I'd never done a live radio interview before. It was great fun. They called me the afternoon before -- the producer, Kate Cahan having called her "favorite bookstore" Something Wicked Books in Evanston, and asked for a reference of an author who might be able to speak on the topic. A local writer and friend John Weagly happened to answer the phone, and having seen my bookcases full of weird reference books, figured I might be able to do it.
She asked me some very general questions about Friday the 13th superstitions and took a bit of background info on me, then told me what time they'd call me the next morning, and about how long the segment would run. I hit the reference books and prepared some introductory comments, (remembering to plot some breaks to let the interviewer jump in with a question) then brainstormed possible follow-up questions and thought through how I'd want to answer them, making notes.
They called an hour beforehand to confirm the air time, then called 3 minutes before, to have the connection ready to go. Next thing I knew, we were on the air. I didn't get nervous until several hours after the fact - when I started thinking about all the questions he could have asked that I would have stumbled on. Well, that's not quite true. I didn't get jittery nervous until after it was over. But the night before, I dreamt about the interview in a continuous loop all night, and kept waking up worried I'd over-sleep and not hear the phone. As air time grew closer, I settled my nerves by going over my notes, refining them, tinkering with them, putting the headers in large font so I could quickly reference information, reprinting each of the 3 pages with each little change.
And, I listened to the first hour of the show while I waited. That was the best thing I could have possibly done, because I got to hear several other people being interviewed on a variety of topics, and realized they really meant it when they said it was "conversational". There were a lot of "um's" and "ah's" from all the speakers, including their regular correspondents. It made me feel much more comfortable about the whole thing. The segment before me was about how to save money while traveling -- by grilling brats on your car motor while you drive. It was a wacky little piece that went on too long, which was exactly what I needed to hear before I went on the air. The host, Steve Edwards, asked me one question I hadn't anticipated, but I was able to wing an answer, and it was the last question so I was into the groove and feeling comfortable.
The interview is now available in their archives. You can listen to it by going to the web page where the entire show is archived and clicking on my segment at: http://wbez.org/services/848_rajuly01.htm#010713
In July, I was interviewed on Chicago's local NPR station, WBEZ radio, about the origins and superstitions surrounding unlucky Friday the 13th. The five minute interview was broadcast live on the local NPR magazine program "Eight Forty-Eight," on Friday, July 13th.
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