Radio Press Tour -- December 7
Oh Grow Up returns tonight to the television airwaves and the publicity arm of the show has approached us actors asking if we will promote the show. Of course, of course, course we will. Anything you want. Just name it. Let me know what I can do.
Those were the words that kept echoing through my head last night as I was setting my alarm for 5:25am. Promoting the show does not mean appearing on The Tonight Show the night before. For us it means appearing on the Morning Drive-Time radio shows on the East Coast. Drive-Time to them is, of course, Sleep-Time to me, but for love of the show I rolled over at hit the alarm at 5:30am this morning as planned. Then, not as planned, I feel back asleep.
Keep in mind I don't have to go anywhere on this Press Tour. The Tour is virtual. My voice travelled all over the country this morning. I barely travelled from my bed to the kitchen. And for the first interview, I didn't travel at all. The phone rang at 5:40 and it was Carolyn Prousky, the publicist for Greenblatt/Janollari, ready to conference me in with PMP Radio Network Magic 106.7, Boston. 'I'm ready,' my voice said, as I tried to place exactly where I was, panic starting to settle in. OK, I'm in my bed, I haven't missed anything, I am about to be on the radio 3000 miles away -- live. Ready. And in the dark stillness of my room, I gave a pre-dawn interview for about 10 minutes lying on my back trying to be as interesting as possible.
When we finished, I went back to my original plan and got up. I made some tea and prepared for the next one. They were scheduled every fifteen minutes, so the time in between finishing one and the next quarter-hour was all mine. I spent most of that time counting how many I had left and how long it would be until I was asleep again. Other impulses were not functioning.
We did seven in all -- Boston, WKIE KISS FM 92 Chicago, WNVZ Z-104 Norfolk, WPDH 101.5 New York, WBHT 97BHT Wilkes Barre, PA (about an hour South of Binghamton), WKXD Kicks 106.9 Nashville, and WCCC The Rock 106.9 Hartford. As usual, the more lively the interviewer, the more lively the me. The first one was reserved (maybe partly because I was still half-asleep) but the next three or four went well. There were jokes, laughs, goofy stuff. Some of the Drive-Time characters were in full wacky swing. The last interview was the weirdest and worst. It was a gentleman named Don Steele in Hartford who used a preacher voice and was going to use the interview on his 'Sunday Mass' show. His questions were bad, his accent was weak, and his jokes were lame. It was all I could do to keep it interesting. But luckily it was the final hurrah for the morning. Within ten minutes, I was back in 'first interview position' and ready to dream about interviewing instead of doing it.
Did the interviews help? I don't know. Can one morning of interviews
on seven stations make a noticeable difference in our ratings. We
have always felt that we would need time, we're a word-of-mouth kind
of show. At least if we go down I can say that I did my part, gosh
darn it. I fought the good fight, the early fight, the Drive-Time
fight. And on the bright side, if we get cancelled, I can sleep in every morning.