A Lowcountry Life

Local vet Dr. Michael Forcier trades records and microphones for dogs and cats to live out a dream.

Anyone who feels stuck in a job will find inspiration in Dr. Michael Forcier's story. For years, Dr. Forcier, known by many in the Lowcountry as Michael D., talked it up as a successful disc jockey at Q107, 98 Rock, and 95SX. Then, at the age of 34, he indulged his dream of becoming a veterinarian. Eight years of schooling started at the University of South Carolina and finished at Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2002, at the age of 42, Dr. Forcier, with his wife Amy and sons Taylor and Benjamen (as well as a dog and two formerly stray cats), began living his dream at the Animal Medical Center of Mount Pleasant.

Q: How did you get into broadcasting?

Forcier: I went to broadcasting school out of high school and worked several jobs throughout the Midwest in glamorous places like Lemmon, S.D., and Mankato, Minn. It was a gypsy kind of life. But it wasn't really work. It was just me doing what came naturally, which is the ability to yak. I planned on doing more, but I got into some trouble after high school and that was the money that was leftover. So it was off to broadcasting school and visions of fame and fortune.

Q: What did you learn from your first job?

Forcier: I did everything at my first job. I sold advertising, read the market report, spun the country records, marched in parades. Four people worked at that radio station. Coming from a big city [in Minnesota], it was pretty challenging to be in Lemmon, S.D.

Q: You had a radio show in Charleston in the mid-1980s. What was that like?

Forcier: I got to Charleston and they said, "What do you want to do?" and I told them what I wanted to do. And they said, "Let's do it, let's have some fun." It was a bunch of young kids and a guy with a dream to shake up the radio market. And we did. It was a blast. I did a morning show with a fellow named Cato the Wonder Puppy. We were probably a little out of line for the times and the market, but it was a lot of fun.

Q: When did you decide that being a vet was your dream?

Forcier: I've always loved animals, and I got tired of [radio's] general managers. They're so whimsical. One day you can be their savior, the next day you're fired. I had no professional background and felt inferior when I circled with some of the crowds at the banquets. Because here I was, just a DJ. I'd been talking about going back to school for about five years. In 1994, I got fed up, walked into work one day, and said "I'm leaving."

Q: Were you scared?

Forcier: It was very scary, just to pack up and go to college as a 34-year-old freshman. The interesting thing is that when you go back at 34, your focus is different. It's not social or about parties or alumni or rah-rah stuff. It's sitting in classes and listening. It was overwhelmingly interesting. So I did that and got accepted to vet school at 38.

Q: How did your wife feel when you first told her you wanted to go back to school?

Forcier: She was all for it. No hesitation : other than the apprehension of the unknown.

Q: There must have been a few times during the eight years when you thought, "What am I doing?"

Forcier: Yeah, about every week, I thought, "God, eight years is a long time." But in hindsight, it was a pretty quick eight years. And when it was over and we moved back into the house we left, I felt like we had never left.

Q: Do you think many people feel stuck in their jobs?

Forcier: You don't know how many people I talk to that I feel are stuck. I'll be talking to them in the exam room, and they'll say, "I can't do this, I can't do that, I'm too old :" And I'll tell them about [what I did] and they light up a little bit.

Q: Do you love your job?

Forcier: I do. It's something different every day. A new challenge every day. There has never been a day at work that I haven't opened a book. It's a constant learning processi a fascination with God's creatures.