Michi is the director of J1 Radio and the founder of REC Networks, an entity that has been providing entertainment, information and support since July 20, 1984. In the 1980's under her old identity, she ran the telephone entertainment line REC407. REC407 would later evolve into interactive public voice mail and entertainment systems. Also under the REC umbrella, Michi has been involved in the creation and promotion of the Low Power FM (LPFM) radio service, a method of where community organizations can receive FM broadcast stations with an effective range of approximately 6 km.
In the late 90's after starting a successful fan website for the Cartoon Network series The Powerpuff Girls, Michi created a "listening companion" to the website, POWERPUFF-FM. The station featured mainly cartoon music including themes to Japanese animation (anime) series. Michi would start a second broadcast called POWERPUFF-HARDCORE at a higher bandwidth and focusing on "long form" songs including those performed in Japanese. In 1999, POWERPUFF-HARDCORE would remove the full length cartoon music and the format was strictly anime songs (anison). The name of the station would change to Anime Hardcore Radio. Due to the storage restrictions of Live365, Michi created multiple Hardcore stations. Hardcore 1 for upbeat, Hardcore 2 for "the lighter side of anime" and eventually Hardcore 3 for karaoke and background music (BGM) tracks.
In 2001, Michi was going to create a 4th Hardcore channel that would feature the mainstream music from the artists who recorded the anison. In Japanese, because the number 4 is pronounced "shi", which is also the word for death, Michi called the station Hardcore J. The concept of Hardcore J would quickly transform into a Top-40 Japanese chart format including a Top-30 countdown show. The countdown would go to the Top-40 in 2002. While the 4th network, Hardcore J defied death as the Anime Hardcore channels would eventually fade away over time, Hardcore J remained strong. In the summer of 2009 to better compete with terrestrial FM as well as with other internet radio services, Hardcore J was rebranded J1FM (or J1 Radio or just J1).
From 2007-2009, Michi was very active in the sport of womens flat track roller derby in the state of Arizona under the name "Michi-chan". Michi would travel around the state to capture games (bouts) on video and then make a longform video show with bout highlights and news. In 2010, Michi made live appearances as the announcer for the Desert Dolls Roller Derby league in Phoenix, AZ. While semi-retired from derby, Michi continues to operate derbydata.com, an Arizona roller derby score and standings site. Michi also maintains the Arizona Power Rankings.
In addition to J1 and REC, Michi is also a full time student going back to school at the age of 42. She plans to major in East Asian Studies and specifically the Japanese language. Michiko Ota 太田道子 is a tsushomei or "legal alias". If Michi ever plans to live in Japan for an extended period of time, she can legally take this name as a second name. This is a law that allows non-Japanese foreigners to take on a Japanese name to better mix into society.
What's next for the Michi? Who knows. Stay tuned!
