weekly August 4, 2025, Issue 972
Kooky Listener Stories
It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt … or insulted. That could be the unofficial motto of radio personalities and their occasionally fraught interactions with overzealous listeners. Several shared their best, er, worst memories with Country Aircheck. Break Fast: While she was working in San Diego early in her career, Backstage Country host Elaina Smith was part of a contest where listeners had to find the location of one of the morning show members to win tickets. When it was her turn, she headed to Belmont Park. “I was there around 6:30am, so the park wasn’t open and no one was really around, but I got a breakfast burrito and sat by the beach waiting to do my call-ins,” she recalls. “A man came running up holding a radio, listening to the show Elaina Smith and screaming my name. He looked to have been sleeping at the beach for a while and was clearly not sober. He almost tackled me with the biggest hug and explained that he and his friends listen every morning. It wasn’t long before one of his buddies joined him, and enthusiastically hugged me as well.” One of the men “kept petting my head and called me ‘His Elaina.’ That made the other gentleman mad and they started pushing each other. It wasn’t stopping, and every time I’d move away, the fight would follow me until I eventually got caught in the crossfire and punched in the face. The show never sent me out on my own again. Oh, and one of the men took my burrito when they ran away.” Just Harried: When current KCYY/San Antonio PD Christi Brooks was doing mornings at KKBQ/Houston, “a lady called and said she couldn’t listen to us anymore because we supported spousal abuse,” she recalls, noting that the caller went on to complain that the station played a certain artist who allegedly beat his wife. A sarcastic reply Christi Brooks from Brooks didn’t go over well, and she “received (continued on page 14)
Not At This Pool Party: Warner’s Dasha at KSCS/Dallas’ 3rd Annual Pool Party. Pictured (l-r) are the label’s Kayla Burnett, the station’s Rachel Ryan, Mike Preston and Al Farb, Dasha and the station’s Jessica Mackenzie-Williams, Ryan Fox and Michelle Rodriguez.
Theresa Ford’s (New) Focus
Newly retired in south Florida after more than 30 years of promotion across five labels including RCA, Lyric Street and Black River, Theresa Ford looks back at a career full of musical memories with Country Aircheck: I knew in my teenage years I wanted to be in the music business, but I didn’t know anything about it. I loved Barbara Mandrell, went to see her in concert and was trying to take a picture, but my camera wasn’t Theresa Ford working. She stopped the show, sat down on the edge of the stage and said, “I own all these photo booths in Nashville, let me look (continued on page 3)
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