In the beginning...
Oh, good grief. You raise a kid up, love him like crazy, try to nourish, educate and protect him and the next thing you know, you find out he actually likes you, thinks there’s something worthwhile about you that others should know and you wake up and ‘log on’ to your email account to find out that thanks to him, ‘you’re out there,’ thrown to the wolves. Suddenly you go from housework to homework.
Um…uh… I suppose I’m supposed to say something here…right? Except for the 8 years of broadcasting on the college radio station, I’ve led a very private, low-profile life. And I like it that way! I mean, when I started at the radio station I had a pseudonym so I could retain my anonymity. That was fear. Or was it paranoia? Perhaps it was a sense of mystery missing from my middle class, middle age, plain ole life… Actually, it was probably more a nifty chance to just exercise a little imagination and ‘let go.’ Whatever. Who cares? What possible interest could the reason hold? None, that I can see.
Oh well, I’ll continue on this thread for awhile since I seem to have started, although I can’t for the life of me imagine why you would care to know any of this…
Okay, so I was the Foxy Mama. When I picked my name my two wonderful sons were shocked. “Mother! Everyone will think you’re loose! They’ll get the wrong idea! They’ll think....!” I said “hey, let ‘em think. Seems to me anything that’ll induce people to think can’t be all bad, can it?” “Mom, it makes you sound like a great big ole black lady!” “Yeah? All the better…” And so it went. I became Foxy Mama. Fun! Freedom! It was great. I even had kids (guys) call in a couple of times and say things like “so, uh, are ya really foxy?” “Kid,” I said in a jaded voice, “I’m not really what you think.” It was kind of heartening though to know that someone was even listening and if they were feeling lustful, well, the joke was just too good. If merely a name and a regular voice can do that, then…
It all started when the aforementioned sons both had radio shows on the college station and I couldn’t resist the urge to tease them. “If you guys aren’t careful I’ll get a license and start the Foxy Mama Opera and Oratory Show.” Ha, ha, I thought. That’ll fix ‘em! The joke was on me. They weren’t upset. They didn’t discourage me. They encouraged me! Oh, great, now I was in trouble. Also, I worked at the local video rental emporium with a couple of guys who were also at the college radio station, and I teased them with the same laughing threat. And they didn’t discourage me either. In fact, again I was encouraged. I was definitely in trouble!
One day, while renting a video to a delightful English fellow, we started talking and I found out that he was ‘CJ’ on…you guessed it…the college radio station. The infamous ‘CJ’ was standing right in front of me and happy to find out that I was the mother of two younger station mates he was fond of. I had heard so much about him. He was not quite the second ‘coming’ but at the least, something akin to a happening. I told him about my standing joke with the guys and he said “they’re right. You should train and get a show at the station. We need diversity. We need more community members, we need some more mature voices (hmmmnnn, mature, huh?)… I think it’d be wonderful. In fact, I’ll train you myself!” Oh oh…
Of course when everyone heard that the great ‘CJ’ was willing to train me they told me that now I’d have to follow through. It’s not everyday that the great ‘CJ’ offers to train someone. I thought about it for awhile and decided that, what the hey, I was feeling staid and stale. I needed a challenge. I needed to put myself ‘out on the line,’ take a few risks, do something interesting… So I said “okay.” And that was the beginning of a great adventure...
Like Martin Luther King I had a dream. I had an abiding (albeit quiet) dream of hosting a classical radio show. To do so I had to comply with the requirement of playing a semester’s worth of alternative rock…ohmigawd!! So I did. Ooooeee... That’s why the Foxy Mama moniker. Blessed anonymity. I mean, I played stuff my sons listened to, with a smattering of blues, folk, reggae, techno, jazz and a dash of unusual and odd thrown in for flavor. Even after I ‘earned’ the classical show and ‘came out’ under my real name I continued with the Foxy Mama show and incorporated a live radio theater segment as well. The bug had really bitten me.
It was summer and there was a lot of space to fill so I gained experience by filling in for a bunch of others who were away and I started learning about music that I never knew existed. Wow. The Classical Alternative was born finally and lasted (in a 5 hour format) for 8 years. Foxy Mama ended up co-hosting a blues show with the blues dude and then eventually took over and renamed the show Lady Plays the Blues. The folk guy (who was a local folksinger/songwriter himself) took off for parts out west and bequeathed his show (longish running and well listened to…gulp) to me and thus, The Front Porch came about and eventually expanded. After a time, I added a 2 hour mostly live interview show. For some years thereafter, I was on the air at least a minimum of 15 hours a week.
At the station I wasn’t anybody’s mother, although my two sons were very involved with the station themselves at the same time. We went there independently and were regular station members like everybody else. Some who knew us, knew we were related while others did not, but it didn’t matter. We were creative and happy and respectful of each other.
Young son is frightfully zany and creative and older son is a walking musical encyclopedia and both were terrific DJ’s. Poor dear husband coped with all of us and submitted to training and testing and got a license himself, although he preferred not to go ‘on-air.’ But if it hadn’t been for the assistance and forebearance of my somewhat patient sons, it would never have happened for me. They were incredible about educating me and helping me get started and I totally owe them much, much, much. Good guys! Every mother should be half as lucky. I’ve gotten more than my allotment of gray hair from those dudes but we’ve had a lot of laughs together too. They even managed to grow into pretty reasonable adults in spite of me. Who’d ‘a thunk it?!
Radio. Oh, the stories I could tell. In fact, maybe someday I will…
Um…uh… I suppose I’m supposed to say something here…right? Except for the 8 years of broadcasting on the college radio station, I’ve led a very private, low-profile life. And I like it that way! I mean, when I started at the radio station I had a pseudonym so I could retain my anonymity. That was fear. Or was it paranoia? Perhaps it was a sense of mystery missing from my middle class, middle age, plain ole life… Actually, it was probably more a nifty chance to just exercise a little imagination and ‘let go.’ Whatever. Who cares? What possible interest could the reason hold? None, that I can see.
Oh well, I’ll continue on this thread for awhile since I seem to have started, although I can’t for the life of me imagine why you would care to know any of this…
Okay, so I was the Foxy Mama. When I picked my name my two wonderful sons were shocked. “Mother! Everyone will think you’re loose! They’ll get the wrong idea! They’ll think....!” I said “hey, let ‘em think. Seems to me anything that’ll induce people to think can’t be all bad, can it?” “Mom, it makes you sound like a great big ole black lady!” “Yeah? All the better…” And so it went. I became Foxy Mama. Fun! Freedom! It was great. I even had kids (guys) call in a couple of times and say things like “so, uh, are ya really foxy?” “Kid,” I said in a jaded voice, “I’m not really what you think.” It was kind of heartening though to know that someone was even listening and if they were feeling lustful, well, the joke was just too good. If merely a name and a regular voice can do that, then…
It all started when the aforementioned sons both had radio shows on the college station and I couldn’t resist the urge to tease them. “If you guys aren’t careful I’ll get a license and start the Foxy Mama Opera and Oratory Show.” Ha, ha, I thought. That’ll fix ‘em! The joke was on me. They weren’t upset. They didn’t discourage me. They encouraged me! Oh, great, now I was in trouble. Also, I worked at the local video rental emporium with a couple of guys who were also at the college radio station, and I teased them with the same laughing threat. And they didn’t discourage me either. In fact, again I was encouraged. I was definitely in trouble!
One day, while renting a video to a delightful English fellow, we started talking and I found out that he was ‘CJ’ on…you guessed it…the college radio station. The infamous ‘CJ’ was standing right in front of me and happy to find out that I was the mother of two younger station mates he was fond of. I had heard so much about him. He was not quite the second ‘coming’ but at the least, something akin to a happening. I told him about my standing joke with the guys and he said “they’re right. You should train and get a show at the station. We need diversity. We need more community members, we need some more mature voices (hmmmnnn, mature, huh?)… I think it’d be wonderful. In fact, I’ll train you myself!” Oh oh…
Of course when everyone heard that the great ‘CJ’ was willing to train me they told me that now I’d have to follow through. It’s not everyday that the great ‘CJ’ offers to train someone. I thought about it for awhile and decided that, what the hey, I was feeling staid and stale. I needed a challenge. I needed to put myself ‘out on the line,’ take a few risks, do something interesting… So I said “okay.” And that was the beginning of a great adventure...
Like Martin Luther King I had a dream. I had an abiding (albeit quiet) dream of hosting a classical radio show. To do so I had to comply with the requirement of playing a semester’s worth of alternative rock…ohmigawd!! So I did. Ooooeee... That’s why the Foxy Mama moniker. Blessed anonymity. I mean, I played stuff my sons listened to, with a smattering of blues, folk, reggae, techno, jazz and a dash of unusual and odd thrown in for flavor. Even after I ‘earned’ the classical show and ‘came out’ under my real name I continued with the Foxy Mama show and incorporated a live radio theater segment as well. The bug had really bitten me.
It was summer and there was a lot of space to fill so I gained experience by filling in for a bunch of others who were away and I started learning about music that I never knew existed. Wow. The Classical Alternative was born finally and lasted (in a 5 hour format) for 8 years. Foxy Mama ended up co-hosting a blues show with the blues dude and then eventually took over and renamed the show Lady Plays the Blues. The folk guy (who was a local folksinger/songwriter himself) took off for parts out west and bequeathed his show (longish running and well listened to…gulp) to me and thus, The Front Porch came about and eventually expanded. After a time, I added a 2 hour mostly live interview show. For some years thereafter, I was on the air at least a minimum of 15 hours a week.
At the station I wasn’t anybody’s mother, although my two sons were very involved with the station themselves at the same time. We went there independently and were regular station members like everybody else. Some who knew us, knew we were related while others did not, but it didn’t matter. We were creative and happy and respectful of each other.
Young son is frightfully zany and creative and older son is a walking musical encyclopedia and both were terrific DJ’s. Poor dear husband coped with all of us and submitted to training and testing and got a license himself, although he preferred not to go ‘on-air.’ But if it hadn’t been for the assistance and forebearance of my somewhat patient sons, it would never have happened for me. They were incredible about educating me and helping me get started and I totally owe them much, much, much. Good guys! Every mother should be half as lucky. I’ve gotten more than my allotment of gray hair from those dudes but we’ve had a lot of laughs together too. They even managed to grow into pretty reasonable adults in spite of me. Who’d ‘a thunk it?!
Radio. Oh, the stories I could tell. In fact, maybe someday I will…
1 Comments:
At 8:22 AM,
Tim said…
Hey, congratulations mom! Good to see you've taken up my challenge. And darn it, I think it's interesting. You DO have something to say! Can't wait to read more...
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