“Good. A free form bio and not asking me strange questions like dating sites. Not that I frequent dating sites… 🙂 “ – Iceberg

Don’t worry Berg, this is your own website. No one will ask if you’ve been on Tinder or eCupid any time soon. Well, HAVE YOU?!? Just kidding. Now to the serious bit. *And there was much rejoicing, and the peasants danced*

Jerome Michael Hayes, better known as Jerry, Iceberg or Berg, our beloved founder and owner of RenegadeRadio.net, passed away at the age of 60 on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. Iceberg was an incredible teacher, mentor, boss, friend and family member who spent his life helping artists and musicians alike in any way he could. From showcases and live streams at local music venues to album reviews, interviews, The Icehouse, photographing bands, Dallas vs LA, writing song lyrics, and so many other projects, Iceberg was always there doing whatever he could to help the local music scene.

Born in Austin, Texas on August 23, 1965, his family moved from Austin to Maitland, FL, Paris, Texas, and eventually settled in Clinton, OK. He completed college at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) graduating with a degree in Journalism. Iceberg eventually settled down in the Dallas, Texas area where he got a job with Microsoft that lasted almost 20 years and adopted his beloved dog, Harley. The later half of his career was with Trend Micro.

One of the stories I remember about Jerry was how he got his nickname Iceberg. Around the time the movie Titanic was released in theaters (1997 ish), one of Jerry’s fellow co-workers at Microsoft asked which character he could relate to the most from the movie. In true quick-witted Jerry fashion, He responded with “The Iceberg”. The name “Iceberg” stuck with him ever since – igloo, icepick, ice troll and all!

While Iceberg loved his work as an IT professional, his true passion was photography, promoting local music through RenegadeRadio.net, getting into some film projects like his ”24-minute indie video” he called Seven Sunsets, and even writing his own song lyrics. Through the many conversations I’ve had with Iceberg and his friends and family, Jerry got involved with the local Dallas music scene around 1998 attending shows and getting to know many of the local musicians that would later become his friends. Most of the time one would see him with a camera in his hands regularly getting fantastic shots of the bands on stage. Around 2000, he got involved with promoting local bands and forming the beginnings of RenegadeRadio.net. The radio station and its accompanying website went live on the internet in 2002.

For the next 23 years, Iceberg utilized this powerful amplifier to help spread the word about the amazing talent within the local Dallas music scene and beyond, all free of charge. As the station expanded its reach, Iceberg shared his labor of love by bringing in countless talented DJs, photographers, writers, promoters, and collaborators. We all got to see and be involved in a lot of cool projects over the years including live streaming at local venues in Dallas and other cities in Texas and on Long Island, NY, collaborative radio contests such as Dallas vs LA and artists features such as Icepicks with 100.1 The Edge in the Los Angeles area. While there has been varying levels of activity on RenegadeRadio.net over the years, the mission to spread the word about all these amazing musicians and artists alike remains the same and will continue for many years to come.

In the process of helping others, RenegadeRadio.net became more than just a website with cool bands and weekly shows, it became a staple for local music scenes around the world and online music communities all over the internet. Not only were we a community of music lovers who hung around the chat room listening to whoever was DJing that night, we became family. We all have Iceberg to thank for that.

For years Iceberg wrote song lyrics, or his “manly way of saying poetry”. You can check out all his incredible song lyrics here.

Iceberg was also into writing film scripts, one of which was a “24-minute indie video” called Seven Sunsets. You can watch the short film below, but before you do, I’ll let Iceberg tell you all about it in his own words.

“For the longest time it was a dream of mine to write, act in, direct and produce a movie. Well 6+ years ago I did with a 24 minute indie video called 7 Sunsets. Story of a man on death row for killing a young woman in a park who is caught and convicted but has maintained his innocence the entire time. with 3 weeks left before his execution, a local newspaper decides to interview him 2 weeks out, 1 week out and then 1 hour before he is put to death. The reporter is out to trip him up and get him to confess but through the course of the interviews, we all discover something about ourselves in the process. In the end it is more about personal responsibility in extreme times than it is about death row.”