Musicalgal
10-13-2004, 09:48 AM
OK, here’s the report for the KBIG Radio Escapade today. In a galaxy far, far, away... Oh wait wrong story. Actually it started last week when it was posted that Ben would be doing a radio interview Tuesday. It turns out that KBIG used to be in the building that I worked in previously but had since moved... to down the street where I currently worked. (In fact only about a block and a half from where I worked.) When I found out it was an early morning interview, I figured I could go to the station, listen to the broadcast and be back to work on time too so why not go for it.
The plan was to send up a breakfast basket of goodies for him and the crew and say hello. Listen to the broadcast and head off to work. However, that’s not exactly how it came off. First off, my work assignment came to an abrupt end, so now I had more time on my hands than I thought. <g>
We (the divine Ms. M, Chi27 and myself - Zita unfortunately had to bail) got to the building early and was horrified to find the big gates still locked!! They had been opened at that hour the day before, but luckily there was another way in. We made our way to the lobby area where I knew everyone had to enter the building. We entered the elevators and tried the floor to the station so we could give the basket to the receptionist, but were foiled when we realized that the elevators worked on card key access only. So we flagged down a woman who looked like she might be part of the radio station and told her we were trying to get upstairs.
After some questioning determining that we weren’t workers, interviewers or guests, we told her we were there as fans of the show and had brought a basket of goodies. Heather Chase, the producer, then came down to “check us out”. Once it was clear that we were there for Ben Browder, she practically crowed with excitement. Apparently we were the first people to ever show up for any of their guests. (Who knew?) She seemed thrilled that we had come. She told us to wait and mentioned that she might be able to get us up into the booth but first she had to go finish some business done. Approximately 20 minutes later, she returned. She was so tickled about the whole thing that she borrowed the cell phone from Ms. M (our newest Scaper, though she’ll tell you otherwise) and called Charlie Tuna and proceeded to tell him that we weren’t just fans, we were Grown Women With Jobs. LOL You can hear the whole thing over at the SACC site: http://www.scaper.com/sounds/index.html
BTW, any screaming you heard was because she made us scream into the phone for him. Somehow three people became a mass of bodies in the lobby. LOL
I ended up on the phone (as the spokesperson, no less <ha>) and he asked us what we were doing there. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I do know that somewhere along the lines I managed to diss the entire fandom of Trekkies (sorry Trek fans but I knew it would get a laugh). Besides, I didn’t know they were taping it and were going to PLAY IT ON THE AIR! Ooops! LOL
Charlie asked if we wanted to come up. He said he would clear it with security (but I guess security wasn't happy with his invitation.) As he’s asking if we could control ourselves, I see Ben Browder coming in the lobby. I said, I think we could control ourselves because here’s Ben now and would you like to talk to him. I then handed him the phone. He proceeded to ask Charlie if they were going to let him into the studio. Much banter and laugher for a few minutes and then Ben was taken upstairs for the interview. We made sure they took the basket of goodies and the juice with them. Heather was really impressed that we had gotten juice too. LOL Hey, I said, it is breakfast, we think of everything. She promised she’d be back down to bring us up to the studio. Unfortunately that idea was nixed (most probably by security - man I hate living in these post 9/11 times --) but she sent down a signed photo of Ben for all three of us. We then went out to the car to listen to the interview. As we headed out to the car, we ran into SurfWidow who had been waiting for us the entire time. Somehow the communications got crossed so she didn’t know exactly where to meet us, so she missed meeting Ben and the autographed photos.
Upon listening to the radio we discovered that they had surprised us by starting early and using our first phone conversations! Ahhhhh!!! I didn’t get to hear it in it’s entirety until afterwards when I went to the Saccer site. (Thanks LaurenOboe) While we were waiting, we suddenly remembered that we hadn’t gotten any pictures so while they had a song playing, Marsia called the station. She wanted to ask Heather if Ben would have a photo op with us since we missed our chance before. She was surprised that she didn’t get Heather, but Charlie instead, which set her off giggling when she realized that everyone in the booth was hearing the request. Ben agreed. Yay! And then that too got on the radio. Aaaack!!! We were soooo not expecting to be part of the show. Who knew that they were taping EVERYTHING. LOL Charlie’s partner (woman with excellent taste I might add <g>) was very cute about the publicity photo. “Nice pants!” <heh> It was very nice of them to read the card on air. (Thanks to Marsia for creating the card on her computer. It featured a picture of Moya on the cover.)
After the show was over we headed back across the street to wait in the lobby for Ben. He emerged with his publicist and we took a few photos with him and then proceeded to talk. And gab. And shoot the breeze. You know how that goes. LOL If we hadn’t been in the middle of nowhere, I would have suggested we head to a coffee shop, but since this is not NYC where there’s one around every corner, we had to make do with the lobby. At one point Zita called Ms. M to check on us. We told Ben that she was supposed to come with us but hadn’t make it. He got on the phone and asked her why she couldn’t drag herself out of bed at 5 am for him. LOL I talked to Zita later and she was quite proud that she did not freeze up on the phone. <g>
After a while we moved out of the lobby to the fresh air where we proceed to talk.... And gab... And shoot the breeze... Until us working gals discovered an hour and a half had passed and we had to get back to work. (Technically I didn’t have to go back to work, but I did have some errands and chores to attend to.) LOL So we bid farewell to Ben and waved as he pulled out of the garage. Then we collected our thoughts, hugged each other good-bye and scattered to all the points of the wind.
To sum up, it was an unexpected and pleasantly surprising morning. The KBIG people were surprised and thrilled that we had shown up, particularly after they discovered we had brought edible gifts for them. <g> That they made the offer to include us in watching the interview was extremely nice and thoughtful of them, even though ultimately they were overruled. Hey, Mr. Tuna, for what it’s worth, we would have been really well behaved, ‘cause we are GROWN WOMEN WITH JOBS.. LOL
That Ben Browder was gracious enough to let us have the photo op with him afterwards was very sweet. The gab fest afterwards was just icing on the cake. If Ben or his publicist is reading this, thanks for making our day.
The plan was to send up a breakfast basket of goodies for him and the crew and say hello. Listen to the broadcast and head off to work. However, that’s not exactly how it came off. First off, my work assignment came to an abrupt end, so now I had more time on my hands than I thought. <g>
We (the divine Ms. M, Chi27 and myself - Zita unfortunately had to bail) got to the building early and was horrified to find the big gates still locked!! They had been opened at that hour the day before, but luckily there was another way in. We made our way to the lobby area where I knew everyone had to enter the building. We entered the elevators and tried the floor to the station so we could give the basket to the receptionist, but were foiled when we realized that the elevators worked on card key access only. So we flagged down a woman who looked like she might be part of the radio station and told her we were trying to get upstairs.
After some questioning determining that we weren’t workers, interviewers or guests, we told her we were there as fans of the show and had brought a basket of goodies. Heather Chase, the producer, then came down to “check us out”. Once it was clear that we were there for Ben Browder, she practically crowed with excitement. Apparently we were the first people to ever show up for any of their guests. (Who knew?) She seemed thrilled that we had come. She told us to wait and mentioned that she might be able to get us up into the booth but first she had to go finish some business done. Approximately 20 minutes later, she returned. She was so tickled about the whole thing that she borrowed the cell phone from Ms. M (our newest Scaper, though she’ll tell you otherwise) and called Charlie Tuna and proceeded to tell him that we weren’t just fans, we were Grown Women With Jobs. LOL You can hear the whole thing over at the SACC site: http://www.scaper.com/sounds/index.html
BTW, any screaming you heard was because she made us scream into the phone for him. Somehow three people became a mass of bodies in the lobby. LOL
I ended up on the phone (as the spokesperson, no less <ha>) and he asked us what we were doing there. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I do know that somewhere along the lines I managed to diss the entire fandom of Trekkies (sorry Trek fans but I knew it would get a laugh). Besides, I didn’t know they were taping it and were going to PLAY IT ON THE AIR! Ooops! LOL
Charlie asked if we wanted to come up. He said he would clear it with security (but I guess security wasn't happy with his invitation.) As he’s asking if we could control ourselves, I see Ben Browder coming in the lobby. I said, I think we could control ourselves because here’s Ben now and would you like to talk to him. I then handed him the phone. He proceeded to ask Charlie if they were going to let him into the studio. Much banter and laugher for a few minutes and then Ben was taken upstairs for the interview. We made sure they took the basket of goodies and the juice with them. Heather was really impressed that we had gotten juice too. LOL Hey, I said, it is breakfast, we think of everything. She promised she’d be back down to bring us up to the studio. Unfortunately that idea was nixed (most probably by security - man I hate living in these post 9/11 times --) but she sent down a signed photo of Ben for all three of us. We then went out to the car to listen to the interview. As we headed out to the car, we ran into SurfWidow who had been waiting for us the entire time. Somehow the communications got crossed so she didn’t know exactly where to meet us, so she missed meeting Ben and the autographed photos.
Upon listening to the radio we discovered that they had surprised us by starting early and using our first phone conversations! Ahhhhh!!! I didn’t get to hear it in it’s entirety until afterwards when I went to the Saccer site. (Thanks LaurenOboe) While we were waiting, we suddenly remembered that we hadn’t gotten any pictures so while they had a song playing, Marsia called the station. She wanted to ask Heather if Ben would have a photo op with us since we missed our chance before. She was surprised that she didn’t get Heather, but Charlie instead, which set her off giggling when she realized that everyone in the booth was hearing the request. Ben agreed. Yay! And then that too got on the radio. Aaaack!!! We were soooo not expecting to be part of the show. Who knew that they were taping EVERYTHING. LOL Charlie’s partner (woman with excellent taste I might add <g>) was very cute about the publicity photo. “Nice pants!” <heh> It was very nice of them to read the card on air. (Thanks to Marsia for creating the card on her computer. It featured a picture of Moya on the cover.)
After the show was over we headed back across the street to wait in the lobby for Ben. He emerged with his publicist and we took a few photos with him and then proceeded to talk. And gab. And shoot the breeze. You know how that goes. LOL If we hadn’t been in the middle of nowhere, I would have suggested we head to a coffee shop, but since this is not NYC where there’s one around every corner, we had to make do with the lobby. At one point Zita called Ms. M to check on us. We told Ben that she was supposed to come with us but hadn’t make it. He got on the phone and asked her why she couldn’t drag herself out of bed at 5 am for him. LOL I talked to Zita later and she was quite proud that she did not freeze up on the phone. <g>
After a while we moved out of the lobby to the fresh air where we proceed to talk.... And gab... And shoot the breeze... Until us working gals discovered an hour and a half had passed and we had to get back to work. (Technically I didn’t have to go back to work, but I did have some errands and chores to attend to.) LOL So we bid farewell to Ben and waved as he pulled out of the garage. Then we collected our thoughts, hugged each other good-bye and scattered to all the points of the wind.
To sum up, it was an unexpected and pleasantly surprising morning. The KBIG people were surprised and thrilled that we had shown up, particularly after they discovered we had brought edible gifts for them. <g> That they made the offer to include us in watching the interview was extremely nice and thoughtful of them, even though ultimately they were overruled. Hey, Mr. Tuna, for what it’s worth, we would have been really well behaved, ‘cause we are GROWN WOMEN WITH JOBS.. LOL
That Ben Browder was gracious enough to let us have the photo op with him afterwards was very sweet. The gab fest afterwards was just icing on the cake. If Ben or his publicist is reading this, thanks for making our day.