Hi Blues Lovers,
The following is a true statement:
Well, I guess you're wondering what's up here, so I'll just tell you. Last year one of the Breakfast with the Blues DJ's took a 3 or 4 month break from being on the air. He needed to just take a break - anyone can understand that, right? He took a break and someone filled in for him. When he was ready he returned to doing his show. This year I needed a break (key point here is that I'm a woman), to deal with a painful curve ball life threw pretty hard at me the end of July. So I told KRVM "I need a break" but just for a month. Well, I got the break, but now the Program Manager won't let me resume my Tuesday Breakfast with the Blues show. It seems the fill-in DJ had some "political connections" which influenced KRVM management that he deserved the show "more than I did" and he wasn't willing to share the show with me. Keep in mind I've done the Tuesday show for a year and my employer gave KRVM a large sum of grant money honoring my volunteer efforts. KRVM got more than just a Tuesday morning DJ with RegeMama.
Thus said, I won't be back on Tuesday mornings. I'll miss you. It was fun and I so enjoyed sharing the blues with you and hearing from you when you had time to call in during my shows. I wish I could have met all of you. But for some reason when it came to MC'ing a Blues event, only the men DJ's were invited to do that. Hmm... There it is again. WOW! So, no more female DJ on Breakfast with the Blues. Women love the blues, too, and we deserve to be heard. I wouldn't have an issue with KRVM replacing me IF I had been doing a really bad job and been unreliable, but that wasn't the case. I wouldn't have an issue with KRVM replacing me IF it had been with another WOMAN, not a man. So we now have all male DJs for Breakfast with the Blues on KRVM. I find that disappointing and rather sexist. I've listened to Breakfast with the Blues since 1992. I know what makes up a good show. I really enjoyed the women DJ's over the years - their spin on the music and life kept it REAL and in balance. Just saying how I feel about it, that's all.
That same DJ who took a break last year, offered to share his show with me after learning I'm now completely out of the weekly rotation. He feels strongly that KRVM needs to continue having a female presence on BWTB, as do most of the other BWTB DJ's, except for maybe 2 of them. You can probably figure out who they are by the music they play and their on-air personalities. I told him I'd be happy to switch weeks with him, if that was what he wanted and felt would be best FOR THE SHOW. However, since I decided to go ahead and blog what's been up here and how I feel about it...and it's perfectly fine for a person to do that, by the way...KRVM may not want me to be on the air after all. We'll see. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even a woman, thus I blog. If you have strong feelings about this issue either way, I encourage you to contact the KRVM Program Manager ken@krvm.org and express them. You're a listener, too. Your opinion should matter. It is, after all, a public radio station last time I checked.
Lovin' the Blues,
RegeMama - you can email me at regemama@yahoo.com
