Listen to Rhonda weekday mornings: 6am to 10am.
Recently I found a number of my old grade school report cards. While academically I received good grades – I didn’t always receive the best marks in conduct. I believe “noisy and annoying to others” and “talks too much in class” were underlined more than once! Little did my teachers know I was just preparing for my career in radio!
In high school I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. (Frankly – I still struggle with it!) All of my friends had plans and dreams and I really didn’t know what I could do. At State Speech I scored well in the “Radio Broadcasting” contest and it made me think…maybe I can do that! After consulting and working with my Harris-Lake park High School English Teacher Mr. Perry, I set off on my path to get a job in radio.
I started here in 1980 (now you can figure out how old I am) and have worked in various departments and air shifts. While I love talking about country music and artists, community events and goofy stuff that happens – the things I get to do are even better. None of that was mentioned when I first started in radio.
When you belong to a community station you attend all the events in the area. You have to cover and report on the important issues – but you get to do more. You sit in dunk tanks, get pies thrown in your face and plunge into ice cold water to raise money for charity. I’ve shown livestock, stomped grapes, participated in a tractor pull and demolition derby just because……this sounds like fun! While I have questioned the sanity of some of these activities, the smiles, handshakes and hugs you receive make them all worthwhile. I love the people of Northwest Iowa and Southwest Minnesota!
While I haven’t totally changed from that grade school kid who “talks to much in class”, I hope I haven’t been too “annoying” over the years. Thanks for hanging out with me – I enjoy the talks!
