Ever wonder what it would be like to be on the radio? Guest blogger!

Hi, my name is Eric and I was morning show co-host for 2 hours.

Yesterday morning I had the extreme pleasure of sitting in the SUN FM studio and co-hosting the Breakfast Club with Susan Knight. I will never be the same. I, like so many people, completely take for granted my car radio. I do not have satellite radio in my car – possibly because Susan would kill me and make it look like and accident – but mostly because I have that opinion of why would I pay for something I can get for free. FM radio comes standard on a car (at least it does now. I had an AM jam in my car all through high school and was somehow able to survive that and become the man I am today) and all I have to do is start my car and it comes on automatically. In fact, it picks up right where I left off when I turned it off last – I don’t even have to touch that dial. Volume is even in the same place – at least it is supposed to be. Somehow it is always WAY louder when I turn the car on than I remember it being when I turned it off…

Anyway, I was that spoiled listener who simply assumed that my morning show would always be there for me when I took my daughter to school and drove to work – it has to be. It’s easy! I even through that being a DJ was the coolest job in the world for 2 very important reasons: 1) everyone knows you and loves you – you are on radio for goodness sake, and 2) because it is the easiest job in the world. When I was a kid it might have been hard cause they had to actually spin records – although my record player at home could hold like five or six 45s at a time and drop them one at a time, and I could do that when I was 7, so really how hard could it be? BUT NOW!!!! They have CD’s and MP3’s and itunes and all kinds of stuff. Computers can run it all!! DJ’s just have to push some buttons and be loved by everyone.


Turns out I might have been a smidge off base – which is surprising since my wife will tell that I am never wrong. I walked into that studio like a kid in a candy store and then sat wide eyed as I realized that Susan was watching 4 computer monitors on her right that showed her EVERYTHING that was going on currently and would happen during the course of the show. THEN, she had a fifth monitor on her left. She had a control panel in front of her that had more buttons than my grandmother’s sewing kit and more lights than my Christmas tree. Oh, and she was updating the station’s twitter feed and their Facebook page, as well as HER twitter feed and Facebook page. She was answering phones and while she talked to them she was simultaneously recording the call and then when she hung up she would edit the recording into a timed playback so she could incorporate that into the show. She was talking with me, both on air and off, AND running a live auction of a sweet little cooking class for 4 with wine pairings from RauDZ Regional Table with proceeds going to Kelowna’s Gospel Mission. That item when for a tidy $950 dollars by the way – which translates into over 450 meals being provided by the Mission to those in need in Kelowna.

She did all this on one cup of coffee at the proverbial butt crack of dawn too. Oh, and there was math involved all morning…I was under the impression that there would be no math.


To be honest, I may never listen to the radio the same way again. From now on I will turn my radio off as I get out of the car. I will do this so that in the mornings, I can get into my car, put my seatbelt on, start the car, and then – with the appropriate amount of reverence – turn my radio on and be amazed at the incredible amount of work and talent that goes into making my face smile and my head bob on the way to work.


Susan, I can never thank you enough for what you do for Kelowna’s Gospel Mission and the people of Kelowna. Nor can I ever thank you enough for the privilege of being shown how very wrong I was…though you are pretty much universally loved – so I was right on that. 1 outta 2 ain’t bad. That’s shooting .500 and that will make the all-star team in any sport!



Warmly,

Eric Frans, CFRE

Resource Development Director

Kelowna’s Gospel Mission

250-870-8679