I just celebrated a birthday.
Happy 1 year to me -- well, to my radio gig! Now, I had done an hour weekly radio segment for years. But last April is when my longtime friend Lisa Fischer asked me to fill in as a KURB-FM, B98.5, co-host on a daily basis and then I never filled back out (so to speak; I've filled out plenty not making as much time to meal plan and exercise. But, I'll tackle that one of these days). I work there part time and then I still write and edit here full time.
Our trio was fully formed in November when Chris Cannon, a wisecracking wings-eating and beer-drinking dude from Springfield, Mo., crashed our Real Housewives-loving hen party. You can hear us from 5:30 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday on the radio, online at b98.com or on our free app (search "b98.5 airkast" at the iTunesApp Store).
I thought I'd use this space to answer some frequently asked questions.
Q: What time do you have to be there?
A: At 5.
Q: You mean 5 in the morning?
A: No, in the mourning. Waaaaaah.
Q: What time do you wake up?
A: The alarms begin sounding at 3:30 a.m. -- all 34 of them.
Q: What time do you go to sleep?
A: I never go to bed later than 9 p.m. With my iPad. So by 9:05 ... or 10:23 p.m. or so.
Q: Aren't you tired?
A: "You're up to date on B98.5!"
Q: That wasn't an appropriate response to the question. You're beat, aren't you?
A: Blessed is the word I use. A woman is fortunate to find one job she likes; I have two I love. I find doing both incredibly energizing.
Q: So in other words, you're utterly exhausted?
A: As a beat-up aftermarket muffler by week's end.
Q: What's the radio show about?
A: You mean, I got up at 3:30 a.m. and you're not listening? We cover everything. Local news. Local restaurants. Entertainment. Silly stuff. Personal stuff. Family stuff. Elections. Social media. Prize giveaways. Celebrities. Food. And food crimes. We love featuring food crime tales and playing the Law & Order clang effects in between. Dun dun.
Q: What has the radio taught you about yourself?
A: That I don't know how to pronounce any names, geographical locations or words in general. Amphitheater. Asterisk. Qatar. Quvenzhane Wallis. Ralph Fiennes. I've butchered them all.
Q: How is working for the newspaper different from the radio?
A: I say uh, um, like a lot less here. With editors obsessing over your words, it's less likely to make a mistake at the paper. (But then there was that -- uh, um, like -- doozy in last week's preprinted column: A lighthearted remark written about Prince when he still alive was published after he died, and our hands were tied.) Prince is gone, but print -- for better or worse -- lasts forever.
Q: What do you like best about the radio?
A: I spend four hours a day laughing with my friends. Laughing too much, apparently. One (former) listener recently messaged us: "Jennifer giggles like a teenager and I just have had to stop listening to the show." I probably should have been upset. Instead I was elated: "Ooh, she thinks I sound young!"
Beyond that, radio is fast-paced. It's immediate. It's spontaneous. If you make a mistake, you laugh and move on ... to the next mistake. And laugh.
Maybe that listener had a point.
Air your thoughts, email:
jchristman@arkansasonline.com
Spin Cycle is a smirk at pop culture.
Style on 05/01/2016