Chapter 16
Early to mid-January
“Which button turns the mike off again? This one?” Josie asked Abby, the ultra-cool producer at the radio station.
“That’s it. You’ll pick it up.” Abby’s voice was warm with encouragement.
“It’s only a run-through, which we can either use as a canned edition or a training exercise.
Give it a try, keep an eye on the timer, so you come out around fourteen minutes for the first break.
Then Marcella will come in and chat about taxes.
You’ve got your phone interview scheduled after the second break. I’ll patch him through. Good to go.”
Abby went into the production booth, giving a double thumbs-up after the door closed. The digital timer on the wall began to count up, and Josie inhaled deeply and put a chirpy smile on her face.
“Good morning, New York, and welcome to Open House here on Talk New York — your daily dose of real estate, development and housing issues. And what a show we’ve got for you today.
“I’ve got Talk New York’s news director Marcella Grande in the studio for the latest on the pied-a-terre tax, and we’ll be talking with developer Manny Bellman about the trend of adding housing on rooftops.
But first, the hot issue of short-term rentals — are they contributing to our rental shortage?
We want to know what you think. This is Open House after all.
We’re not taking live calls today, but you can email [email protected], text the studio at 555387 or leave a voicemail on the feedback line, the number is 212 . . .”
The time flew past, full of lively discussion, making for an interesting hour of talk radio.
Josie felt she had a knack for it, although she thought the topic was probably one any interested person could speak at length about.
She stumbled over some words but managed to stick to the timings and get all her cues in, as well as a teaser to an upcoming show.
“Man, that was awesome! See? Told you you’d be fine.” Abby gave Josie a hug. “We can use that as a pre-taped edition, if you’re off. The content will hold for a month or so. But you could have done it live, and you’d have been great. You good?”
Josie nodded, slightly stunned as realization dawned that she was an actual radio show host. “I’m fine.” And she was. “As long as you get me a couple of talkative guests each day, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. That developer guy was ideal.”
“It’s what I’m here for. You find the stories you want to tackle, or I see something interesting, and I book the guests.
Then you write a story for the website in the afternoon.
Show in the morning, news story in the afternoon, and boom, you’re done.
Easy, right?” Abby’s bright blue eyes sparkled under her black bangs.
“I think so.” Josie smiled at the young woman’s enthusiasm. “Yes. I can do it.”
“Course you can. Want to get a drink? I think we’re done for the day.”
It was tempting. “Thanks, but I’m still kind of jet-lagged, and learning a new job at the same time is wiping me out. Maybe tomorrow night, as it’s a Friday?”
“Sure. Rest up.” Abby was already looking at the clipboard in front of her. “See you tomorrow and we’ll find a bunch more guests for when we go live next week.”
Josie grabbed her puffy winter coat and left the radio station on Second Avenue, hurrying through the cold to the nearest subway on 33rd.
It was only 4.30 in the afternoon, so rush hour was not yet in full swing.
The streets were quiet by New York standards and a little shabbier than the neighborhood she had become accustomed to while working at H in my world, he isn’t. How will she be able to bear that?