…and I was never a morning person. I was the kind of guy who would stay up late and sleep in and always managed to have a job that would allow me to do that. I would say in my 45 years of doing radio 15 of those required me to be up before the crack of dawn and 5 of those have been here on the pickle. I was and still am not very chipper when I first wake up but by the time, I crack the mic at 6 am I’ve already been up 2 ½ hours so I’m ready to go. But there are people who manage to be very chipper very early in the morning just to annoy the rest of us and there is a reason for it too. University of California researchers say they have the gene. A genetic gene that only affects one in 300 adults that makes them programmed to wake up before dawn and go to sleep by 8 pm. Those with the gene operate earlier than most, which in turn triggers a strong release of melatonin, the hormone that makes them sleepy in the afternoon. Also, while most of us relish about 40 minutes of extra sleep on non-workdays, these folks are fine with just five or ten minutes more than usual, or even no extra time at all, in order to function at the optimal level. Now I don’t know if that’s me because if I don’t have to get up early the next day, I’m up late which means sleeping way past my normal wake up call and chipper, again not me at least not for about an hour or so of slamming the coffee, hi-test of course.