Mount Airy Moms a Hit on Radio
by Sandra E. Pickett, Staff Writer
The Gazette Newspapers - Thursday August 28 1997, "Community News"
Barbi Burdine, Lynne Galletti [Keady 1978], and Kathleen Warholic (left to right), all of
Mount Airy, are on the air with "Mom's Talk."
(Photo scan courtesy of Greg Galletti)
Life is becoming something of a dream come true for three Mount Airy women who
are well on their way to hosting their own talk show. The trio have already
made two appearances on the Bob Miller Program on WFMD (930 AM), where they
have received rave reviews. Now, they're negotiating to have their own show,
which they plan to call "Mom's Talk."
"The whole premise of the show is that we're just sitting on Kathleen's back
deck talking," Lynne Galletti noted. "So far we've had a tremendous response,
and all of the comments have been positive."
As Kathleen Warholic explained, the women came up with the idea for doing a
talk show about a year ago. They noticed that their banter, humor, and
common sense made their lives easier, and figured they could do the same for
other women.
"Humor does does help us to get over the humps," Warholic noted. "We're
funny and we're also going through what every mom goes through."
The three women have seven children between them, ranging in age from 18
months to 6 years. All three have also chosen to stay at home full time to
raise those children, and say their conversations with each other have helped
to keep them on an even keel on the most stressful of days. The trio also
knew they had the potential to tap into a huge, and mostly overlooked market.
"We thought that TV would be too much," Warholic noted, "and have really
wanted something that would be immediate. We wanted that instant feedback
that you can get with talk radio.
"None of us had ever walked into a radio studio before," Galletti said. "But
I was flipping through the Gazette and there was this half page ad for WFMD.
It was like a strange omen."
As the moms see it, WFMD is a local hometown station. Frederick County is
growing, and more and more women are moving in who don't know where to go for
information and support.
"We're not saying that being a mom is bad. We just know there's a little
hair pulling," said Warholic.
The moms started by doing a bit of market surveying. Galletti went to places
where she knew she'd find moms, and, dictaphone in hand, she quizzed them
about the talk show idea. "Everyone I asked thought it was a great idea,"
Galletti noted.
"People are not from here. So they can't afford to call their mom or their
sister about the kids. It's long distance," added Barbi Burdine.
Armed with their opinion poll, the moms decided to contact the station.
"We talked to Frank Mitchell [the station's program manager] and he liked the
idea," Warholioc explained. "He asked us for a proposal and a five-minute
demo tape. The next thing we knew, they were asking us to come in at 10 a.m.
for a live show with Bob Miller."
All three women siad they were nervous before the show, but that the hour they
were on just flew by. It couldn't have hurt that they threw themselves into
promoting the event, by telling everyone they could, and putting up flyers
everywhere.
The station received such a strong response to the first show, held on July
31, that they asked the moms in for a second show on Aug. 19. Nowadays, the
trio say they have loads of topics ready to discuss including everything from
finding babysitters to finding time for yourself.
"We also want to have people call in with suggestions and tips. We can be
their sounding boards," Burdine noted.
The moms say that ideally they would like to have a show that starts out
monthly, and moved gradually to weekly, as they gain a following and
establish themselves. So far, they say they love doing the show. Issues
have run the gamut and the response, by all accounts, has been phenomenal.
"It's the anonymity. It's a non-threatening talk forum," noted Galletti.
"Hopefully we might even help those people who aren't calling in."
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