Love on the Air by Sierra Donovan Read Free Book Online

a little unease
on his side, too? "I've just got one commercial left to
cut. Meet me in my office in ten minutes?"

    Christie used the ten minutes to take care of the spill
as best she could with paper towels, while she got her
heart to slow down. Just shaken up, she told herself,
although getting whirled around by Rick had been
more enjoyable than she cared to think about. I need
to get out more.
    At least he seemed to be in a good mood. And his
shirt had smelled good.
    The break room floor's thin carpet bore plenty of
evidence of past spills. When Christie was satisfied
that the latest splatters weren't any worse than the others, she went to Rick's office. He'd beaten her there,
and she wondered how long it would be before she
could whip out a commercial in less than ten minutes.
    Christie had a sense of deja vu as she sat down,
once again, in "The Chair." She tried to forget that
crashing into him had been like running into a warm
wall.
    A warm wall. It wasn't a bad description. Rick
wasn't exactly cold, but he wasn't exactly approachable either. He leaned back again in the big chair as
he listened to her. His posture was deceptively relaxed,
but the watchful gray eyes told her otherwise. It was
hard to read those eyes as she described what she had
in mind: audition a couple of songs a night and take
calls from the listeners. She would get their reactionsanything from a simple tally of which song they preferred, to more detailed comments, if they had any. It seemed, to her, like a good way to get a sense of what
the listeners would like to hear on the station.

    The idea was simple enough. Maybe he'd thought
of it before. Maybe that was why he showed almost
no expression until she finished.
    "Christie-" he said when she was done. He fingered the handle of the omnipresent black coffee cup,
and sighed. "Time for a lesson in Ugly Radio Reality."
    She had the feeling he'd be able to mop her up like
so much spilled coffee by the time this was over.
    Rick tried not to notice the vulnerable look on her
face, or the way her light green sweater brought out
the burnished shades of her hair. He cleared his throat.
    "Radio stations," he said, "are programmed a certain
way. We actually have more freedom here than they
do in Los Angeles. There, it's all done by consultants.
The program director gets the play list-boom. Done.
That's why those L.A. stations have that uniform
sound."
    "With the same few songs. It drives me nuts."
    "But it works. The ugly truth is, people want to hear
the familiar. They'll say they want more variety, but
if they hear something they don't know, their first urge
is to change the station. Which is exactly what we
don't want them to do."
    "You're saying new songs scare people away?" The
idea visibly incensed her.
    Rick nodded. "I don't like it any better than you do.
But it's true."
    "So that's why most of what we play is at least ten
years old."
    "You got it."

    Christie moved forward slightly in her chair, her
hair just brushing the shoulders of the soft-looking
sweater. "But we do add new songs eventually."
    "And ever so carefully."
    "So what's wrong with me prescreening a couple?
Wouldn't that help give you an idea which songs the
listeners are more receptive to?"
    Her eyes were full of purpose, and hope. Yvonne
was right. Christie was sharp. But it was her determination that would take her far. Unfortunately, all
that ambition had to be tempered with reality. And he
had the dirty job of dishing it out.
    "We have the trade magazines for that. And-"
    "And?"
    With another deep sigh, he leaned back in his chair,
reluctantly meeting her eyes as he prepared to give her
another dose of disillusionment. "Ugly Radio Truth
Number Two. Have you noticed what kind of listeners
call on your shift?"
    Rick watched her wince, and knew he'd hit home.
The overnight audience consisted largely of drunks,
depressed people with no lives, and a lot more who
were just