Monday July 2nd marks the one year anniversary of the first live broadcast of Three Strange Women on UNregular Radio!
For anyone who doesn't already know, Three Strange Women is my little monster of a creation. We are currently the only show on UNregular Radio geared specifically towards the LGBT community. Each Monday from 3:00 to 4:00pm EST, Three Strange Women drenches our fantastic listeners with as much positive LGBT content and music as we can squeeze into one hour.
Three Strange Women has come a long way in just a short amount of time! The people and organizations we have had the pleasure of working with have made this a truly unique and unforgettable experience. We have had the opportunity to work and build relationships with some truly amazing & well known organizations over the past year, including the NO H8 Campaign, PFLAG National, Bay Windows, AR Productions, Good Vibrations, Juicy Pink Box, and more!
I like to refer to Three Strange Women as "an LGBT experience" because we are more than just a radio show. We can be accessed on multiple media outlets such as our Facebook page & group, Twitter,Blogger (where you can find all of the UR Lesbian: LGBT Files articles as well), Tumblr, and we even have our own website!
When thinking back to my favorite out-of-studio events, three moments stick out the most.
My #1 moment was definitely attending the launch of Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation at Harvard University on February 29th, 2012. I am a borderline obsessive Lady Gaga fan. When I heard that she was launching her non-profit organization in Massachusetts, I freaked out and decided to drag some of my strange ladies (Jeska & Jaclyn) with me to investigate. Needless to say, we got in and it was EPIC! I felt honored to be able to be part of the launch of such a meaningful project to an artist who I personally admire so much.
My #2 moment was attending the NO H8 Campaign photo shoot in Provincetown, MA. On August 22nd, 2011, I traveled with a group of strange folks (Joy, Conrad, & Ty) all the way from Boston to PTown to participate in the HO H8 photo shoot, a silent protest of California's Prop 8 banning. After having my NO H8 photo taken, I was fortunate enough to interview Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley! It was an honor for me to sit down and spend time with the men who created one of the most iconic LGBT organizations to date.
My #3 out-of studio moment was attending Jincey Lumpkin's Epic Vagina talk at Harvard University. I enjoyed this event for multiple reasons. It offered a chance for me to understand not only the positive aspects and struggles Jincey faces being in the lesbian porn industry, but it also offered a glimpse into Jincey's personal life and how she came to be the confident, sexy, & strong femme lesbian she is today. And I mean, come on now, who would pass up an opportunity to hang out with a woman known as the Lesbian Hugh Hefner?
For the one year anniversary show, titled "Memoirs of A Gay Show", I have compiled ten of my all time favorite on air moments for your listening pleasure!
It was EXTREMELY difficult to choose from the hours upon hours of Strange Woman content, but the deed has been done. My favorite on air moment was when I had the pleasure of chatting with Carmelita and Sue O'Connell about their early days in the radio business and their experiences leading them to where they are today.
In fact, I loved the moment so much that decided to transcribe our conversation in honor of the one year celebration.
Jackie: I'm really excited today because I've got TWO other female radio personalities in the studio with me, who have quite a bit more experience and could probably school me under the table at this point on how to do what I'm doing.
Sue: No, we were just saying off air how you're actually doing what we used to do and have a really hard time doing in commercial radio now. Its a very funny, sort of back-to-the-future kind of thing. Its great. You get all the freedom that you need to do the stuff you want. We're envious, WE'RE ENVIOUS!
Jackie: Its a blessing. I love this!
Sue: ENVIOUS!
Carm: You know even in college radio, it was STILL very much focused on music, rather than social issues. They did have a public service show or whatever but....
Sue: I did the reggae show, you did the rock show, and I can't remember doing any kind of topics, you know, in the mix...
Carm: There weren't. We had the Public Affairs show, [it was run by] students, it was whatever the students cared about, so it mainly covered mainstream topics and things that mimicked mainstream media...
Sue: And you know when we went on, when we left college...
Jackie: So you both met in college?
Sue: We met in college, we met in an English course, I think for the first time.
Carm: Was it?
Sue: Yes, it was what's his name... aww I can't remember his name, but he was openly gay which back in the day in, you know 1982 was just WILD!
Carm: Yes, YES!
Sue: ...We met in that class... Do you remember the controversy you caused with me when you wanted me to fill in for you? Do you remember? You were going away for a few days, and your show, which I can't remember the name of...
Carm: Was it me or... 'cause I did Metro Wave...
Sue: Metro Wave! It was Metro Wave and it was THE show in Boston to listen to and she was going on vacation and... I got on the reggae show Rockers by learning about 15 titles of artists and names of the songs and I figured out that reggae was either about praying, partying, or politics. So for my audition, I played them in segments. I found out which songs were which and I played them in segments and learned how to pronounce everything and I got the job, which was shocking! I got you know, Thursdays from 6 to 7, and I did this reggae show. And then YOU asked me, and I was interning at Kiss 108, which was like my dream job, you asked me to fill in for you while you were away (Carm giggles) and everyone was like, "how can you ask HER to fill in for you?". I had no cred, I had NOTHING, and then I don't know, it all worked out... do you remember?
Carm: You know I DO remember... its amazing because I hadn't remembered that until now and radio back then was so competitive. It was less about Sue being qualified to do the show, it was more about people just chopping at each other's throats to get that show...
Sue: It was also very segmented, the type of music that you listened to.. I mean that's how ERS was set up..
Carm: In block format...
Sue: But the two stations that we went on to work for, when you were at WBCN and I was at Kiss, at any given moment in those days I remember you could hear Rick James on WBCN and you could hear Midnight Oil on Kiss 108, and whatever those translated to today, it just doesn't happen on commercial radio.
Carm: No, it doesn't.
Sue: There is no free form. You had Sunny Joe White at Kiss and Oedipus at BCN and they were SO anti corporate...
Carm: Radio was MAGICAL back then... commercial radio! Most of us came into commercial radio from college radio. That's where we all ended up, we all left college radio, which was totally off the charts, and entered into commercial... We brought all the craziness with us!
Jackie: You know its actually kind of funny, my MOTHER was actually one of the original people on Kiss 108..
Sue: Oh yeah?
Jackie: Back with Sunny Joe White... She was Anna Maria Fiocca..
Sue: OH I KNOW HER! (Laughs) We worked together on the music scene!
Jackie: Yeah my mom remembers you and mentioned it!
Sue: Yeah, I remember... you know what we used to do to your mom's voice? We used to speed it up just A TINY little bit and it totally made all the difference in the world.. It was very funny, you tell her that Tad Bonvie and I used to do that... Tad was the producer of the music scene... That's so funny!
Jackie: Yup, my family gives me a whole bunch of shit... My family is like you're totally following in your mother's footsepts!
Sue: YOU ARE!
Jackie: They just think its hilarious... My mom is like, "Yeah the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, you're SCREWED my friend..."
Sue: The music scene was a top 20 countdown show. Sunny Joe White hosted it, the late Sunny Joe, who Carmelita and I both love love love...
Jackie: My mother loved him too..
Sue: She would come in and do artist interviews like with Sister Sledge... and we'd do trivia and I remember, this is how bad it was... it was before we all had cell phones and computers, we had pencils and pens and stuff... and Sunny Joe, my first day I put all the index cards in order of the songs, you know the number one song was maybe Hall & Oats and I had written little index card saying "Hall & Oats first met at Temple University they used to be known as the TempleTones! And Sunny saw that I had done that and told me I had a future in radio because I put them in order. And I did! That's all I needed to do! See, its very easy to get a job, you just need to know your alphabet and you need to be organized!
Carm: You know, I'm really kind of jealous...
Sue: You were there! You could have done that!
Carm: You know, I know I could have, but you know what I did... I was interning, I did an internship at Kiss 108 and I believe Sue was there at the time... I miscued a DJ's song on the air, it was a Blondie song, it was a DISCO Blondie song... and the DJ would leave the studio and I would run the boards and I played... You know just because I was working at ERS, I cued up this total punk Blondie song, and it went over the airwaves at Kiss 108 which was NOT a punk station... you know they did cross over eventually.
Sue: This was one step BEYOND!
Carm: Sunny Joe White came RUNNING down the hall and was like, "Carmelita! Get out here NOW!"
Sue: (Mocking) "Carmelita, get out here NOW!"
Carm: (Laughs) Yeah, "You're not to touch the boards again, you're OFF the boards, I FORBID you to be on the boards!"... I've never seen Sunny Joe lose it... ever. That was probably the one time in probably his life and MY life that I saw him lose it.... And so I didn't have INDEX CARDS in my hand..
Sue: (Laughs) Well that's the thing... what's AWFUL about commercial radio... you guys are here, which is great, but they don't even have live overnight shifts anymore... you're BEYOND this but, as you were coming up, if you wanted to learn radio, you would do the overnight shift... right?
Carm: Absolutely.
Sue: And now you can't because there's NO live overnight shift... I mean my first real gig was running the board. I ran the board for Arnie Woo Woo Ginsburg, who was a 1950's DJ... and if something went wrong, you got to do something... Unlike Carmelita who you know... (mumbles & giggles)... You were there and you got your chops, and you learned how to read tags and do all that stuff live on the air, and now that opportunity ISN'T there, and its really what's WRONG with commercial radio now... 'cause you're HERE instead of at a commercial radio station, where they need ya!
Carm: Yeah!
Sue: I mean they need ya here, too.. (giggles)
Carm: In other words, there's virtually NO WAY to break into radio... into commercial radio now..
Sue: Unless "you talk like this" (in radio announcer voice)
Carm: EXACTLY! Or you're an established somebody with ratings from somewhere, and that's why its just kind of a dying... it needs a breath of fresh air! I mean, I think its STARTING on internet radio now..
Sue: Absolutely.
Jackie: Nice, well that's what I'm hoping for!
Sue: And THAT'S why we're here!
Carm & Jackie: YEAH!
Sue: We're here to SAVE RADIO!
Carm: That's right!
Sue: RADIO GAGA!
Sharing this moment with Carmelita and Sue made me realize how truly special it is to have this opportunity at UNregular Radio. For me, working here is nothing short of a magical experience. I am well aware of the restrictions placed on commercial radio and am beyond thankful for the opportunity to spew off at the mouth without having to censor myself or my content.
Thank you so much to all our listeners, gay, straight, bi, trans, and everyone in between, we love you. Without your support we wouldn't be anything at all. It is an honor to be a positive voice for the LGBT community. STAY STRANGE!
-Jackie Soriano
Three Strange Women
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