by Jen Myers
LOWELL – At 26 years-old, Justin Aguirre found himself locked away in the Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge, addicted to drugs and suffering from Hepatitis C, his skin a sickly yellow from the disease.
“All I wanted was to die,” he recalled.
His mom, who he had not spoken to for several years, came to see him, begging him to get clean and turn his life around before it was too late.
He did.
Today, 15 years later, people throughout New England start their mornings listening to Aguirre, the executive producer and co-host of the “Billy and Lisa in the Morning” show on KISS 108, Boston’s most popular radio station.
On Tuesday afternoon, Aguirre, a Malden native who attended an alternative high school program as a teen, shared his story with students at The Career Academy.
“I started out just like you, in an alternative program,” he said. “I remember the teachers trying to talk to me but I never had anyone like this coming to talk to me. No one who went to an alternative school ever came to talk to us and show us that we could be successful.”
He said he did not grow up in an environment where college was ever talked about as a goal or a possibility. To him, “being a man” meant going to prison.
“I never thought I had a shot,” he said.
By the time he was 17-years-old he was addicted to drugs and serving time in prison. What started as smoking marijuana and taking pills escalated to heroin and cocaine use and committing crimes in order to feed his habit. He spent the next several years in and out of jail or on probation. When he wasn’t locked away, he was living on the streets of Boston.
“I had no idea where I was headed,” Aguirre said.
At 26, newly clean and sober, he enrolled in the Journalism/Communications program at Northern Essex Community College.
“I sat in class thinking – if they only knew who I was – there was a time when I would rob every person in this classroom,” Aguirre said.
He showed up. He showed up on time and put in the work.
After NECC, he transferred to Salem State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications. A professor encouraged him to apply for internships, but he was nervous that given his criminal record no one would take a chance on him.
He was wrong.
He landed an internship on the “Ramiro and Pebbles Morning Show” on JAM’N 94.5.
“They accepted me,” he said. “It was insane. I found my groove and I loved it.”
He paid attention, worked hard, and was hired as a part-time producer before moving on to a full-time producer job at KISS 108.
Last year, when Matt Siegel, the force behind the decades-long “Matty in the Morning” show retired, Aguirre was promoted to executive producer/co-host of the successor “Billy & Lisa in the Morning” show.
Today at 40-years-old, Aguirre looks back at his journey and marvels at how his life has “completely changed.” He now is a husband, father of two small children, and owns a home – a life his 26-year-old self would never have envisioned or thought possible.
He said while it is cool to meet famous people at his job like Pink, Ed Sheeran, and Post Malone, what he loves most about his job is connecting with the listeners.
“Whether people are having a good day or a bad day, they know they can turn on the radio and we will be there,” he says. “They can take a little time to get out of their heads and listen to us talk about what is going on or being silly.”
Aguirre said if he could go back and give his high school self some advice it would be simple: “Shut up. Show up. And listen.”
“No matter what your situation is in life, you can do something you want to do,” he told the students. “No matter how crazy your dream may seem today, if you put in the work anything is possible.”
