NEWS!!

Click to go to KAWC Radio program

NEWS!! 


Tune in to KAWC Radio Friday, November 18, 9AM or 3PM (mountain time) for "Arizona Editions," to hear an interview with Heidi and Eileen, Senior Share Project creators. 


As always, Thanks for stopping by!!


WHOOPS! Sorry folks! Due to a last-minute schedule change at the station, our story was moved. Look for us on Monday or Tuesday's Morning Edition or All Things Considered. I will post any scheduled air times as I am updated. Thanks!

Super Cool News!

Hi everyone! We've had some great news! Senior Share Project (aka Heidi and Eileen) will be interviewed by KAWC Radio in Yuma, Arizona!! This is excellent news for us, as we are in the "needing-all-the-exposure-we-can-get" phase of this blog.

When I read the email requesting the interview, I was pretty excited, but then, while Eileen and I were on the phone talking about it, and she looked up the station and told me it was Yuma's public radio station−the NPR affiliate station for the Yuma/Colorado River area−I did the Snoopy dance. I'm a huge Public Radio junkie. Eileen, not so much. We are about as opposite as you can get when it comes to news source preferences.

I told Eileen that for her, it would be like if the Fox News affiliate asked us for an interview. Who knows, today Arizona Edition on KAWC, tomorrow Bill O'Reilly? Hey, you never know.

So, I will let you know as soon as we find out our air date. Until then, check out KAWC's website, continue to tell your friends and family about Senior Share Project, and please share your stories with us!!

Thanks,
Heidi

Queen for a Day

by Marty Roselius



Since our family didn’t have a television set, I often listened to radio programs on my transistor radio before bedtime. I could only receive a few stations, those that broadcast a signal strong enough I didn’t have to filter the program from background static. I enjoyed listening to a voice from some distant place, speaking to me, unreeling a tale about poor folks less fortunate than I. Stories that unfolded with a sad beginning—a family stuck in the throes of poverty, down on their luck, the father unemployed, medical problems, disability issues and other depressing situations. While concluding with a happy ending—help received from social services, a church support system, or selected to win a wonderful prize that would help them crawl out of the dark abyss of poverty and climb up one small rung on the social ladder.


The shows to which I am referring are the Salvation Army Show and the ever-popular Queen for a Day. On the Salvation Army Show the family would be rescued and the bread multiplied after receiving support from the Salvation Army and access to necessary social programs, leaving them forever indebted to those kind and dedicated folks. It always made me feel warm inside.


The Queen for a Day show came from a slightly different perspective, a game show format, with three women taking turns divulging tragic tales of poverty and destitution. The audience voted for the woman who had the saddest story. She would be crowned Queen for a Day and receive fabulous prizes guaranteed to pull her and her family up by their boot straps, and given at least a view of the bottom rung. 

Prizes certain to turn their life around, such as a new automatic washing machine and ten years supply of Tide detergent for a mom with a dozen kids, all under the age of eight with nothing but a washtub and scrub board for doing their daily laundry. Or a new wheelchair, complete with a black and white TV and a rabbit ear antenna for the mom who’s taking care of a disabled teenaged son she has to carry everywhere because her husband has a broken back from an industrial accident. Stuff like that.


Like I said, they always had a happy ending and gave me comfort as I contentedly slipped off to sleep even before the announcer signed off the air and the radio signal became an annoying buzz. I must have gone through a few batteries in that transistor radio. But lying in bed, listening to stories made me use my imagination. It allowed me to visualize in my own mind, creating vivid scenarios from the words spoken. Something kids don’t do too often anymore. It made me feel lucky too. Lucky our family had a washing machine, lucky we had a set of bunk beds so I didn’t have to sleep on the floor, and very fortunate I had a small family that included only one bratty little sister.


Thanks, Marty, for reminding us that some of the best programming is found on the radio!