Gavin Ferguson is one of the presenters on Audacy’s radio show, “The Wake Up Call,” coming across the airwaves on 106.5 The End every weekday between 5:30-10 a.m., live from Roseville. Ferguson’s booming voice, infectious laugh, and fun banter with co-hosts Katie Beers and Kevin Nguyen literally wake up greater Sacramento’s population every day, keeping the community entertained with show segments such as “War of the Roses” and “Married Name Upgrade/Downgrade.” His warmth on the air is just the same when we meet in person to chat about those early starts and the work he does with bereaved families.

If it’s not too personal, what time do you wake up?

My alarm goes off at 4:15 a.m. and then I snooze for about 20-25 minutes, which my wife hates! She tells me she wakes up too, but she gets to lay in bed! I arrive at the station about 4:45/5 a.m.—I have an easy commute at that time of day. The show starts at 5:30 a.m.

It took a couple of years to get used to the early mornings, but I’m at the point where I love it now (he’s just celebrated 20 years of breakfast radio shows!). I can be around for my kids, have business meetings, and go to the gym—it works for me. 

What happens after the show? 

After going off-air, we record some of the segments such as “War of the Roses.” It’s so popular and that amazes me given what happens in it! We have more requests than we should have for it. “Second Date Update” is fun and cute, and that’s also pre-recorded, as well as the prank calls. In the prank calls we can be creative; they’re like improv, which I did in college, except only one of you knows it’s happening! And then several times a week all three hosts come together for “ideas meetings.” The ideas could be from our personal lives, from the news, or things we’ve seen, and we pitch them to each other—trying to convince one another why our idea should be a feature. Once we’ve decided on the good ideas, we discuss how to flesh them out, what angles we should take, and how they will “break sound” on the air.

Every afternoon I map out the next day’s show. I try to achieve balance for each hour, so there’s variety. I send it over to Katie and Kevin to make sure they’re OK with it. We don’t have a script; again, it’s more like improv. We know how a piece will start and end, but the middle is very fluid. It’s fun! 

In 2015, you lost your daughter, Phoebe, and she was stillborn.  

Yes, she was alive on her due date but then a few days later, she passed. Throughout the pregnancy, I had been updating the listeners on progress and funny things that happened. So, both my wife and I decided to go on the show soon after her passing and explain that Phoebe had died. People still come up to me and say they remember where they were that day. My wife and I realized we wanted to help others who are going through the same grief, but we didn’t know how. Therapy really benefited us. We knew we were fortunate enough to be able to afford it, so we set up a charity, Phoebe’s Foundation, to pay for therapy for others who’ve been through a stillborn birth but can’t afford therapy. We had a core group of therapists who specialized in that kind of grief trauma, and we referred people to them. We recently decided to close the charity, because, sadly, it became too successful. We’re two working parents of three children and were missing emails from people who needed these services. We just couldn’t stay on top of it.

But despite closing the foundation, you do continue to help, don’t you?

Yes. I still receive messages from people going through this; in fact, I received one this morning. When it happened to us, it felt as though no one understood, so I offer to call or visit them. But sometimes I just give them my phone number, in case they want to text—that’s what my wife preferred.    

I personally found other parents who understood [what I was going through] at a charity called Sharing Parents: a group of people who’ve also experienced infant loss. They’re not professionals or therapists, but parents who can empathize with what you're going through. 

We may have closed the charity, but we can still help people navigating this. Phoebe gave us a superpower to help others, so we try to honor her by doing that. 

RESTAURANT: Every week, my wife insists that we get takeout from Jalisco Grill. She loves their taco salad and has that every week; I, on the other hand, change my order and mix things up!

Activity: Orangetheory Fitness in Roseville. It honestly does just as much, if not more, for my mind than my body. 

Work perk: The easy answer is I get free tickets to movies and concerts. I’ve broadcasted live from Disneyland and got to see the park before it opened, but the biggest perk is being able to be creative every day and laugh with my friends at a job I love.

by Caroline Kings
Photos by Jyo Bhamidipati