Getting the message across that we do life radio

AL
PETERSON
Issue 23
News • Talk • Sports Weekly
Surviving Cancer And The Radio Biz
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness
Month, so I thought it would be a good time
to check in with Selma Schimmel, host
of The Group Room. Schimmel has survived
not only breast cancer, but also two other
diagnosed cancers over the past couple of
decades. She’s also managed to survive in
the rough-and-tumble world of syndicated Selma Schimmel
Talk radio for more than a dozen years. To say
that she speaks from personal experience in her continuing
quest to make her radio show and her Vital Options website
www.vitaloptions.org “the No. 1 source of information and
help for all types of cancer” is an understatement. With
treatments for her most recent bout with cancer now behind her, and a new deal with Dr. Laura Schlessinger-owned
Take On The Day, LLC to produce and syndicate her weekly
talk show, Schimmel sounds bright and optimistic about
the future — for herself and her show.
AP: Tell us a bit about your new deal with Take On The Day.
SS: I am so excited. I find it just awesome that they have decided
to take on a second show. It actually came about through our
producer, Benjamin Pratt, who also engineers the Dr. Laura
Show. It’s really thanks to him, and I’d like to acknowledge him
for the idea. It was simply a case of the right conversation between
the right people at the right time. I feel like we’re at the top of our
game as an organization right now, and that after all these years
we’re experiencing almost a rebirth of the show.
AP: How has the conversation on your show changed over the
last decade?
SS: When we started we were talking mostly things like chemotherapy, radiation and quality of life. In the beginning we were
October 19, 2007
much more psycho-social in our approach, which was one of the
reasons why we called it The Group Room. People got together in
a group and we would chat. There were a lot of emotional issues
we were dealing with then; we even had a regular therapist and
an in-studio oncologist with us. But the format of the show has
changed because today’s medical consumers have changed, and
the issues they are bringing to the show are very different than
they once were. Now we’re talking about molecular pathology,
molecular, biological and even vaccine therapies like the HPV
vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. So the landscape of oncology
has changed a great deal since we first started this discussion, and
the show has evolved with those changes.
“Getting the message across that we
do life radio, not death radio, has
always been our biggest challenge.”
AP: My local newspaper had a front-page story this week
headlined, “Cancer Death Rate Declining Rapidly.” Would you
agree with that assessment?
SS: Remember, we have the ability now to diagnose cancer
earlier, so that impacts those numbers a lot. Now, if we could just
get men to be more pro-active on colorectal screening it would be
even better. But, yes, we are getting cancers diagnosed earlier and,
in some cases, such as in discovering pre-cancerous polyps, we’re
now able to eradicate the disease up to about 98%. Prevention and
early detection are probably the biggest reasons those numbers
have gone down.
AP: Lung cancer was one of the earliest types of the disease we
all learned about. Have the years of anti-smoking education and
increased regulation on smokers been effective at bringing down
lung cancer rates in America?
(continued on page 3)
©200 7 News • Ta lk • S p o r t s Airc h ec k ™ — Al l r i g hts re s e r ve d. To s u bs c r i be v i s i t www.ntsaircheck.com
News • Talk • Sports Weekly
October 19, 2007
Page 2
Airchecklets
Satcaster News
Mt. Wilson Broadcasters Classical AM KMZT/Los Angeles
plans a flip to Talk October 29, anchored by market mainstay
Michael Jackson ... WCMC/Raleigh finalizes its previously
announced move from Country to Sports/Talk as “99.5 The Fan.”
Mike Maniscalso and Dan Mason anchor local mornings,
followed by The Content Factory’s Dan Patrick and Sporting
News Radio’s Tony Bruno in middays, and locals Mark Thomas
and Scott Jackson in PM drive ... Congrats to WSB/Atlanta host
Chris Krok, who is a 2007 March of Dimes Peachtree City A.I.R.
Award winner ... KFBK/Sacramento veteran Tom Sullivan is
now firmly ensconced in New York as part of the just-launched
FOX Business Channel. Sullivan continues via ISDN on KFBK,
but his radio show is expected to get a national rollout later this
year ... Scott Allen Miller resurfaces as PD and morning host at
Pamal’s WROW/Albany, NY. He replaces Paul Vandenburgh,
who recently exited to pursue station ownership.
XM Satellite Radio has debuted the AudioVox XM Direct 2,
a programmable universal adaptor that can be used with more
than 100 car stereos currently on the market. Because the unit is
programmable the dealer-installed device can be updated for newmodel car stereos as they come into the marketplace. The $129 kit
comes bundled with a portable XM MiniTuner, universal adaptor
and cable ... Sirius Satellite Radio teams with two-time NASCAR
Nextel Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart to present the first
annual “Stewie” Awards to honor “the best, boldest and funniest
moments of the 2007 NASCAR season.” Winners in categories
such as “Bonehead Move of the Year” and “I Got Dumped,” will
be announced November 29 during Stewart’s weekly show on
Sirius’ NASCAR Radio channel, 6-8pm ET.
Network/Syndication Aircheck
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams will host Saturday
Night Live this weekend (10/20) ... Suburban Chicago area AM
WJOB/Hammond, IN adds Lifestyle TalkRadio Network
shows The Good Stuff; The Frankie Boyer Show; Bruce Williams;
Computer America; and Doug Stephan’s Good Day, along with
additional weekend programming from the network ... Former
Genesis Communications producer Shannon Rose is shamelessly shilling for your vote to help get him chosen as a new movie
reviewer/co-host at www.BobRossMovies.com/node/418748...
Newly formed Intel Radio Network names Joel Luddie
National Sales Manager; Kelly Cox, Director of Public Relations;
Dana Harmon, Affiliate Relations; and Diane Leone, National
Accounts Representative. Meanwhile, Bob Parks signs on as host
IRN’s first show, Outside The Wire, set to launch 9pm-midnight
ET beginning November 5 ... Syndicated Solutions’ Rick &
Bubba Show adds WKQH/Wausau, WI; WYVY/Paducah,
KY; WGSO/New Orleans and WSCG/Grand Rapids ... FOX
Sports Radio hosts Sean Farnham and Krystal Fernandez are
broadcasting live today and tomorrow (10/20) from the fifth and
final stop on the action sports AST Dew Tour in Orlando... Jones
Media America takes on ad sales for The Money Pit. The weekly
Talk Shows USA-distributed show is hosted by Tom Kraeutler
and Leslie Segrete.
Gig Alerts
Recently launched northwest Florida News/Talk WNRP/
Pensacola, is looking for a news anchor/reporter with at least
one year’s experience to cover local news for “a privately owned,
completely community-involved operation.” Submit resume and
mp3 demo of no more than 5MB to HR@CatCountry987.com.
Good Kick, No Bounce
KILT-AM (Sports Radio 610)/Houston and Country KILT-FM
listener Gracie Henderson (second from left) wears a really big
grin while holding a really big check representing her grand prize
in the stations’ $50,000 Kick-Off Contest. Pictured (l-r) are Sports
Radio 610 morning co-host Andre Ware, Henderson, “Voice
of the Texans” and morning co-host Marc Vandemeer, and a
representative from contest co-sponsor Lennar Homes.
©20 07 News • Ta lk • S p o r t s Airc h ec k ™ — Al l r i g hts re s e r ve d. S e n d n e ws to news@NTSaircheck.com
News • Talk • Sports Weekly
October 19, 2007
(continued from page 1)
SS: Death rates among men are dropping because the smoking
rate among men has decreased. Unfortunately, more women are
smoking today than in the past, so I suspect we will be seeing an
increase in lung cancer in women as a result. We still need to get
both men and women to be more pro-active about prophylactic
and surgical intervention in ways we never used to think of when
it comes to cancer. Surgery was always about fixing a problem,
but now we’ve learned that people should also look at it as
something that can sometimes be used pro-actively to prevent
a problem. We’re throwing a lot of new technologies out there,
but we need to do better as a culture to accept and adapt to the
technologies that can help in the fight with cancer.
AP: With this being Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
what sorts of changes and advances have you
witnessed on that front over the years?
SS: The breast cancer advocates have really paved the
way for all cancer advocacy, in my opinion. Things
like prostate cancer advocacy, for example, followed breast cancer awareness efforts. There
are whole new diagnostic technologies out
there, and we’re looking at young women
very differently that we once did. I was diagnosed with
breast cancer in my 20s. Today a young woman with a
breast lump would never go through what I went through
back in 1983. Again, earlier detection is a key factor, along with
treatments that are allowing women to live longer with breast
cancer as a chronic disease. It’s a whole new world out there
when it comes to breast cancer compared to 20 years ago.
AP: As media outlets continue to grow and fragment, and baby
boomers age, medical-issues Talk is projected to grow in the
years ahead. That’s a big difference from when you started the
show, isn’t it?
SS: It sure is. When we started out people told us, “You can’t
talk about cancer on the radio — that’s death radio!” PDs didn’t
literally throw me out of their offices, but a few came close.
Getting the message across that we do life radio, not death
radio, has always been our biggest challenge. With one out of
three Americans diagnosed with cancer, who isn’t touched by
it? I think the show is even more important today than when
we started out, because we are the one resource that can take
cancer and put it in understandable language that will help
motivate people to comprehend prevention and empower them
as consumers. Once they have been diagnosed, the objective is
to be sure they are working with their doctors based on credible
information, not just something they’ve picked up randomly
on the Internet. Ultimately, we want to be the No. 1 oncology
information distribution channel. That’s my goal.
Contact NTS Aircheck
Al Peterson:
858-486-7559
Brooke Trissel:
512-218-8228
news@ntsaircheck.com
NTS Aircheck
1102 17th Ave. South, Suite 205
Nashville, TN 37212
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