So called experts in radio say that shows in all formats need a female personality to attract the female listener and increase market share. Many morning shows on the AM and FM dial have a dude and lady co-host or two dudes and a chick. As for talk radio its still male dominated. Here in Washington, DC WMAL has a show called O’Connor and Company. Where host Larry O’Connor has three different female co-hosts on different days. Fill in co-hosts are also female. Never a male co-host! It is cuckservative radio at its best! Listeners get to hear about “Critter News” and “Friyay!” And we wonder why our industry is dying!
Then there is 75 Radio! We go against conventional wisdom. Walter and I (Scoop) never met face to face. There are no bits, no scripts, and very little notes. We pull stories that need to be reported on. When we have guests, we give the guest the floor and let them take the show where they want to take it. This worked out great with guests like John Stubbins, Larry Ray Hardin and Mike Rakebrandt. Then there’s Charlie LeDuff. We don’t know when he comes on until that day or when we hear our music! When he comes on, whatever we prepared goes right in the trash. And that’s fine with us, because the show gets more entertaining and it keeps us on our toes.
In 2023, 75 Radio took yet another turn. We decided to bring a woman into our 75 family. We asked Heather McBride to come onboard to fill in for Scoop for his extended vacation. Heather was a natural. Her father was Peter Powers, Rudy Giuliani’s First Deputy Mayor and a lifelong friend of Rudy’s. Heather worked in mainstream media before becoming Andrew Giuliani’s Press Secretary for his gubernatorial campaign. Heather agreed to have candidate Giuliani as a guest host, while campaigning for governor! She “got” the show and us! After the campaign, we asked Heather to come on as a guest, then guest host for a constantly vacationing Scoop, as a member of the 75 Radio family. And what a professional! The weeks she hosts she is in constant contact with Walter doing research preparing for a great show. Off air Heather has helped us immensely on things for the show!
Then 75 Radio went off the rails by introducing the world to the first Radio Spokesmodel in history; Danila Rodrigues! Think about that: a radio show with a spokesmodel! I met Danila in late June and thought; what a gorgeous woman! And she was a model! I tagged along with Ed Huebner at a Forth of July party and there was Danila, looking amazing! I had her on the show at the end with all the other party guests and thought she was awesome on the air. I eventually followed the lovely Danila on Facebook and we got to talking, and messaging and I decided, how awesome it would be if she was a “Spokesmodel.” I asked her to join the family and to my complete and utter surprise she said yes! I decided to present her to the radio world on October 28 at the Halloween party hosted by Luciano De La Torre. Luciano let me do the show at his house on July 1st. On that show Charlie and Mike Rakebrandt came on. For the Halloween show I wanted to do what we did for July first; have it at Luciano’s party, have Mike and Charlie join us. Why? Because it works! Unfortunately Mike had a family emergency but Charlie came on after he saw the selfie of me and Danila! So her first show and we have her on with Charlie! And Charlie had a few “pops” to say the least! And it was a show for the ages! We kept losing Charlie and our producer asked if we should call him back. I said no; but Danila said yes. Right then and there I knew she was one of us! She killed it on the air and LeDuff said I made a good choice bringing her on board! (Duh!) We blew the Political Cesspool out of the water that night. Not only was the Cesspool celebrating 19 years on air, it was a three-hour show, but I was also on as the Washington DC Correspondent!
Danila has also helped the show off air as she (along with Ed and Luciano) gave me a social life again and also helped me with clothing choices for events or functions so I won’t look like a bum, and provided us with tons of pictures, which everyone loves!
That’s why I’m proud to call these awesome ladies: “The First Ladies of Radio.” The term “Fist Lady” is usually reserved for one woman who is the wife of the president or a woman pioneer in a particular industry or field! Well, this IS 75 Radio, we answer to nobody. If we say there are two First Ladies, especially in radio then there are two First Ladies in Radio! Look for Heather and Danila to continue to increase the horsepower to the 75 Radio juggernaut in 2024!
SEVEN FIVE RADIO 