On the Radio

Back in April during Articulture, locl author Melissa Volker and I were invited to be on Bob Plasse's radio program on local station WSKB 89.5 FM which is broadcast from a small studio on the campus of Westfield State University here in town.We set a date for June 2017.


In May Bob advised us that he had overbooked for the show, so we rebooked for October 24th.


I kind of put it out of my mind because I am by nature a quiet person, and Kelly is even worse than I am at not talking much, and she had also been invited to join us because she had just self published her first novel and her first novella.


Well- Melissa came down with an upper respiratory virus and didn't want to be exposing us to it in a small studio, so she volunteered to be a phone in guest. In for a penny in for a dollar, Kelly and I decided that if we were going to do this then we were going to go to the studio and just do it- so, at 5:45AM this past Tuesday I rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes, combed my hair and brushed my teeth, then rousted Kelly at 6:03AM, and she pretty much did the same thing. We lft the house at 6:18AM in the pre-dawn darkness and headed to Little River Dunkin Donuts so she could grab some breakfast- chocolate milk and a plain bagel as is, and a bottle of water for me...too nervous to eat and drive.


We made our way on surprisingly busy streets to the college campus, found the faculty staff lot where we could parking, stuck our two hour temporary parking permit on the dash, then headed to Ely Hall and the third floor radio station.


The anteroom door was propped open with a wastebasket. We let ourselves in. Bob was on the air in the studio, but smiled and waved in greeting. Kell and I took seats and sat quietly talking until Bob came out to ask if we were ready for the program. We nodded and followed him into the studio. Music was playing so he got us settled into task chairs, adjusted the green milk crates to rest our feet on, then showed us how close we had to have the microphones in order to be heard, and how to hear everything through the headsets.


Seven o'clock rolled around and we went live on the air! There were some ice breaker questions and stuff to make us laugh and relax, and then we got Melissa involved on the phone as she had called in. We discussed acting, books, jobs, ghost stories, vampires...and I got to talk a little bit about my newly released contemporary vampire novel, and our writers group, Out. Melissa spoke about her upcoming sequel to The Thirteenth Moon. Kelly talked a little about Teleport and Parapsychology. Bob was made an honorary WhipCity Wordsmith during the show.


The hour literally flew by! It was easier than I thought it would be, and because I have known Bob for years and he is a very personable man I felt comfortable and was able to talk more than I usually would.


It was gloomy gray out just past 8AM when we left the building to head home. I definitely would do this again because it was fun, and now that I've done it once and survived I'll be more relaxed and prepared for it the next time, because he did invite us back, and hopefully Melissa will be able to get into the studio in the future too!


Turns out my husband who has never shown any interest in my books but has snooped through my files in the past, tuned into the radio program and listened. That surprised me...that he admitted to listening, not that he actually did listen.


I definitely would do this again because it was fun, and provided exposure which is something every author needs to have if they want to sell books!