About Michi-chan
Michelle ("Michi-chan") Bradley (she/her) founded REC Networks in 1984 with a mission statement to "entertain, inform and support". These days, REC operates in a hybrid mode where on the business side, Michelle is involved with issues that affect radio broadcasters, especially smaller "community" radio stations. Michelle has been a supporter of the creation and growth of the Low Power FM (LPFM) radio service, which allows for nonprofit community groups to obtain small 100-watt FM stations with about a 4-mile range to operate under authority of the Federal Communications Commission. Michelle is a regulatory advocate and frequently interacts with the FCC on various issues. Some of Michelle's proposed changes have been implemented by the FCC. Michelle is seen as one of the leading authoritative voices on the regulation of small radio stations.
REC Networks, through it's "Fun and Games Department", currently operates various streaming radio stations, including Michi-FM and four channels of Japanese music. Also in the Fun and Games Department is Michi-chan Sports, the recent relaunch of Michi-chan Roller Sports Productions, which was involved in the flat track roller derby scene in Arizona from 2007 through 2010.
Michelle also serves as President of a separate entity, the Riverton Radio Project, which currently holds authorization to construct a 100-watt Low Power FM radio station in Riverton, Maryland.
Before the Michi was the Michi
The start of Michi-chan in entertainment goes back before the Michi was Michi-chan. Let's just call it the "old identity", and we will leave it a that.
During those early days in that old identity, dating back to 1984, Michi had been operated audio entertainment recordings that were played over telephone lines in Southern California. At that time, there was a local subculture that would call these types of recordings and participate in their discussions as well as use phone lines (sometimes erroneously referred to as "party lines") to talk to others who called the same phone number. Michi would eventually help design and operate interactive telephone services where callers could use their Touch Tone phone to interact with the system to post public messages, play games, send and otherwise interact with others who used the system. In many ways, it was a precursor to more modern social networks such as MySpace and Facebook.
The unknowing bite of the derby bug
Growing up in Southern California, Michi used to watch the old school roller derby on TV from the old Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. This was about a decade before that RollerGames show with the alligators. Back then, the games were played on a traditional banked track, had teams like the Los Angeles T-Birds and sideshow characters such as Mizz Georgia Hase. The games were 8 periods, 10 minutes per period and alternated between men and women each period. It would take two 60-minute TV episodes to show a complete game. Michi was very fond of the women's periods and watching the crazy antics, not yet thinking that a form of this sport may be in Michi's future.
Moving to Arizona
In 1995, Michi would eventually find herself living in Tempe, Arizona (near Scottsdale & Curry Rd., north of what was then a dry Salt River, but still City of Tempe). Michi would run an interactive phone system similar to those ran in Southern California. Michi also got into streaming audio back in the late 90s and started to operate radio formats that were niche in scope, such as POWERPUFF-FM, which was named after a popular cartoon series at the time that was on the cutting edge of pop culture. From there, it would eventually morph into Japanese language music and still operates to this day as J1 Radio, still operated by the Michi.
Michi's modern derby discovery
Around 2006, Michi would see a news story on KTLA out of Los Angeles (at that time, KTLA was a "super station" and anyone with Dish Network could watch KTLA) about the Los Angeles Derby Dolls (LADD). LADD was (and still is) an all-girl roller derby league that played on the traditional banked track (this was almost 20 years after the alligators). That news report on KTLA was when Michi discovered modern resurgence roller derby.
After doing some research, Michi would discover that the Phoenix area had local roller derby leagues, such as the Arizona Derby Dames (AZDD), but these leagues did not play on a banked track, instead they played a version of the game on a flat track. Michi would eventually find out that her next door neighbor used to skate for AZDD on the Coffin Draggers and that the owner of a local business that she frequented was an active skater on AZDD's Brutal Beauties.
Michi-chan was known as Michi-chan before her derby discovery as the name is associated with her love of Japanese pop culture. Michi was a play on the name Michelle and "-chan" is a Japanese honorific that is usually used to refer to young girls in certain settings. In those early days, Michi-chan was her handle on various social networks and internet relay chat (IRC) servers.
During this early time, Michi had an interest in "seifuku" (school uniform) fashion and in 2007 for Arizona Derby Dames, she found herself attracted to their new team for Season 3, the School Yard Scrappers, a team that had a theme of "naughty Catholic school girls". They wore blue plaid seifuku style skirts as a part of their uniforms (back then, derby leagues were very creative in their "uniforms", and many times, were not the same).
Michi's derby debut
In April 2007, Michi-chan would don a red plaid seifuku style skirt and attended her first bout at Arizona Derby Dames where the School Yard Scrappers were playing the Brutal Beauties, the strongest team in the league (they would go undefeated through Season 4). AZDD played what Michi calls today a "medium temperature" classic modern game, one that mixed fundamental roller derby but with antics such as what Michi would eventually call "extended take downs". It was a great game and the fans were going crazy.
Michi-chan's derby debut was marred though by a hard hit taken by Scrappers team captain Rowdy Roulette, which resulted in her being taken out of the rink by stretcher. But this did not tarnish the Michi's newly discovered derby love. It would only blossom from that point.
Michi's first documentation of derby
Michi would eventually start bringing a small hand held camera that was capable of recording video (limited to the 4:3 aspect ratio like analog television was at the time) and started to record various aspects of not just the bout action, but also the other things that took place during such a bout, especially the fan interactions.
The first Michi-chan roller derby videos were mainly more of documentaries about going to the bouts. Because of Michi's connections at AZDD, she was able to get early admission into bouts so she could watch the bout set-up and other things that took place. Michi knew her (lack of) skating ability at the time and had no interest in skating for a league. This was also at a time when there was still some resistance or outright hostility towards a trans person being involved in the sport. Michi focused instead on the "business end" of the game.
AZDD was started in 2005 as a result of a league split from Arizona Roller Derby (AZRD) and was the second of such splits. The first one would become the Renegade Rollergirls, who played what Michi calls today as "high temperature" classic modern derby. As such, there was a lot of animosity between the various leagues. Michi would eventually discover what AZRD and other leagues had to offer. To address this past bad blood and to bring some form of unity from a fan's perspective, Michi-chan concocted the slogan "I Want More Derby!", a slogan that would be used to encourage both fans and skaters to discover all of the local leagues at the time.
"I Want More Derby!"
Michi would eventually team up with Dan Felis, who was known better at the time as "Dan The Plumber". Dan was a huge supporter of roller derby and looked across the leagues. By this time, Michi was already starting an awareness campaign to call attention to this, what was otherwise, an underground sport.
In exchange for screen credit as the "executive producer", the partnership of Dan The Plumber and Michi-chan resulted in the ability to better cover the various roller derby bouts in the Phoenix area as well as down in Tucson where Tucson Roller Derby (TRD) played. Michi would eventually discover a new youth sports program called the "Tucson Derby Brats", which was started by TRD skaters who were also parents to get younger people involved and teach them the fundamentals of the game (without the hitting and extended take downs, etc.).
By late 2007, Michi had a full multi-media journalism operation including a website, social media reports and the start of a periodic video series called "I Want More Derby: The Arizona Derby Report", more casually referred to as just "The Arizona Derby Report" or "AZDR". AZDR was intended to be a program like "Sports Center" but just for roller derby in Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson) for which there was a wide abundance of. The AZDR (later known as "Michi-chan's REAL Derby") would produce 7 full length shows.
The Michi-chan Derby Love Tour
In 2008 and 2009, in association with Dan The Plumber, Michi had started to do her own hybrid promotion of bouts through a promotion called "The Michi-chan Derby Love Tour" where bouts that corresponded with Michi's public appearances would be made. The free publicity did help raise awareness of the leagues, especially among those who may be in derby but did not yet know about all derby.
During this period of time, the responses from the various derby leagues were mixed, but mainly positive. Certain leagues did extend us some substantial courtesies. Michi-chan was definitely a part of the derby scene in Arizona.
In mid-2009, due to personal issues, the Michi-chan Derby Love Tour had to come to an aburpt end. The last episode of REAL Derby aired in April, 2009. Michi was still active in the derby scene though.
Michi's involvement in upstart leagues
During this time, Michi would find herself embedded in these leagues and would be very involved in the creation and in most cases, the start up of various roller derby leagues including:
- Valley Fever Roller Demons: an effort to bring the Old School Derby Association to the Phoenix area. VFRD was dissolved during the planning stages.
- Phoenix City Rollers: The league what would eventually be called PCR was formed in late 2007 by skaters from the AZRD Bruisers team who decided to start their own corporate entity in order to have more autonomy in their teams operations. AZRD threatened these skaters with expulsion and as a result PCR was a considered a league split. PCR would go on to skate two bouts against shuffle teams from Duke City and Tucson and would eventually disband. Some skaters found themselves at AZDD and others left derby altogether.
- Desert Dolls Roller Derby: Michi-chan had consulted on the formation of this new league that some may had called a "flat track replacement" for AZDD as they were going banked track. In the early days, Michi did announce at DDRD bouts. DDRD would flourish and is now known as Phoenix Roller Derby and skates USARS.
Michi's leaves Phoenix and eventually Arizona
In late 2010, Michi would leave the Phoenix area and lived in Prescott Valley. Michi would take in her last Arizona derby bout at the league that started off her derby career, the Arizona Derby Dames, Season 6 championship bout, played on the banked track at Veteran's Memorial Stadium.
In 2011, Michi would leave Arizona and move to the Delmarva Peninsula of Maryland (the area east of Chesapeake Bay). Out there, she would discover the Salisbury Rollergirls (SRG), a WFTDA member. While Michi did attend SRG bouts, she did have the same involvement like she had in Arizona.
The "modern strategy" that made Michi's derby love start to falter
While Michi did try to keep up from afar on the derby doings in Arizona, she felt very frustrated by the many changes that were made to what we now call the classic modern game, especially in WTFDA, where the elimination of certain rules and turned the game into something totally different and just did not have the optics of the original modern game. While Michi was frustrated with the direction that WFTDA went, she did feel encouraged by USA Roller Sports (USARS) embracing of roller derby and the direction of their ruleset which favored something that more closely mirrored that of the classic modern game.
To Michi, losing the classic modern game was like losing a best friend. It took several years, but Michi finally got over it and accepted the modern WFTDA as an evolved version of the original game that was created by the skaters and must be respected, especially since it was apparent that USARS was taking the sport down a different path that closer reflected the classic game.
During most of the period from 2013~2025, Michi would still occasionally check in, especially with the Arizona leagues. During this period, we saw WFTDA leagues start to trend away from "home teams" in favor of travel teams. Michi would spend most of her time on the broadcasting regulatory advocacy side of the house. The "2020 crud" took a huge toll on derby leagues as it resulted in all activities stopping and not everyone coming back. We saw several leagues completely disappear in the time after the 2020 crud was at its peak, including Michi's local league, the Salisbury Rollergirls.
During this "derby downtime", the Michi had still been closely watching the efforts that WFTDA and the local leagues were starting to make in regards to the acceptance of skaters, regardless of sex assigned at birth, especially as the Michi was trying to raise awareness on this subject going back to those early Michi-chan days. These changes in attitude contributed to Michi's rediscovered derby love.
Banana Ball and the return of Michi-chan
Since 2023, Michi has been following the sport of Banana Ball, founded by Jesse Cole. They are most famously known for the Savannah Bananas, a barnstorming baseball team that travels the country playing at Major League Baseball stadiums and other large venues. The entire Banana Ball franchise is currently four teams (six in 2026) and each with their own theme and they were modifications to their uniforms, which are reminiscent of the classic days of derby when we had home teams. Michi does admire Jesse Cole's "fans first" business model. Some of what Michi was doing for derby in the late 00s are similar to some of these fans first efforts. While Michi understands the whole "of the skaters, for the skaters and by the skaters" mantra of resurgence roller derby, she feels that it should not come at the expense of the fans. Michi has spoken many times about "internal fans" (those who have some kind of adjacency to derby) and "external fans" (those who are not a part of a league and do not have any relations or friends of anyone in the league). Michi has always said that derby lacks "external fans" and that more should be done. Some leagues (such as AZDD and TRD) have been fairly successful in attracting external fans while others have not.
In June, 2025, Michi unknowingly was involved in a Banana Ball "fans first" moment that would be noted by the league. Michi attended a game between the Savannah Bananas and The Firefighters at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. During the game, someone from Jesse Cole's staff and staff from the Nationals came into our section and gave us a box of plush toys and asked us to give them to fans. As soon as Michi stood up and started tossing these toys the kids in the crowd, it sparked something inside of her and completely brought out her inner Michi-chan. It turned out that the toys were donated by a kid who was celebrating their birthday and they bought a large number of these plush toys in bulk with orders that they be distributed to fans at the game.
That "fans first" moment and her involvement in the game sparked the pilot light and as a result, the brand Michi-chan Sports was born out of the ashes of Michi-chan Roller Sports Productions. Michi-chan Sports includes a mix of current derby love, modern classic derby love as well as coverage of sports that are not top-tier, including Banana Ball. And, that's where we are today.
Michi's current derby league involvement
A few years before, Michi had discovered a new variant of roller derby called short track. This game has a smaller track size (meaning it needs less space) and other variants to the rules (such as 3-on-3, ways of handling penalties without a penalty box, etc.). Michi has embraced short track as a "different kind of derby" (Michi is always in for new things).
In early 2025, a new roller derby league, the Delaware Scrappies was formed, founded by a ex-Southern Delaware (SODEL) skater. The Scrappies will be playing short track (their primary venue is not large enough for a conventional 5-on-5 track). The league is still in formation, but has been actively practicing.
Michi-chan has agreed to join the Scrappies to take on some kind of a non-skating role (she's 57) bringing her years of "front office" derby experience along with her practical process management and creative experiences to this new little upstart league. Since the loss of the Salisbury Rollergirls, the Michi has felt derbyless. The Scrappies will hopefully fill that void.
Despite nearly 17 years of smoldering, the fire of Michi-chan is burning strong again, to remember the old days and look for new things ahead, such as short track derby.
Thank you for joining the ride! Stay tuned and if there's something interesting the Michi should know about or you want an opinion on an idea from a "fans first" perspective but also from a derby business perspective, feel free to hit up the Michi.
