No, it's true that I wasn't always known as Nick Sommers. But before we get to that, let's go back to the beginning. Want to know the history of The Nixter? Then, read on.
Since I was a small child, I've enjoyed entertaining people. The youngest of four children, I got a lot of encouragement from my older siblings to "go farther" and push the envelope of what was expected of us. Perhaps they merely did this to see me get into trouble with Mom and Dad, but it served to influence me to be my crazy self.
When I was a little boy, I loved to tinker with radios and cassette recorders. I would spend countless hours playing around with an old lunky cassette tape recorder, just using my imagination and making up stuff as I went along. As I got a bit older, I began using the tape recorder to record songs off the radio. Near the end of a song, I'd fade the radio down before the DJ had a chance to talk, then I'd fill in as though I were the radio announcer myself.
Though I had the heart to entertain, I still wasn't as energetic about it in public. Being outgoing wasn't something that came as natural to me at first. But that began to change when I was in the 9th grade.
I took Spanish 1 that year, and that automatically made me part of the CEC (Cultural Exchange Club). Every year, the club would put on the CEC Sponsored Talent Show. This meant that I would have no choice but to do something to help with the show. Naturally, all the refreshment server jobs got taken up quickly, so now I was going to have to be a contestant!
What the heck was I going to do? At first, I was going to be part of an act where these guys pretend to play baseball bats as guitars and lipsinc to "Smokin' In the Boys' Room". But I didn't feel it was me, so I backed out of the group the night before the Talent Show. I still had to decide what to do on my own, and I ultimately did.
Stand-up comic. That was my idea. I "borrowed" material from several sources -- which is to say that I ripped off other comedians. From Steve Martin, to Bill Cosby, to others I don't recall...I assembled a few minutes of one-liners and short story jokes, and tied them all together into a stand-up routine. Once it was over, I was relieved. But when the trophies were awarded, I was shocked.
I felt my performance was pretty good. I mean, nothing too special, but I thought I might possibly get the 5th place award. So I waited. The 5th place trophy was held up and a name was called...but it wasn't mine. I ventured to think that I might actually have gotten 4th place, but when that name was called...it wasn't mine, either. I figured that was it. I must not have placed at all, but at least it was behind me now.
Third place was called...and they said my name! I couldn't believe it. I grinned and went up to accept my trophy, amazed that I'd placed that high. There were some good performances that night, but most were people singing or playing an instrument. I had the distinction of being the only comedy act of the evening. That got the attention of the judges, as I learned later, and this gave my confidence a major boost.
Now that I was coming out of my shell, I became more open to doing other things. An opportunity came my way shortly after that first Talent Show, and I didn't have to take long to think about it. After seeing my act in the contest, the high school librarian (who was also the director of our school plays) asked me to join the Drama Club. I owe her a great deal in regard to the further building of my self-confidence when performing.
I ended up staying in the Drama Club all four years of high school, acting in every school play...and loving it! I also kept doing the Talent Show, and in my 10th grade year I won 1st place with another stand-up routine. That time, I combined mostly Steven Wright jokes with another comedian. The biggest part of the act was basically my impersonation of Steven Wright, one of my favorite stand-up comics. During this time, I was occasionally asked to perform in other venues, as well.
In the 11th grade, as was customary for the previous year's winner, I didn't compete in the Talent Show. Instead, I performed a stand-up routine during the break as entertainment while the judges tallied up the scores. But in the 12th grade, I decided to do something different. I'd always enjoyed doing impressions, and one of my favorites was Ronald Reagan. He was still President at that time, so I gathered some willing friends to do a special skit.
Behind a podium, I pretended to be President Reagan. Seated in chairs out in front of me, my companions pretended to be members of the press. We put on an act showing our idea of a Presidential Press Conference -- again, with mostly "borrowed" material. We didn't win a trophy that year, but we did get a lot of good laughs. And it was loads of fun.
Remember how I played "DJ" as a boy? Well, while still in high school I got bitten by the Radio Bug. This happened when visiting a local rock station to record a Just Say "No" ad. I was on the Teen Board at school, a drug-free organization which traveled to elementary schools and put on little drug prevention skits for the kids. We went into the radio station that day, and ever since then, I knew I wanted to someday become a radio announcer.
This happened while I was in my mid-teens, and it was along that time when I came up with what would later be my "radio-name." I knew that most radio personalities had fake names to use on the air, and I wanted to invent one for myself. Something that would lend itself easily to radio, and something that would also sound like a strong but simple male name.
Why a "strong" male name? Because my real first name is what I call a "neuter-name". In other words, I didn't want to use a name on radio that could be either a man's OR a woman's name. You know, names like: Leslie, Pat, Stacey, Taylor, etc. So, I began to think... What's a good strong male name? Hmmm...
In the mid-1980s, I used to like to watch the sit-com Family Ties. One of the female lead characters had a boyfriend named "Nick." Nick was rugged. Nick was cool. Nick was sort of like a "Fonzy" character. I liked the name, so I decided my future radio persona would have the first name of "Nick."
The last name took a little less thought. With a one-syllable first name, it stood to reason that the last name might do well to have two syllables. After trying out a few different names, listening to see how easily it rolled off the tongue, the name "Summers" sounded right to me. To be a little different, I changed the spelling. Dropping the "u" and replacing it with an "o," I settled on the name "Nick Sommers."
Keep in mind, this all happened long before I ever got my first job in radio. It wasn't until I was 19 that "Nick Sommers" hit the airwaves as a real DJ on WDTM (in a small west Tennessee town). And, it wasn't until early 2004 that I decided to give myself a middle name. Working at WIMO Radio in Georgia, I'd pondered the idea for a while. It started as a middle intial, then it hit me. "NXS" are just cool initials to have, so what's a good name that starts with "X?"
That's when Nick Sommers became Nicholas Xavier Sommers. It was while working at WIMO that my co-workers at the station began to refer to me as "the Nickster," as well. Eventually, I changed the spelling of that name, too. To simplify it, I dropped the "cks" and put an "x" there instead...making it "Nixter."