The late Mike Fleischer, created and hosted for many years the Celtic music program on WDCB Public Radio, serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Mike's regular opening for the show expressed the welcome in the music: "Treasures from the Isles .... the music of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Galicia, Brittany, and everywhere else that the Celtic musical root has taken flower."

Besides wonderful music, listeners got Mike's encyclopedic insights to the world of Celtic music. He also brought musicians into the studio - for listeners to get to know them as people, reminiscent of kitchen parties over the centuries in Ireland. Among the many artists interviewed were: Michael Banahan, Kevin Burke, Liz Carroll, Kell and Mike Chole,

John Daly, Jimmy Keane, Barbara McNulty, Rob O'Connor, Lee Murdock, Deborah Packard and Peter Cairney, and Noel Rice. A recent show even covered Celtic dance. Tributes to Mike poured in with his Hall of Fame nomination. Mike's wife Mary Ellen remembered, "He had a favorite quote ... 'A ship is safe in harbor- but that's not what ships are for' ... In many ways, that's how he lived his life."

Barbara McNulty, Director of the McNulty School of Irish Dance remembered Mike this way: " ... it's hard to describe the void left on our airways without his gentle voice and wide-reaching collection of Celtic music. He graced our evenings with a wonderful selection of Celtic talent - both from well-established names, but also those just emerging onto the scene. I especially remember his Christmas shows with the truly heartfelt messages of peace and hope for all those listening. His devotion to Celtic music and arts was evident in all his work, and he was as genuine, as inquisitive, and as kind in person as he sounded on the air. I feel fortunate to have known him."

Sydney Martin, tapped by Mike as his radio intern while in high school, wrote about her second of one hundred shows with Mike. Looking forward to helping behind the scenes, she was in for a surprise: "About two-thirds of the way through the show, Mike handed me two public service announcements, saying 'Now when the song is over, press this button and talk into this mic.' For a minute, I could feel nothing but sheer terror! However, when Mike started giving me the countdown to airtime, I first came to hear that reassuring, confident tone in his voice that became so familiar to me as my time at WDCB went on. That tone said to me that I could do anything, because Mike believed in me. Suddenly, that PSA was nothing I couldn't handle ... Mike was an amazing mentor ... No one deserves such a prestigious honor as a place in the Hall of Fame more than everybody's friend from County Lithuania."

Mike Considine, Cross Country Productions (for the band Arranmore) added this: "Mike was ALWAYS a great help with Arranmore ... One night after an Arranmore show as Mike was leaving to head home he came up me and said, "You know Mike, I get it!" To which I replied, "What?" He went on to say he now understood what Arranmore was all about by watching the audience. They just do great songs and hope their audience has fun enjoying it all."

From WDCB, Clarise Nickols, Assistant Operations Director, shared that "... as long as he was sharing the music he loved, he was happy." Ken Scott, Marketing Director, added, "It was obvious how much he loved his family, and how much he valued family values."

Rob O'Connor, with the band Another Pint, offered: "Mike Fleischer was one of the great ones! He'd always respond extremely quickly to my e-mails; he continually wanted to help people."

Mike Fleischer was a unique person with singular devotion to people enjoying music and each other. He can never be replaced. But he can be remembered, admired, and allowed to inspire others to lives of service to humanity through music.