Not an Ending, But Hopefully a Beginning

As noted elsewhere on this blog, tonight will be our last broadcast of WOW on WLUW. Jen did an amazing job of thanking everyone, including our friends and family, but I wanted to throw in my thoughts and thanks, too.

I started dj'ing at WLUW in the summer of 2002. I was getting over a terrible breakup and was unemployed, so I was spending my summer nights doing what the heartbroken do so well - dwelling. Emily convinced me to leave the house and join her at the station for her overnight show. So, once a week, I would leave my apartment at 1:00 a.m. and make the mile or so trek to the station, where we would play our favorites until the sun came up.

Once the summer was over, I joined Carly for her mid-week shift and shortly thereafter joined her with on Emily on WOW, where I've stayed until today.

The station, and the show, has been a huge part of my life. Being able to host a show with two of my best friends every week was an incredible experience. I feel like I grew up with the show, and with WLUW. I went through my most significant relationship while hosting WOW, using the music to celebrate new love and to mourn when it ended. I got my first law school acceptance letter on a Tuesday, and was able to celebrate not only with Emily and Jen, but with Erik and Ali of Think Pink who were, at that time, the show prior to ours. Hurricane Katrina started on a Tuesday, and we guided our listeners through the news updates. We've had listeners from Iraq listening online and sharing their experiences with us. Elections, national and global crisis, changes in our world: we've had the opportunity to address it all on air. There were so many Saturdays, or Tuesdays, when all I wanted to do was to get to the station to share a new cd with our listeners, and to hear about what Jen and Emily had been up to over the past week.

Just being able to flood the airwaves with female musicians was an incredible opportunity. Even in 2009, women are still consistently left out of the rock and roll conversation (unless it is about who has the hottest or most naked Rolling Stone cover). It isn't because women aren't making music or are less talented, either. WOW has given the three of us, and the women before us, the chance to remind the music community that women are making great art, and that they deserve attention, praise and criticism just as much as their male counterparts.

Thank you to WLUW for providing me with seven of the most educational, fun, and inspirational years of my life. The comfort I've found in working here is something that I have trouble articulating, and know that I will never be able to replicate. Thank you to Erik and Ali and Ruth, for their work on Think Pink and being an amazing neighbor on the airwaves (not to mention being wonderful friends). Thanks to Shawn Campbell, for always supporting WOW and being a great role model for women in the music community. Thanks to our listeners for tipping us off to hot bands and for giving us a reason to do our very best.

Most of all, thanks to Emily, Carly and Jen. You are my loves, my sheroes, my sisters. Watching WOW grow with you, and becoming the strong adult women we are today, has been an incredible privilege. I can't wait to see what is next for all of us!