One of my all time ever favorite things is being on the radio with some of my all time favorite people. If you need an ID of the cast, they are, l. to r.; Dave DiRienzo, John Webster, Jay Daniels, and Ruth Miller. (Say, is that Chip The Beer Guy lurking behind them?)We're talking D&W.
We're talking Daniels and Webster.
We're talking the highest rated morning show in NE PA.
When you get right down to it, we're talking radio legends, people of iconic stature upon the broadcasting landscape across our part of the world. http://www.rock107.com/
If the big fish in the little pond theory is valid, D&W are the biggest fish in a not so small pond.
Although Jay and John are the "Daniels" and the "Webster," the two of them are brilliant and generous enough to know that making those around them look equally as good is one of the undeniable keys to success. And so it is that Ruth and Dave have evolved into major players on the show - both deserve to be just that. It's often said that Johnny Carson was as huge as he was because he made all of his guests look good, even guests he didn't like. If he didn't like you, he made you look good anyway...but you never got invited back.
Proud to say that D&W have made me look good over and over again for what now has to be four years or so. Our relationship had its beginnings on television, but my favorite part of D&W was always, ALWAYS, the ten minutes or so we spent on the radio every weekday morning on Rock107.
God, I do miss that.
Best of all, they keep inviting me back.
So back I will be tomorrow morning from 7-10, live with John, Jay, Ruth, and Dave.
What will we talk about?
Hell if I know, really. I never knew what we'd talk about, neither did they, we'd just say hello and go. Sometimes we'd skip the hello, and just go. It was always spontaneous, completely spontaneous. There was no comparing notes the night before, no heads-up via e-mail on a topic they wanted to explore, we just went where we went. If you really want the truth, I never much thought about what we'd talk about, it wasn't a worry. I knew it would be there when the mics opened, there was no doubting it, not for a second.
It was simply great conversation among people who liked one another and enjoyed each other's company. It was honest, not an ounce of pretense to be found. It was no more than us being who we are.
Maybe that's why it worked, and I hope still does, it was honest and simple. It was just a conversation...with their sizable audience listening. And it was good.
There were times when it was better than good, it was great. Good, great, never bad. But that's just my opinion. My favorite mornings were when we'd get laughing so hard all of us briefly lost the capacity to speak.
No sense going for false modesty here, we all loved the compliments. One of my favorites heard often was, "You make me late for work. I stay in the car until you guys are done, I don't want to miss anything."
While I loved the "...late for work compliment," my all time favorite came from a young woman who once stopped me at The Dallas Harvest Festival
So help me God, she looked me right in the eye and said, "I just have to tell you, you guys made me wet my pants the other morning."
She was serious. So was I in thanking her, which I couldn't do enough.
Then, just this afternoon, I'm slapping together a cup of coffee at The Turkey Hill in Plains. The young man next to me says, "Sorry to bother you, but I want you to know how much I miss you with Daniels and Webster." Yep, he said it. If timing is everything, this was perfection. I bought him his coffee. He resisted. I insisted. Nice guy. His name? Joe. His wife sat at the pump waiting for Joe to pay up on some gas. As we left, we all waved. Thank you, Joe.
This is indeed the season for favorite things, which for me has to include "Whiskers on Kittens." A genuine thank you to all who have been so generous with their time, resources, and donations, all of which have helped us here at The SPCA of Luzerne County carry on seven days a week. Because of you, we've accomplished a lot this year. We're optimistic that the year ahead will allow us to get even more done on behalf of animal welfare, and that's likewise because of you.
And I'll see you on the radio tomorrow morning, Wednesday, December 12th!
