"The Voice" is on the radio, finally!

Dear Blog, friends, family, anyone who chances upon this entry:

Yesterday, I felt like I was in an episode of Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, because I, too, am now co-hosting a radio show.

The show is hosted by Deborah, the owner of the Village Book Shop in the Glendora Village, on KSGVradio.com, “the Voice of the Valley,” and a tiny Internet radio station with God knows how many listeners. The show airs Saturdays, noon to 1 p.m., and was to kick off officially yesterday. Here’s the station’s home page where you can click “listen live”: http://ksgvradio.media.officelive.com/default.aspx

I admit, I was sorta excited. See, when I was in high school, a friend nicknamed me “The Voice,” urging me to pursue a radio career. I was flattered to get such a cool nickname; too bad I was too shy to follow through on his suggestion and opted for a print journalism career, as many of you know.

Of course, an email went out yesterday morning to family and friends that “The Voice” was actually going to be on the air, to invite them to listen to this first show, and to be gentle in their “constructive criticism” afterward. Hey, that’s the only way you get better, right?

I was feeling good about overcoming a bit of stage, er, mic fright in doing this show. Deb and I did a test run of it last week, after she literally shanghaied me into the studio when I happened by the bookstore just before she headed across the street to the studio. Come along, she said, we’ll just be chatting about what the show would be like.

Right – now I’m a co-host, but I admit this will be fun after all. And would’ve been fun yesterday, until the rains came.

Now you have to understand that California has not experienced rain storms of this force, chill, and duration for half a decade or more. As you can imagine, it’s been pretty dramatic around here. The downtown Christmas Parade was canceled, local restaurateurs were stuck with extra supplies to feed expected post-parade crowds. But the torrents at about 9 a.m. nixed all that.

So I’m on my way to pick up our in-studio guest, Russ, whose company of players, the Route 66 Radio Theater, is staging a radio drama of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol next weekend at the bookstore.

Oh, we had it all figured out. I would interview Russ about the show, and I even sent my questions Friday night to brief him so he’d be ready. Then Deborah would talk about her book picks for the week. We were ready.

On my way, I get a call from Deborah telling me the station is “down” because of the rain – something about old GTE phone lines and such. I just had to laugh – the invincible Internet at the mercy of a few raindrops. Just goes to show ya! California cannot handle rain.
Welcome to A Cathie Home Companion, where anything can happen, and usually does. Ya gotta just laugh. The absurdity of it just makes me smile.

And there’s always next week, God willing and the creeks don’t rise (or the water crests over the curbs along Glendora Avenue).

I really believe this will be a great show, because Deb is doing some amazing things at the bookstore. Just as Garrison Keillor has surrounded himself with creative folk of all kinds, Deb has done the same. She has a way of finding details about everyone who walks into her bookstore, and adds them to her circle of fascinating friends who all have a story to tell whether through a workshop or a performance or a lecture at the bookshop. She has surrounded herself with a fascinating group of freinds, and each will make an interesting interview for the show. I can't wait to introduce you to them all.

I hope you’ll listen in sometime…and be gentle with your “constructive criticism,” please.

Thanks for checking in on me – Cathie Lou