Andy and I went down to LA for an early Monday morning interview. We didn’t really talk at all until we were at the station just about ready to meet with the General Manager. Andy just had to get out what was on his mind. "You know, if we get this job, we have to move to LA."
I looked up from my "Spin" magazine and stared at him blankly. "So?" I asked, not really wanting to know where he was going with this.
"That means you’ll be in the same town as Krystal."
I continued to stare at him, even as the secretary told us that Steve, the GM, was ready to see us. We walked in and Steve shook our hands before we sat down. After he talked about the station for a while and asked us about our history, he looked at me closely. I thought I had something in my teeth and was just about to turn away from him, when he asked me, "Aren’t you the one who’s dating Krystal?"
I stared at him for a moment and then replied, "We broke up last week." That was all I said on the topic and he didn’t pursue it.
"So, how long have you two worked together?" he asked us finally. I had been wondering when he was going to get to the fact that we came in together as a pair.
Andy answered, "Well, not that long, but we’ve known each other for a couple years now. Becca’s the only person I want to work with now. She’s got a knack for things. Really knows what the people want."
Steve raised an eyebrow at that last comment. "So I take it you have a show idea already?"
I had run tons of ideas through my head and had finally decided that my on air name was going to have to change if I wanted this job. "Yeah, I have one," I replied coolly.
"So lay it on me."
I took a deep breath and launched full force into my idea. Andy and I would do a show called KIIS till Dawn. My radio persona would be DJ Dawn and I would pretty much play just about anything. Steve actually thought it was a good idea and hired us on the spot. We would start the following Monday morning. I was kinda shocked that he hired us and when I asked him this, he said, "Well, not many people want to work midnight to five and almost everyone thinks I’m insane by actually hiring someone when we could just program the computer to play the songs and plugs, but I think it would be a good thing. I’ve got Rick in the morning, JoJo at night, both highly rated. Gary Spears and Valentine hold their own during the day. And Carson, well, we all know what Carson can do in an hour. But since Leah left, I felt there was a void in the staff. Yeah, so she only went from midnight to four, but I want to give you two an extra hour. I’ve listened to the CD that Andy sent me with the two of you bantering back and forth on the air and I think that before the Rick Dees show in the morning you two would do well. You’re nowhere near as crude as Rick is, even though in the time slot I’m giving you, you very well could be. And you’d be after JoJo, quite possibly the best night DJ in the country and the famed Carson Daly." Steve had said most of this in one breath, really fast. I knew he was excited about what Andy and I could bring to the station.
"But we don’t have any place lined up to stay or anything like that," Andy interjected.
Steve got a perplexed look on is face for a moment then replied, "Right you are. But that’s okay. Stacy, my secretary, knows a place that’ll take you right now. And of course we’ll help with the first, last and deposit. I know it’s expensive to live here, but we’ll pay well, plenty more than the cost of living. All our DJs start on salary at 20 a year. If you do well, we move you up notches." This didn’t surprise me. LA was the second biggest ratings area and KIIS FM was the "make-or-break" station on the West Coast. "Producers start on the same level, so don’t worry Andy. Now, do you want to share a two bedroom or do you want two singles?"
Andy and I looked at each other. Yeah, we got along, but not well enough to live in the same household. "Singles," we said in unison.
"Well, it’s done then. I’ll have our lawyer draw up the contracts and we’ll be off and running. It’ll probably take a day or so. Your apartments should be ready by the weekend, if I call them today. So, uh, let’s say we get you back here on Friday. I can have JoJo show you around, how to work our little changes in the equipment. We’ll have you sign the contracts, and then we’ll show you the apartments. Sound good?"
Andy and I nodded and we got up to leave. "Oh, Becca," Steve added. "You’re not going to be using your celebrity status to enhance the show are you?"
I stared. I felt I didn’t have any celebrity status, but if that’s what he thought... "No," I replied. "I’m trying to disappear." Steve nodded and let us leave.
Four days later, two days after Christmas, Andy and I were maneuvering a U-Haul truck down the freeway to Los Angeles. We had opted to rent just one van and move all of our stuff in it to save on cost. We parked the huge vehicle outside of the studio and raced inside. JoJo with his curly shaggy hair met us at the reception desk. He led us around the offices and eventually back into the studio, which was huge, compared to what we were used to. It reminded me of Howard Stern’s radio studio that was always shown on TV. The entire room was soundproof and across from the DJ spot was a wall of soundproof glass with a bunch of soundboards for the producer. JoJo showed me the boards which mainly consisted of a computer, a microphone and a mouse. "Everything you’ll ever need is on the computer," JoJo said. "Soundbites, plugs, station IDs, everything. And it’s really simple to record onto as well. If you were doing a show before midnight, the playlists would be set, but since you’re after hours, you can program your own playlist. And you do that from master control, over where Andy is gonna be. Lemme go show you." We followed JoJo into the production booth and once again he started talking. "You can set your playlist at anytime from here. I have to do mine for the countdown at 9, so my production assistant is usually tabulating and creating rough lists for me through the eight o’clock hour. But if you don’t wanna do playlists, you don’t have to, according to Steve. From the computer in the booth, you have access to all the music. The computers are linked together so if you wanna change something, go ahead." I nodded at JoJo. Andy and I were always doing stuff like that so it was good that we had the go-ahead from the big guy himself.
JoJo finished the tour and then led us to our apartments only a few blocks from the studio. He gave us our keys to the station so we could get in on Monday morning. He then left us because he had go prepare for his show. Andy and I unpacked the U-Haul, sorting out who had which couch and TV. By Sunday night we were both itching for the new show, even though the only things we had unpacked were things we needed for the show, like the soundbite CDs and other things we had done together. The first show went off without a hitch and two days later we got the privilege of saying we were the first show of 2003.
