Radio for Rightsizers

For many years, I made the majority of my living as a health and lifestyle commentator and reporter for KABC Radio & TV in Southern California.  In fact, for 17 years, I rose at 4:45a.m. each morning, read three newspapers, wrote two ninety-second stories and broadcast them “live” from 5:00 to 9:00a.m. from my home studio to about a million folks–many in their cars on their way to perform early surgeries, work at construction sites, monitor schoolyards or show up at other locations where their work required they get to the job in the early a.m.

During those nearly two decades of broadcasting, I saw a lot of changes take place in my profession–as in many industries that have been impacted by the Digital Revolution. (The auto, publishing, real estate, travel businesses come to mind….)

At any rate, I was able to change-and-adapt within the media world, and to my amazement, so has radio!

Recently, I’ve been asked to appear as a guest on a number of “BlogRadio” shows where you speak to the hosts via telephone.  The hour-long show goes out over the Internet in real time, or is taped for future airing.  It is also “archived” so listeners can retrieve the show at times convenient to their schedules and listen whenever they want!

What a great concept!

Empty Nesters HostsOne of the liveliest BlogRadio programs shows I’ve done is The Empty Nesters, hosted by Claudia Brown and Jill Fromer, two women living in Southern California who are adjusting to their children no longer living in their homes.  When I did the show on August 25, which is still available in their archive–should you be so inclined to hear it–we had a sensational sixty minutes full of laughter, Rightsizing tips, and the wonderful, hard-won wisdom from people who have really lived through the experiences they’re talking about.

“Rightsizing” is so much more than the square footage you live in, though we certainly covered a few pointers about the task of sifting through your possessions so you can end up with the “best-of-the-best” of what you own that suits your age, stage, and current living situation.

What Jill and Claudia and I began to drill down on was the notion of thinking hard about what we “women of a certain age” (and men, too) want for the Next Chapter in our lives, now that the children have flown the nest and we don’t exactly need a closet full of soccer balls, broken croquet mallets, or even clothing in our closets we haven’t worn (or fit in to) for years. And what do we do with the things that no longer serve our needs?  We talked about how to dispose of them in a “green,” responsible fashion, or pass them on to the universe in a way that forestalls the wrenching emotions sometimes experienced when we get rid of a grown child’s art work, or boxes of papers that represent a professional life that no longer exists.

Blog Radio is certainly beginning to fill some pretty specialized niches.  What’s great is that there are shows on just about any topic you can name:  business, lifestyle issues, spirituality, and certainly “how to rightsize your life!”

If you haven’t had a chance to see what’s out there on the Web, put a topic into your Search Box and then add  the words “blog radio” and see what comes up. And then you can listen to it whenever you want.

Take it from a veteran broadcaster (Oh, do I wish I still looked like this picture!):  it’s the wave of the future, and for rightsizers, you don’t even need to own a radio!

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