David Boylan's Lick the Plate has reached 2,000 episodes across 15 years on air, making it one of the longer-running culinary radio programs in independent broadcasting. The milestone episode was recorded aboard the Scottville Clown Band's tour bus at the Cedar Polka Fest, with bandleader George Wilson and band members sharing the group's backstory dating to 1903.

Format That Set It Apart

From its 2011 debut on San Diego's independent adult-alternative station 102.1 KPRI, Lick the Plate was designed to go beyond conventional restaurant reviewing. Boylan built each episode around the people behind the food — chefs, farmers, fishermen, winemakers, brewers — drawing out their cultural influences, musical tastes, and life stories outside the kitchen. The integration of music into culinary storytelling gave the show a distinctive identity that separated it from the crowded restaurant media landscape.

The program grew out of Boylan's food column in The Coast News, which launched in Encinitas in 2007 and remains active today. That print foundation gave the radio show early credibility with the chef and restaurateur community it would spend the next decade and a half profiling.

Expanding Markets and Venues

Lick the Plate's geographic footprint grew steadily over its run. After broadcasting across multiple Entercom San Diego stations — including KBZT-FM 94/9, KSON-FM, KXSN-FM Sunny 98.1, and 101.5 KGB — the show moved into the Detroit-Windsor market in 2015 on CIDR-FM 93.9 The River. A Northern Michigan presence followed in 2017, first through MyNorth.com and later through KLT, Fox FM, and Q100/WQON, spotlighting the chefs, growers, and food culture of Traverse City and the Northwest Michigan region.

The show now airs on 100.7 Ferndale Radio in metro Detroit and streams worldwide through the Audacy and Live365 mobile apps. Ferndale Radio Program Director Dave Kim called the show "a perfect fit for the eclectic mix of programming on Ferndale Radio" and praised the "style and originality it brought to commercial radio."

Episodes have been recorded in restaurant kitchens, breweries, wineries, farms, fishing boats, circus trains, and music venues — a production approach that mirrors the beverage and hospitality industry's growing appetite for experiential storytelling. The program's recurring "Fish Stories" series has taken Boylan and guests onto the Pacific Ocean, Lake Michigan, Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit River, broadening the culinary narrative to include the sourcing and culture behind the catch.

"Reaching this milestone is both humbling and incredibly gratifying," Boylan said. "I'm thankful to every guest who trusted us with their story and to our listeners, sponsors and radio partners who have kept this adventure going for so many years."

For operators and food personalities considering media partnerships, Lick the Plate's 15-year run underscores the durability of format-driven, personality-led programming in a fragmented audio landscape where streaming and podcasting have reshaped how food culture reaches consumers.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.