 96 Muskegon and our newest page Muskegon, Better.
The concentration of all of these efforts is an attempt to show our community, and the rest of the world the strength and value of Muskegon. All of Muskegon and when I say that, I mean the county. No one looks at us as a bunch of municipalities with unique issues, we’re one. I think we are more alike than we are different too, and I’ll explain that more on the MY GOALS page. These efforts to show us for who we are… they have broken all stereo types of what we’ve known for media. We are on demand for Roku, Fire TV, the Muskegon Channel Mobile App and online. We have brought live television back to Muskegon and we continue to work diligently to teach new broadcasters the way we do things compared to the national trend of clickbait and shock and awe.
I have run as a Democrat, and I don’t think it’s honorable to change that to try to morph into a “perfect fit” for a district that is very heavily conservative. I will tell you this however. I am a Dem for the reason I think that people and kids should come first. Human service is EXACTLY what local government is all about and to assure that adequate needs are met for police, fire, emergency services, community mental health and more needs to be the focus. Handouts should be hand up’s and the idea of neighbor helping neighbor is where it should always begin. I think very independently and I also work very hard to bring the chatter down when there’s disagreement and things go way off track from what needs to get done. I have had plenty of the show in my life, I don’t think we need another 5 minutes of anything but showing this community it’s value and pride through proper care and astute governance.
I thank you for your time and invite you to be a part of this campaign no matter what views you have.
