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How did you come up with the concept of a radio show
for parents?
In my job at Kaiser Permanente, I work in pediatrics
and serve as a temperament counselor and parent educator.
Through the years, I've seen so many families struggle
with their children's behavioral issues. I found myself
looking for a way to assist parents who were feeling
isolated and who might not have time to attend parenting
classes. Eight years ago, while teaching, I decided
a radio show would be a perfect format for disseminating
information to a large number of parents.
What makes your radio show, "Childhood
Matters," unique?
The show targets parents with children 5 and younger,
and features parenting experts and parents sharing their
own ideas and experiences. I refer to myself as the
"Anti-Dr. Laura" because I try to remove the
blame and guilt that many people heap on parents. My
job isn't to be judgmental, it's to provide parents
with resources, information and new ideas.
How did you get started in radio?
My first on-air experience was 10 years ago when I
called into a local radio show to share my thoughts
on disciplining children. The person who was screening
calls at the station listened to my comments and said,
"We're losing our guest, can you take calls?"
For the next hour, I answered listeners' questions in
my pajamas.
Shortly after, my husband, Mick, and I began to produce
a radio show on Free Radio Berkeley 104.1, and I began
contributing parenting segments to Pacifica radio station
KPFA in Berkeley. We liked what we were doing, but we
wanted to reach a larger audience with our show.
How did you make the transition to
a larger station?
We always wanted to reach a larger and more diverse
audience. Two years ago, Mick and I approached radio
host Peter B. Collins-who now is our show's executive
producer-about the idea of "Childhood Matters."
He liked the concept, and so it began. Our show is made
possible by startup funding from the United Way of the
Bay Area and the First Five Commissions from local counties,
who disperse the early childhood dollars collected from
California's Proposition 10 cigarette tax. We're still
a very grass-roots organization and we rely on contributions
to pay the station for airtime. We reach between 17,000
and 20,000 listeners at a time.
What are your plans?
I'd love to see our show become syndicated so that
we can reach a larger audience. We are also planning
to offer our show in Spanish-we just need to find a
radio station-and to obtain funding to put together
a CD of practical child care advice that we can disseminate
to child care centers.
What kind of feedback have you received
from listeners?
All of the feedback has been positive. We try to give
parents as much information, resources, advice and support
as possible.
Each week, we cover a different topic and try to have
an expert on that topic present in the studio. In addition
to general parenting information, we have covered topics
such as single parenting, childhood asthma and effective
discipline.
Parents can never have too much information. I honestly
believe that most parents try to do the best parenting
possible with what they have and know, but there are
often situations that can throw parents for a loop.
I remember when I was raising my own four children,
and there were times I didn't have all the answers.
I've been a nurse for the past 37 years, and I think
we offer listeners a great service. I'm proud to be
a nurse and to be able to use my skills in this way.
My hope is to keep doing the radio show for a long time.
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