Longtime SWFL DJ helps others through addiction recovery podcast

Every Tuesday night, a familiar voice to the southwest Florida airwaves pulls up to the microphone. But John Nichols isn't playing the hits. He's sending a message.

"What better way to carry a message than one alcoholic or addict talking to another one? It works when everything else fails," Nichols said.

Nichols hosts Rated R 4 Recovery, a weekly YouTube podcast recorded in front of a studio audience at Kimmie's Recovery Zone in Fort Myers. It's focused on recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, with a new guest telling their story every week.

"One thing we're trying to do now is make the voice of recovery as loud as the voice of addiction," said Sue Hunter, Nichols's co-host.

For Nichols, it's a chance to make amends.

"The biggest devastation of drug and alcohol addiction is that I hurt the people I love and who love me. And I did that a lot. But I don't do it anymore," Nichols said.

If his clear and engaging voice sounds familiar, that's because Nichols worked as a radio DJ for southwest Florida stations like 99X and Rock 106 for nearly two decades. But his promising career kept getting derailed.

"Each job I had I burned to the ground due to my addiction," Nichols said.

After decades of battling drug addiction and more than a dozen arrests in Lee County, Nichols says he hit rock bottom.

"I was hopeless and I was angry. I hated myself. I hated what I was doing. I hated my existence," Nichols said.

"It was a spiritual and emotional bottom that I had never felt before," Nichols said.

Nichols says he remembers the day he decided to get sober like it was yesterday. He got in his car and drove away.

That was nearly five years ago.

But Nichols says the hard part isn't getting sober, it's staying sober. That's why he launched Rated R 4 Recovery last year, to use his talents behind the mic to help others and himself.

"It's very simple. To carry a message of hope to people that don't feel there's any hope," Nichols said.

Al Kinkle, the founder of Kimmie's Recovery Zone and one of the co-hosts on the podcast, says the goal is to meet the audience where they are, without judgment, and always available online.

"What better way to get people to listen. Maybe they won't listen that night. Maybe a different day. But it might be the ticket to change their life," Kinkle said.

And for Nichols, it's a chance to relive those days behind the mic — this time, in recovery.

"We do the show, 6 pm every Tuesday in front of a studio audience ladies and gentlemen!" Nichols said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.