Michelle Zepeda has trouble containing her laughter when asked how she first met Andrew "Z."

It was nearly a decade ago, and Michelle had just graduated from high school in Appleton, Wis.

Andrew, then working as a morning talk-show host in the Green Bay/Appleton area, asked listeners to name the zaniest thing they'd do to win tickets to a Matchbox 20 concert.

Michelle e-mailed and told Andrew she'd allow him to turn her into a human sundae.

Suffice it to say, Michelle won the tickets.

When Michelle and her mother showed up at the local McDonald's to claim the prize, several listeners had turned out to watch Michelle honor her commitment.

Andrew and his co-host put her in a bathtub and covered her with vanilla ice cream. They poured chocolate syrup, hot fudge, whipped cream, cherries, and nuts all over her.

Talk about a sticky situation.

"It's so embarrassing when people ask, 'How did you meet Andrew?' " Michelle said. "The story is almost too crazy to believe."

But, from that first meeting, said Michelle: I got front-row tickets, backstage passes and ... a husband.

Michelle, a general assignment reporter for WUPW-TV, Channel 36, and Andrew Z, the main man on the morning show on WVKS-FM, 92.5, became an item two months after their initial meeting.

On their first date, Andrew took Michelle to lunch, then to a minor-league baseball game, and then to an Arena Football League game.

We had a long day, but it was fun, Andrew said.

Michelle, 27, and Andrew, 38, got married in 2003. They have been in the Toledo market since the fall of 2005.

On Jan. 20, Michelle gave birth to their first child. Mazie Marie Zepeda, dubbed Baby Z, weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Oh, yeah, Mazie also has a full head of thick, black hair.

And she s been getting plenty of on-air time from her proud papa on the Clear Channel radio station.

We re having fun with her on the air, he said. She will be a big part of the show.

Michelle hopes to return to Fox in mid-March, but she knows it will be tough handing Mazie off to a nanny while she and her husband work.

I look at her and I wonder if I m ever going to be able to go back to work, said Michelle, a huge Green Bay Packers fan who already has purchased a Brett Favre jersey for her daughter.

But I just love my job so much. I just called the station the other day there was breaking news going on and I wish I could have been there.

Andrew, whose close friends call him Z or A-Z, was born and reared in

Los Angeles. He got his start in radio in 1989. Since then, his career has taken him to Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Ohio.

When he replaced the controversial Johny D as morning host at Toledo s Hit Music Channel, in November of 2005, it marked his eighth job in 16 years. He is paired with Jimmy Hamm and Trish.

The main thing we try to do is to have fun every day, Andrew said. We re on early in the morning, so we try to keep people awake.

Michelle, a 2002 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, joined Channel 36 in October of 2005. She was a general assignment reporter in Flint, Mich., and a traffic reporter in Tucson before coming here.

She said her husband is a lot mellower at home than he is on the air.

He s like a woman watching TV, she said. He s worse than I am. He watches The Bachelor, Desperate Housewives, and Grey s Anatomy. I catch him crying sometimes. He s such a girl. I guess that s good because it relates to his audience.

Said Andrew: At least I don t sit around watching sports all day, or the ultimate fighting championship. She s lucky to have me.

Michelle laughed again.

No big surprise there.

Andrew has injected humor into their life and marriage.

It s a good thing, because with baby Mazie around now, it s hard to catch any z s at the Zepedas.

First Published February 16, 2007, 1:28 p.m.