My Favorite Radio People and Personalities on National Radio Day

We are lucky here in New England, and Massachusetts specifically, to have so much great radio to listen to. I feel like I grew up listening to the best radio DJs there ever were–and still are.

It started with a small radio in my bedroom when I was around 9 or 10 years old. There were only three radio stations that would come in clearly and without static. And if I moved that darn antenna, day ruined. The three radio stations I am referring to are 92 PRO-FM, KISS 108 and 94HJY.

I could be wrong about only having three stations to listen to, but these were the only ones that mattered to me at the time. Depending on my favorite songs (my playlist, if you will) I would dial back and forth between all three for hours.

That little boom box radio came everywhere with me. I would take it from my room to the downstairs, the backyard, to the beach down the street where I spent most of my summer days with friends. Not only did I love the music but I also fell in love with the DJs, too. I loved they way they sounded when they would "talk up" a song. Unlike most people, it never bothered me to hear them talking over the intro of a song; I wanted to hear what they had to say.

So I am going to be dating myself here, but one of my all-time favorite DJs when I was a kid was David Grey ("in the mid-day," he would say) from 92 PRO-FM. I have no idea where he is now but he is a name and a voice that I will always remember.

I also loved the late, great and legendary "Uncle" Dale Doorman. Even though back in those days, there was no way for us to see the DJ in action during their show like we can now, you could hear the smile on his face when he would talk. I knew how much he loved the music he played and his listening audience. I could hear it and feel it in the way he spoke to me.

Then there was Lady D, the REAL Diana Steele. She was on KISS 108 at night and I WORSHIPED her. I loved everything about how she sounded on the radio; the way she joked about the other guy DJs she worked with, her laugh, and how she loved Prince. She was everything.

About four years after I started my own radio career, I'm not sure how but our paths crossed. I was working at a radio station in Boston at the time and this particular station had just hired her to replace someone else. And even though I was now a DJ with my own show, you better believe I was nervous as heck to think I'd be working before or after one of her on-air shifts. Well, sure enough that day came pretty fast. I was finishing a Saturday morning 6-10 a.m. show and she was coming on for her show immediately after me.

"Hey, you must be Christine Foooxxx," she said as she walked into the studio. In my head I was like, "What, she knows my name?!" I tried to be as cool as I could but I know I was probably a bumbling mess that day meeting her for the first time.

I got to work alongside Lady D and so many of my favorite DJs those earlier years in Boston and I cherish that time so much. I feel like I was learning and growing in my profession during such an amazing time in radio and learned from the best radio programmers in the country. It's something I never took for granted and to this day, feel so grateful for.

Over the years I've been able to work with, learn from and listen to the best in the radio business. I want to mention a few more here: Rick "RJ Jordan" Pendleton, Keith Lemire, our very own Jim "JR" Reitz, Cadillac Jack, Cat Collins, JoJo "Cookin" Kincaid, Ralphie Marino, Mike Tierney, Eric Powers, John Ivey, Matt Siegel, Billy Costa, Ed McMahon, Sony Joe White and Lisa Lipps.

Happy National Radio Day, peeps.🙃🎧🎙️