A face for radio – WABF

I made my radio debut yesterday on WABF 1220AM on the, “Culturally Speaking” show. (We’ll save the discussion on my crazy summer hair-do for another time, so hold your comments – that’s why I’m on radio- not TV!)

The show’s host, Tod Jonson, is a wealth of talent who has lived an extraordinary life in the glitzy world of Hollywood. His weekly show features his stories of stars he has hob-nobbed with, and fascinating roles he played. On this day, Tod shared memories about the fabulous Elizabeth Taylor. Tod made two movies with her, and remained friends with the star until her death.

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So what in the world was I doing on Tod’s brilliant show? Well, every week, Tod invites a local guest to share their knowledge of music, wine, poetry, local theatre or literature. He had heard that I write for Gulf Coast Newspapers, so Tod graciously invited me to read one of my stories.

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I did my best to wow the crowd with a story I’ve shared here before, about my husband’s late grandmother, who was born and raised in New York City, then moved to Fairhope, only to find our tradition of leaving vegetables from our gardens on your doorstep to be a bit strange. (CLICK HERE to see the full story again). I also spent a good bit of my time explaining exactly what a “blog” is. (you know . . . just in case there’s someone out there who doesn’t know, wink-wink).

This is the busy and talented Lori DuBose who manages the station. She participates in the show and keeps us all on track. Lori told me she would give hand signals that would indicate the need for me to wrap it up or stretch it out, but all her waving around and pointing was distracting, so I just stopped looking at her. Hahaha! Poor Lori. She still managed to keep us going. I think she may have been getting ready to chunk the stapler at my head.

After my spot, P.T. Paul took her turn at the mike (that’s radio-speak for MICROPHONE – I learned so much!) and read her clever – very beautiful poetry. As a great coincidence, her poem was also about a summer garden, so our two spots complimented each other perfectly. Just when you think our small corner of Alabama is only filled with cows, we wow you with our culture!

Tod is so cool in his Hollywood sunglasses, and I look like I’m missing part of my leg, but doing live radio was such fun and I’m thrilled to have been invited to appear on “Culturally Speaking” once a month. The station reaches all around Baldwin and most of Mobile Counties, so if you are local, check out 1220AM on Thursday mornings, 10:30 – 11:00am.

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For those who missed the show, here’s a link to hear my segment. And beware: if you’ve never heard me speak before, don’t be disappointed. (Some of you may remember that when I first put a photo of myself on the blog, someone said she wasn’t going to read anymore because she didn’t like the way I looked!) When people sound differently than I think they will, I’m always surprised.  Like when they made Garfield the cat speak on the cartoon, he in no way sounded like I thought he should. Bummer!

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It’s about ten minutes long, and you may have to wait a minute for it to load, so get comfy. And thanks Tod and Lori, I’ll see you again next month!

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