True Story Tuesday - Radio Edition

Last Thursday I told the tale of working in radio in Ottumwa, Iowa at KISS FM. (it was Top 40 then, not classic rock!)

I alluded to Tom Arnold and Rosanne Barr near the end of the tale...because when I worked at KISS FM Tom and Rosanne were still MARRIED and building their mansion just outside of town.

And their "Big Food Diner" sponsored my all request lunch hour.

Yup.  Rosanne would call every so often and say, "Play that song I like, you know."  And she was JUST about to release her latest book - My Lives - claiming she had multiple personalities.  ummm, fun stuff.

I also dated a guy who was MUCH older than I was (okay, maybe he just SEEMED that way with all his gray hair?) ...he was a farmer, a former basketball player at Tulane, a local commentator on the junior college basketball team - that happend to broadcast on our station, and a friend to Tom Arnold.

He had a out-building that he had turned into big boy playhouse for him and his buddies; complete with bar, bar signs, pool table, wood burning stove, local drunks!  You name it.  They even cooked out there on a stove and the grill.  I was invited out for the first time and had no idea he was friends with Tom...I was running up to the house for one thing or another when....

zip zip zip

I almost get run down by a lunatic on a four-wheeler...

ROSANNE ARNOLD, as she was known then.

She pulled up to the building and did not even look my way.

That was pretty much her style in Ottumwa/Eldon, IA.

she did apologize when I said something about working at the station later...like, "Oh!  ha.  Hey didn't I almost run you down out there?"