Article archive / December 1, 2009
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 4. Source pages: 12.
Last month I described my experience on the Montel Williams Show and promised to tell you whether I had decided to pursue more appearances on the national scene. During the previous years I had limited myself to participation in local television, radio, and print media as I raised my children. Now that they were grown and gone I was reviewing my options.
In the fall of 2001, just before my trip to New York to be on Montel, I had returned to radio after many years on television. Radio is the preferred medium for intimate communications with an audience. After the attacks of 9/11 I had chosen radio to talk with my New Orleans community about that traumatic tragedy.
Now, despite the allure of the Big Apple, I returned home. I felt a strong need to continue that conversation. I chose Sunday mornings for my new program, a time most suitable for establishing a reflective tone with listeners. I wanted to engage my audience on intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels, to provide information and inspiration.
I also knew with greater certainty that, rather than being the guest expert, the entertainment, or the feel- good story on someone else’s show, I wanted to run the show that had those segments. I still didn’t care about being on Montel. What I really wanted was to be Montel, or in my case, to continue to be Dr. Susan, producer and host.
I began my new radio show with one of my signature Musical Messages® features. As a musician I’ve always enjoyed analyzing music as much as people. Fats Domino, one of my hometown musical giants, gave me the perfect post 9/11 reflection and inspiration song, Walkin’ to New Orleans, with his lyrics “New Orleans is my home, that’s the reason why I’m goin’. Yes, I’m walkin’ to New Orleans.” These words became the hook to teach a psychological lesson about the search for safety in the face of trauma.
Remember that I said in my previous column that I was more excited about being a dancer on the Larry Kane Show in high school than about being on the Montel Williams Show? Well, when I returned to New Orleans, after I got my radio program underway, I was invited to produce a psychology segment for a local television station. And guess what the whole cast would do each week as we closed out that show? Dance!
Next month I will give you some tips on finding your place in the media.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.