Radio Interview

This morning at 6:10 a.m. the phone woke me up. I'd hit the snooze in hopes of getting another 10 minutes of sleep before the producer of The Take Away on 101.9 out of Detroit called to do a sound check for radio interview at 6:30 a.m. I reached for the cordless phone and tried to sound more awake than I was. "Hello, Greta?" A man's voice sounded on the other end. "Yes, good morning, this is Greta." "This is Blah Blah calling from The Take Away. We're calling to establish a phone connection and to make sure we have a good line." I sat up. "Is this a cell phone or a land line?" "Land line," I said, my voice was deep and raspy--not at all how I wanted to sound on the radio program. "Could I get you to say your name and where you are so we can adjust the sound quality?" "Sure, This is Greta Picklesimer in Jackson Michigan sitting on the edge of my bed." The man laughed.
"Okay, I'll give you a call back in about five minutes and you'll go live in about 10." "Good that will give me time to go brush my teeth. Thank you," I said.
We hung up.

I brushed my teeth quickly, turned on my computer and sat in front of the screen with the phone in my hand. The director called back as planned and again did a sound check. I sounded much more awake this time I was glad to realize. He told me there would be music for a few minutes and then I would be on with Celeste. I didn't get her last name, the show's host. I wasn't nervous. I mean how many people can be up at 6:20 a.m. listening to a talk show about why people love their jobs.

I waited for the host to introduce me, said good morning and then waited for the questions. She asked why I loved my job. I told her because I enjoy helping people, that I had been unemployed for a year and two months and was giving a little back by working at DHS. I told her I had been receiving services before I was hired. There was another person on with us--some guy in Colorado who loved his job too. She cut back and forth between us asking questions about what motivates us to get up and go to work.

The seven minutes the interview took flew by. I was surprised it ended so quickly. I called mom afterward to tell her about it. She answered the phone--her voice full of sleep. We talked for several minutes.

At work, the director of our unit, emailed me "good job on the interview". I was surprised that anyone I knew had been up listening to that station at that moment.

It was a good experience. Too bad I wasn't being interviewed about my art.