"On the Radio"

When I was growing up in Clinton, South Carolina one of my best friends, Georgia Young, and I had a radio show. How or why we had a radio show is one of the great mysteries of the universe but we decided we wanted one so we got one. She and I convinced the station manager at our local station that a high school show was just what his station needed.

Many years later I decided that I wanted to do a one hour radio show about movies. Somehow I convinced the local radio station manager that this was something his station needed, and I got it. I enjoyed this one even more than I did the high school show, because by now I had done some television work and radio is so much more relaxed than radio.

Radio is also a much more intimate medium than television. You are in people's homes, in their cars, at their workplace, even where they play - you are everywhere. Plus people can make you anything they want you to be. You are a disembodied voice and you could be coming from the person of Brad Pitt or Gilbert Gottfried.

Recently I have concentrated on being on television. I didn't have an idea for a radio show, and contented myself with making guest appearances on other people's shows. I pop up on the local "Kenny B and Jami G Show" from time to time. And believe it or not I am the "entertainment correspondent" for Dave Sturgeon's Show in Canada - Yes Canada! You can hear that at http://www.ckwr.com/. 

A few months ago I was the guest on "Cover To Cover," a monthly program about books on Georgia Public Radio. The host of that show is a Britisher named St John Flynn (he pronounces St John as sinjin). Anyway I had a great time doing that show and felt that our two personalities made for good conversation. Other people commented on how compatible we were as a team.

That started me thinking about a show I had listened to many years ago. It was on National Public Radio and it aired on Friday mornings. Bob Edwards, who was the host of "Morning Edition," would have a five minute conversation with Red Barber each week. Barber was one of the great sports announcers ever and he and Bob would discuss different aspects of sports. Now I know next to nothing about sports but I loved their conversations and I tuned in for their talks religiously.

Using this as a guide I suggested to St John that he and I do a similar type show but about entertainment. He liked the idea and starting May 5 "Fridays With Jackie" will air on all Georgia Public Radio stations. It will be a conversational type show just like Bob Edwards and Red Barber had. If you are out of the area for those stations it will also be streamed on the internet at http://www.gpb.org/public/radio/index.jsp. Just click on the radio image that says "Listen Online."

I am not giving up my day job as a film critic on our local NBC affiliate, but I am happy to be returning to radio. It's where I started alongside Georgia so many years ago, and now I am broadcasting from the state of Georgia. There's a message in there somewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

©2006 Jackie K. Cooper

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