Who you might be asking am I speaking of? Well I'd like you to meet Amberly Warnke!
Q. How long have you been called mommy?
A. I have been called a few different variations of "Mommy," for about eight and a half years. "Mama" was big for a long time, and "Mom" stuck for a while. Here lately I am "Mommers," Mom-bo," and "Mamma Mia" depending on the situation.
Q. What is your favorite thing about being a mom?
A. I love introducing my son to new things, ideas and experiences and seeing him develop an appreciation for them. Some things go over really well, others don't. I'm pretty proud of the fact that my kid loves grits, The Ramones, and sculpture; He's a huge fan of the work of Alberto Giacometti, especially his "Cat" sculpture. And rocks- we both love rocks.
Q. So how did you get started in radio?
A. Well... I have been listening to UK's student run radio station, WRFL, since shortly after it went on the air in 1988. When I was an eighth grader, living in Nicholas County, one of my teachers told me that something really important had happened in Lexington- that a group of college students had gone together and started a radio station, and that I needed to pay attention to that and listen because it was going to introduce me to all kinds of music I had never heard before. So I did, and it did.
When I was fifteen, we moved to Woodford County, where we had this fantastic "media" program. There we learned audio and video editing, and a friend of a friend from my school had a brother who was a DJ at WRFL. I listened to his show often and would call in to request songs. One day in April 1992, (I think) I mentioned that I knew his brother, and he invited me down to check things out. So I went, and just kind of stuck around.
Allie Garza photo credit
Q. When did Ages 3 and Up! come about & what inpspired you to do it?
A. I left WRFL shortly after I married, late in 1995. My husband and I worked, enjoyed being married for a while, and eventually had a baby. Our son was born in the end of 2001. Things were extremely difficult for our family when my son was young, as is the case in many families when a new baby comes along. We all had a lot of problems connecting back then. When my son, Oliver, was three years old we watched the Noggin channel (now Nick Jr.) quite a lot. I liked it because it was non-commercial. They played these great music videos for kids, and the music for one of them got stuck in my head. It was for Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers' song, "I'm a Little Airplane." My son liked the song too, so we would sing it in the car and around the house. We finally found a way to connect- over music. I got to looking around for more music for kids, and found that no one was playing that on the radio in Lexington. So I figured, maybe I should. I got in touch with friends who were still at WRFL, found out how to get back on the air, and did it.
Q. Tell me more about Pied Piper Radio!
A. After doing Ages 3 and Up! for a couple of years, some members of WRFL's staff who have worked in commercial media began encouraging me to look into syndication. I looked into it, but there were many obstacles in the way at that time, so I decided to just keep Ages 3 and Up! local. I did need to branch out a little, though, so I went online with a blog, started a MySpace and a Facebook, did some networking and met some other REALLY great people in the kids music industry. Other DJ's, musicians, bloggers, PR reps, etc.
I forgot to mention that shortly after Ages 3 and Up! began, things changed significantly in our family and I became a single mom. We've been living on a tight budget since then and, like other parents who have been in my situation, I considered taking a second job. I'm really lucky to have a day job I love. But, finding and paying for nighttime childcare, so I could work a second job was a serious issue. Also, I hardly saw enough of my son. After making dinner and doing homework, we only had about an hour of quality time together at night. So, I decided that I needed to find work I could do from home, after my son went to bed.
In February of this year, I decided to look into syndication again, and found that many of the problems I had previously encountered, had been resolved. The two largest obstacles were a production site and distribution. I felt uncomfortable using WRFL's facilities to work on a for-profit project, because it is a non-profit organization funded by Student Activities fees from UK students. So I got to thinking about it and it hit me that many, many of the programs you hear on radio are produced on computers. I had a computer at home. I invested in a couple of key pieces of equipment, and suddenly I had a studio. I happened across the website for Public Radio Exhchange (http://prx.org), and suddenly I also had a distributor.
And on April 20th of this year, Pied Piper Radio was born.
Pied Piper Radio is a one hour weekly series featuring music for, and sometimes by, children. We play music from a wide variety of genres and eras. You can read more about it at http://piedpiperradio.com . There are links to our distributor's website on the page for each episode (you can hear the program from there). There are also fun things for the kids to do and see!
Q. If all your dreams came true where would your radio shows be in 2 years?
A. That is difficult to say.
I would like to think that if EVERYTHING I wanted to happen HAPPENED in exactly the way I wanted it to happen, my life would not be that different from the way it is now. We'd still be living in the Lexington area, possibly in a home of our own, possibly with additional family members, and I'd get up every Saturday at 6 to get ready to go do Ages 3 and Up! at WRFL (from 8-9). I'm pretty happy with my life right now, and I love doing my show every week. It's a lot of fun for me! Not only that, but I consider it a service to my community, and I feel really strongly that we all need to do what we can to make our communities great places to live. This is my home. I was born in Lexington, and my family is here. That said, things don't always happen the way we want them to happen. Sometimes they happen in an even better way! So, I'm anxious to see what the future might bring.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the possibility of Pied Piper Radio taking off and turning into something. It would be FANTASTIC if something like that happened. Or, at least I think it would... I was talking to a reporter from the Herald Leader recently and she asked if I had a goal for the number of stations I'd like to see PPR on. I jokingly said 200. When the article came out, I linked to it on Facebook, and mentioned that the 200 stations thing was kind of a joke. Michael Jonathan, of Woodsongs fame, chimed in and said that sometimes things like that really DO happen. (Of course, he would know.) My actual goal is FAR more modest- 5 stations by the end of this year. So in two years, maybe 20 stations?
Q. What's on your playlist at home?
A. A lot of different things. My musical tastes have been accurately described as "kind of all over the place." There's always a lot of jazz and classical music around. Both the traditional and avant-garde varieties. Here lately I've been listening to a couple of local acts, Idiot Glee and Matt Duncan- they're both great. The newest from The Apples in Stereo is good, and I've been enjoying perennial faves from The Skatalites, Os Mutantes, The Poppy Family and The Kinks. Oh, and His Name is Alive- they're my favorite band. They're "kind of all over the place" too. And, of course, there's the kids' music.
Awesome lady right??? I know!!! Hope you enjoyed and make sure to tune in next Saturday to Ages 3 and Up! on WRFL!!!
LOVE
Desiree
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