Apparently radio announcers DO matter to our listeners

I went to the funeral of a long-time listener a few days ago – I had really only met her twice in 10-15 years although we spoke on the phone often. She used to call the station I worked at, asking about Kitty Wells, Dolly, George Jones and other artists of their era. As I hosted a Saturday morning “Oldies” show, the calls went to me.

My wife wondered why I would go to the service of someone I hardly knew, I couldn’t explain it – but felt that there was some kind of connection that somehow just defied words – there just was…

When the station let me go (along with many others) a year ago, her daughter tells me that she felt lost – a part of her day had disappeared. …and when she was hospitalized apparently she kept asking her daughter if they’d called me. It wasn’t until a grand-daughter recognized my voice on another station in town, did they figure out where I had gone, and I got an e-mail through the ‘contact us’ feature.

I did get up to see her in hospital before she passed away and when the nurses asked my relationship to the patient, I was momentarily stuck for an answer – “A long-time friend of the family” I mumbled and apparently satisfied, they showed me to her room. While she was heavily medicated, she apparently knew that I had been there. She acknowledged that I had left a card for her… and she passed away that night.

The family was excited that I would go to the memorial service and even the minister mentioned me by name, a number of times through the service.  I can tell you that it was a strange feeling sitting among her family, friends and distant relative, none of whom I had ever really even met – weird that she never really talked much about her family to me…and I never asked.

Speaker after speaker got up to tell little stories about the things she loved (and apparently spoke about at some length): her family, the Country stars she had met… and ‘her’ radio station. She had been one of the early petitioners, supporting the application for a “Country” station, and took a great degree of ‘pride of ownership’ ever since.

At 83 years young, she was no longer the target demo of the station and they long ago stopped programming any of the Classic Country that she liked, but she continued to listen nonetheless. While they didn’t really care, she did.

I confess that I was a little overwhelmed that the family mentioned me in their service repeatedly. Afterwards, many family members insisted on introducing me to other family members. They said that she talked about me so often, that they felt like I was ‘family’.

If you don’t think that what we do ‘on-air’ makes a difference in peoples’ lives, go to a listener’s memorial. 

Marion R.I.P.