Rona Renner, on on-air parenting advice

By Linda Childers
September 29, 2003

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.