PADDY'S RADIO MI-5

Paddy says: "I just started a radio show on WRFR 93.3FM in Rockland (streaming on the web at wrfr.org) and I thought a radio-related 5 for this week:"

1. What was the first song you remember hearing on the radio? Maybe a favorite that you really looked forward to hearing?

My earliest radio memory was in the car with Mom, Aunt Karen, and all of us kids. I think we were going to Sears to have our pictures taken as a suprise for Dad and Uncle Rusty. I remember listening to "Kiss an Angel Good Morning" and "Honky Tonk Angel". As a good Christian girl, I guess I liked the angel songs, even if I didn't know what they were really about. I would guess that was in the early-70s, probably pre-Michael.

2. As a kid, I had a transistor radio that I took with me EVERYWHERE! Did radio play a big part in your childhood? What specifically did you listen to?

I became a radio "fan" around 5th-grade, I think. I had to listen to the Top-40 countdown, which I usually listened to at my grandmother's house. I was a huge Andy Gibb fan at that time, and I waited not-so-patiently to see if his songs were moving up the chart.

3. When I was a teen growing up in Maine, there were two kinds of kids: WBLM kids (album rock) and WIGY kids (Top 40). Which one, if either, were you? If you aren't from here (or are older or younger), relate as best you can your listening preferences as a teen.

I was definitely a WIGY kid. I thought WBLM was only hard rock, which I considered "bad" (as in naughty, I guess).

4. Do you have a special "radio moment" that you can share?

Back in the late 1980s, Kiss 94.5 used to have this turkey contest on the radio around Thanksgiving time. They would play a sound bite of a gobbling turkey, and then you had to race to the phone to call them, and if you were the correct caller, you would win a turkey. I played, and played, and played. I never won a turkey. Do any of you remember that?

My brother, Billy Rhythm, and I were HUGE Larry Glick fans as kids. He was a radio guy on WBZ in Boston, and was on during the evenings. It was mostly talk radio, and filled with political stuff as well as some crazy stories. He'd throw in a fun song now and then, too, like the Banana Boat Song, The Glick Nick Song, etc. "A favor's a favor, what is your favor," he would often say in his best Godfather voice whenever anyone requested a song. I can't sleep listening to music, as I sing along instead of sleep. So, I became a fan of talk-radio. I guess I was in junior high or high school then. Billy and I even made up a tape recording of our own version of his show. It's quite hilarious. I've got to find a copy of that tape.

5. In this age of micro-mp3 players, XM and iTunes ... how often (if at all) do you listen to radio?

I still listen to the radio quite a bit in the car. I tend to buy a CD, listen to that until I can't stand it anymore, and then listen to the radio until I buy a new CD. I usually listen to country radio. And I love Saturday radio with "Music from the fast lane, fast lane, fast lane." They talk about Nascar in between the country songs.