I've been on the "Western Carolina BBQ Diet" for a decade now. It's like "The South Beach Diet" but without the beach and all that dieting stuff. When I moved to Charlotte to join the WCNC staff, a photojournalist took me to Red Bridges BBQ Lodge in Shelby, NC. I got saved there... in a purely pulled-pork sense.

Here's some background data: I'm a proud (and probably a smidge arrogant) graduate of the finest J-school in the country, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

I came to WCNC in the summer of 1998 from the NBC affiliate KYTV in Springfield, MO.

The first four years here I was a general assignment reporter. I covered five Hurricanes, a 500-year flood, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy, Super Bowl XXXVIII (the one the Panthers lost) in Houston ... and every other daily news story in between.

The last six years I've been the writer and host of "Carolina Traveler." My photographer, Andy Benton, and I romp all over North and South Carolina looking for the most interesting places and people.

Over the years I've been fortunate to work with Andy and other talented photojournalists who make me look good. They've helped me win two National Edward R. Murrow Awards, 10 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, 26 Regional Emmys, 11 Associated Press Awards and three National Gabriel Awards.

Away from my job, I'm a mildly smarter version of Forest Gump. I get a great sense of accomplishment from cutting my grass. Gardening and home improvement projects are Zen-like for me.

I was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1960. It's a "rustbelt" town that never recovered from the steel mill shutdowns in the 1970s. The working class people of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania are some of the finest I know. They care about their families, their neighborhoods, their places of worship and their schools. If they sound familiar it's because Carolinians and Ohioans are cut from the same cloth ... friendly to a fault, hardworking, honest and fair.

I'm the youngest of eight children ... five boys, three girls. My mom is tight with God and seems to know what is going to happen before it does. Of course she can never find her car keys but there are costs for being able to see into the future. I have a smart, funny and handsome son in college. I do what I can to cause him embarrassment. I am also beyond fortunate to have a beautiful and witty wife who loves me unconditionally. Though I think she would appreciate it if I shaved more often.

God is where it all starts for me. I guess I buried the lead (news terminology for NOT putting the most important detail at the top). I don't consider myself religious. My faith is more akin to an infinitely smart parent raising a rather slow, stubborn child. I try. I fail. I try again. My life in a nutshell.

E-mail Mike