Rock Radio Read Online Free PDF

giant shoulder pads to compliment every outfit and gummy bracelets.  Lots of gummy bracelets.
    She was a huge fan of the glam rockers whose hair was the envy of every girl. The male ones.
    Bon Jovi.  Bret Michaels. Sebastian Bach.  Winger.
    Their poster s lined her walls.  Super skinny guys sporting long flowing hair, tight animal print pants and thick eyeliner who named their bands Poison and Skid Row.  It was like they thought toxins and tough neighborhoods would counteract their girlish good looks.
    Dana dreamed of interviewing them one day, of being a part of that world.  Every Sunday, she’d lay on the floor with her dual cassette boom box listening to Casey Kasem’s American Top Forty.  When her favorite song came on she’d quickly hit play record.  The beginning of every song got clipped, but she didn’t care.  She’d compile all her favorites, play the tape back and talk up the song, making her own radio show.  John Taylor and Simon Le Bon were frequent guests.  She convinced her friends to portray them, accents and all.
    Dana cultivated an alternate persona, someone cooler and hipper than she ever was.  Someone who always had an ingenious line or a quick retort, the confident person she didn’t think Dana Hill would ever be.
    Her passion fueled her drive to become Dana Drew, the girl with the answer for everything.  This bravado gave her the guts at eighteen to march into a local Program Director’s office while she was in college and fudge her way through an interview.  Whether he bought her creatively written resume or not, he liked her attitude and gave her a weekend shift (albeit a night shift) on the spot.  Attractive, talented and gutsy were a successful mix for a female jock, and she had it.
    Dana came up in radio when the new decade began.  Loud colored clothing was replaced by plaid button down shirts. Glam rock was edged out by grunge.  Nirvana and Pearl Jam brought a new energy to the music world.  Dana loved it all.
    When her small town radio station changed formats and went classical, she moved on a whim to Miami and got a job as a board-op for a local radio talk show host who broadcast every Sunday morning.  She missed being on the air, but Miami was big time and she was willing to wait out an opportunity.  It didn’t take long.  Dana’s drive and personality helped her gradually work her way up to an overnight shift, a weekend shift and then a full time job doing evenings on WORR.  This was major market rock radio.
    They were now nearing the end of the nineties and Dana was at the top of her game.
    Dana acted like rock’s princess, but at twenty-nine, she really just wanted to be married with kids.  She loved her career, but it was just that, a career.  For years she had tunnel vision.  As the only female on staff she had to work twice as hard and twice as long.  The hours didn’t bother her, the double standard did.  Time and again, she watched new jocks, male jocks, get hired as she was passed up for another on air shift.  But she was undeterred.  This was her dream and she was determined to succeed no matter what it took.  And she did.
    Recently, though, the blinders came off.  Her internal clock had begun a slow tick.  She realized she didn’t want to be a deejay forever.  She wanted to be a wife and mother.  Few people saw this side of her.  Few knew Dana Hill was as vulnerable as Dana Drew was tough.
    That’s what made Sam so special.  He was unlike anyone she had ever dated.  He knew Dana Hill before Dana Drew...he knew her hopes, her dreams and her fears.  They rented movies on Saturday nights and took drives to the beach.  He didn’t expect her to be constantly witty and clever like all the others did.  Their relationship was wonderful, and after six months, Sam moved in.
    But nothing in Dana’s life ever lasted forever.
    Over time, Sam grew tired of Dana’s crazy schedule.  She was on the air from six to ten Monday through Friday.  He