10 Questions with ... Betsy Sharp

NAME:Betsy Sharp TITLE:Co-host Mornings / Promotions (a.k.a. Director of Fun) STATION:WAYH MARKET:Huntsville/Madison COMPANY:WAY-FM Media Group BORN:September 5, 1983, Lancaster, OH RAISED:Lancaster, OH

Brief Career Synopsis:

Cleaning offices at WLRY/Rushville, OH. Started college at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and worked at WNZR. After graduation, I went to California and worked at KDUV/Visalia for over two years. Now WAY-FM and loving it!

1) What was your first job in radio? Who were your early influences and/or mentors?

If you could call it a "job in radio," I started cleaning the blinds and offices of a small station, WLRY, in Rushville-Lancaster, OH. After a little bit they let me open the mic a few times on Saturday mornings. I thought I was the coolest thing since Casey Kasem (minus the long distance dedications). Marcy and Joe Rinehart were my first-ever radio "mentors" and I learned how to live and love radio because of them. Advice-wise I learned to lean on the words of Susan O'Donnell, Lisa Williams, Donna Cruz and of course, Tommy Kramer.

2) What does Christian radio need to do to break through to a mass audience on a more consistent basis?

Be real. Be real. Be real. Also, don't be afraid to make a big mistake by taking a chance on new technology or something like sharing yourself on the air with your audience. Listeners can smell it when something is funky.

3) How do you prepare for the show each morning? Any routines you go through?

Does hitting snooze three times count as a routine? It's not usually in the morning that the show is prepped. Real life happens in the office, the afternoon and at home the night before. In the morning you just have to figure out how to make the mundane interesting and find that specific camera angle for it to come alive.

4) Who is your favorite air personality not at your station?

I might catch flack for this one but I sincerely love the interviews and camera angles that Mr. Ryan Seacrest has on KIIS.

5) Any favorite or funny artist run-ins? Highlights from a promotion or interview?

Hanging out at Starbucks with Britt Nicole. No business. Just coffee and being real. Close second: beat-boxing with Nicole C. Mullen while she hit the flow for some imaging for a station I was at.

6) If you were just starting out in radio today, but you knew what you know now, would you continue forward?

I can't say I have any regrets on how my career has gone thus far so I'd most definitely do it all over.

7) If you could have any job outside the music business, what would it be?

I would totally be a flight attendant. One of the best things about radio is getting to meet listeners and talk to them at events. Being a flight attendant you get to visit new places and talk to interesting people everyday. Not to mention you could have all the pretzels and little cans of soda your heart desired!

8) If you could ask God about anything, what would it be?

I think I'd have to ask him if he has an instant replay of the water parting at the Red Sea, the 5,000 being fed or even the first Christmas. I'm a history nut so I'd probably ask to see a lot of things even non-biblical. I hope God has a DVR.

9) If money were no object, what hair-brained idea (or hair-brained event) would you pull together for the greater good of the world?

Something like "The Day No One Went Hungry." Just knowing that around six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger blows my mind. I'd want to do something about that. Somehow, someway every stomach would be full. Hopefully there'd be leftovers too.

10) The transition from California to Alabama: how was that move? From West Coast to Deep South.

Two words: Sweet Tea. I love living somewhere that Sweet Tea is the rule, not the exception. I've always hated having to get cold tea and "doctor" it up with sugar. Seriously, if I wanted a snow globe, I'd buy a souvenir at Sea World. So, yea, the transition has been awesome. Ha!

1) Do you read everything or nothing? Do you have a favorite?

I typically stick to authors" Liz Curtis Higgs, Donald Miller and I'm currently on a Rob Bell kick.

2) What's in your stereo or on your iPod right now?

My iPod has well over 10,000 songs so I never get to listen to all of them but I love listening to my '80s mix (Yea, even though I was born in '83. I love me some '80s!).

3) Do you have musical guilty pleasures?

Jack Johnson.

4) Cat or dog person?

Dog. Cats are just... weird.

5) Describe your favorite meal.

My favorite thing to cook would be stuffed pork tenderloin. You use smoked Gouda cheese, spinach and breadcrumbs then roll up the meat and make a Pino Grigio sauce. Yummmm-O!

6) Stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you want with you and why?

A canoe, food and a cell phone for obvious reasons. I don't want to stay there long.

7) Favorite TV program of all-time?

Simple. "The Office." "Hey Dude" or "Eat My Shorts" would be a close second.