In the period that’s followed her departure from Southern California airwaves, classic rock DJ Rita Wilde says she’s had a little time in which to look back on her life.
“And it was like, ‘Wow, I’m so blessed,’” says Wilde, who spent most of her four decades on the air at KLOS-FM (95.5) with six years at The Sound 100.3 more recently. “I’m so grateful. It’s just been a magical journey for me.”
At times, Wilde says, it almost feels like all those years on the radio weren’t her real life, though she’d never trade them for anything else.
“Sometimes, I think it’s like playing the part of an actress,” she says. “It was so much a part of my life, but it wasn’t all my life.
“But was everything that I had ever dreamed of.”
Listener rewards
Wilde grew up in Anaheim, and on the bus to school, she’d pass the KEZY-AM/FM building and wonder what went on inside the building that delivered music to her radio.
As a college student in Fullerton, she got a job answering the phones and later volunteering for whatever needed to be done. A few years later, KEZY hired her to work on-air.
“For me, it was a passion I got paid for,” Wilde said in 2017, looking back on her career as The Sound was about to go off the air.
Those years at The Sound, roughly 2011 until its demise in 2017, remain among the most special, Wilde says.
“Several things about The Sound were unique about radio stations,” she says. “And one is that The Sound really made a connection with the listeners.”
Part of that was the station’s arrival at a time when social media was taking off, making interactions between DJs and listeners easier than ever before.
“It was a different way of getting to know listeners,” Wilde says. “It used to be, just take a phone call, ‘What’s your request?’ But this way, it was able to contact a bunch more people and respond to them.”
Today, many past listeners remain Facebook friends, a connection made over years of music and conversation online and on the air.
“A lot of these people I’ve never met, but we have so much in common with music and stuff that we’ve become friends just over the internet,” Wilde says.
Working for the weekend
After The Sound left the air in November 2017, Wilde got a call from KLOS, her radio home from 1983 to 2009, to come back as an occasional guest DJ. That soon turned into a regular weekend role.
“And that worked into something that I was really looking forward to doing, which was a podcast on the 50th anniversary of KLOS because it had such a tradition and such a heritage,” Wilde says. “That was so much fun. I loved doing it.”
“KLOS 50 in Reverse” debuted in January 2019 and for much of that anniversary year featured monthly episodes with or about well-known figures from the station’s past including Chuck Moshontz, Frazer Smith and Bob Coburn of “Rockline.” Other episodes revisited wild tales of L.A. radio in the decadent ’80s or the battle for radio rock supremacy between KLOS, KMET and other stations.
But then KLOS was sold, and the new owners decided to cut back its weekend staffing and the podcast, too. Once again, Wilde was out of a job and off the air.
“That was difficult,” she says. “Especially, after that, there were more people who left because of the merger of the company that bought them, and a lot of people that were just stalwarts there were gone.
“There was so much more, too, that I wanted to do on that 50th anniversary — make it go forward into year 51 — but didn’t have that opportunity.”
Peace and podcasting
Wilde left the station and its podcast, but podcasting stuck with her as she and former KLOS promotions director C.W. West teamed up to host the podcast “Rock and Roll Confessional.”
On the podcast, Wilde and West talk with musicians such as Robby Krieger of the Doors, Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, and Steve Lukather of Toto. Other episodes focus on behind-the-scenes music figures such as rock photographer Neal Preston and Jon Scott, the record label promotions man who helped break Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.
“It’s been fun, and it’s been great to see how people react to it,” Wilde says. “Pretty much, if you don’t have a podcast now, you know, you don’t have a career. It’s like everybody’s doing a podcast.
“But to me, I just like getting to know people,” she says. “If they write a book, or if they write songs, they express (themselves).”
She’s also intrigued by the personal journeys so many in the industry have traveled.
“I’m really fascinated by people who lost part of their existence through either drugs or alcohol or whatever,” Wilde says. “Maybe not lost it, but definitely became a different person. Just to hear those stories of redemption, how they came to grips with that. And just how fortunate they are and how they feel with their lives.
“That’s a beautiful experience that I think so many people can share.”
The episode with songwriter and actor Paul Williams is one of Wilde’s favorites for those very reasons.
“The guy had everything,” she says of Williams, who won Grammys and an Oscar, and was nominated for many more, for such songs as “Evergreen,” the theme to “A Star Is Born,” the Muppet classic “The Rainbow Connection,” and the Carpenters’ “We’ve Only Just Begun.”
“He had to hit rock bottom, and he did,” Wilde says of Williams’ well-known drug struggles. “And now all the things he’s done since like working with Daft Punk. Just to hear his recovery and how positive he is, I got inspiration from that.”
Staying positive
Wilde worked on the podcast throughout the past year of pandemic and lockdowns. A bucket-list wish to see Bruce Springsteen play live in Italy and Spain got delayed as live performances went dark, and she also missed out on nights at the ballpark in Anaheim cheering for her beloved Angels.
“We’ve all had to adapt and learn patience,” Wilde says. “And I think there’s a lot of positivity in that.”
Returning to the airwaves in some fashion is also a flame that hasn’t yet been quenched, she says.
“I would love to something again, but radio right now is just so structured that I’d have to find something that would be a little bit more creative,” she says. “Nowadays with radio, you have to be creative in such a short amount of space and time, and that’s difficult.
“I did have somebody from Sirius contact me after I left KLOS the last time,” Wilde says. “We were going to talk after the holidays and then the pandemic hit.”
So who knows? There are still the listeners with whom she interacts on social media, and whom she’d live to play music for on the air again if that ever is possible. But if that never happens, she’s already had a dream of a career.
“It’s beyond what I dreamed up,” Wilde says. “I just want to be happy and grateful for that experience. And continue that attitude. That’s what I want.”
"sound" - Google News
May 05, 2021 at 10:21PM
https://ift.tt/2QNiqZr
Longtime KLOS and The Sound DJ Rita Wilde found her voice again as a rock and roll podcaster - OCRegister
"sound" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2MmdHZm
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment