Rachel Maddow … I knew her when

OK, back to volunteer tales. Which is to say, back to Rachel Maddow (as promised a few days ago) and other adventures. 

After New Hampshire, we moved to Northampton, MA, home to Smith College. Smith is one of five colleges within a 10-mile radius, so there is always something going on. Northampton is also a hub for live music, especially of the folkie sort. This plays into the Rachel Maddow story.

When we landed in Northampton, I began my process of scanning the world for volunteer gigs that sounded fun. I found lots of them, and I was going to tell you about them all. But when I got to Rachel, I realized that this is a story that takes a full entry by itself. So, I dedicate this post to Rachel. The other ones will wait.

It all began with a clock radio. We used to waken to a local radio station, WRSI, "93.9, The River." They played great music, a fun mix of genres, including lots of world music and folk music. They also had fun and often challenging contests where they gave away prizes—frequently, these were tickets to local live music. So the mix of music was perfect to waken to, and we also enjoyed the morning DJ. After a while, we started really listening to her, and we liked her more and more. She was very smart, very funny, and, we soon realized, very “out” as a lesbian. We loved her about as much as the music. She called her show “The Big Breakfast.” Her name was Rachel Maddow.

One day, Rachel said, “I need a news intern. If you’re interested, email me.” My partner said, “You should do it!” (She has since admitted that she was thinking “Comp tickets! Comp tickets!”). I figured Rachel was looking for a college student (see “five colleges,” above), but I was persuaded to email her. She invited me in for an interview. It was Halloween day, so I went in a mask. She laughed. I met her at the radio station, a cramped studio in the basement beneath the bagel shop. She said she’d received about 50 applications. That scared me, because by now, I really wanted to do this. We chatted a bit, and she picked me!

And so began my year with Rachel. It was a remarkable experience working with her. She is so smart and knows so much. And she worked so hard, whether she was preparing to do the hourly news, about 2-3 minutes long, an occasional “long” segment of about 3-4 minutes on a specific topic, or an interview. So, say she wanted to cover a hot headline—remember, this would be one item in a newsbreak that lasted 2-3 minutes total, including local, national, international news plus weather. She would have me find three good articles—one from the local press, one from the national press, and one from the international press. She would read those while the music was spinning, digest them in that high-speed mind, and write a script that condensed it all into a rich summary of the news and its implications. I was amazed watching her.

Besides playing music and planning news, we also did some great organizing. The state’s Supreme Judicial Court was due to rule on whether same-sex marriage would be legal in Massachusetts, but we didn’t know when the ruling would be announced. We did know that it would probably come down early some morning—during her show, we hoped. 

So we cooked up this plan where we would have everything in place for a rally on the steps of city hall. Rachel would announce the ruling as soon as it came down, and the rally would happen that same night. I set about posting flyers all around town (and nearby towns) about this event—sort of a “Don’t mark your calendars, but plan to come” heads up. Rachel announced this plan on her program daily. When the ruling came down in support of same-sex marriage—early one morning, during her show—we put everything in motion. That evening, we had hundreds of folks celebrating in the street in front of city hall, complete with banners, police traffic control, the mayor, and television coverage.

We did wild and silly things on her show, too. She once had a contest where folks had to find Dick Cheney, who was (of course) hiding in a secure, undisclosed location. I was moving around town with a sign around my neck that said, simply, “Dick.” I’d call in occasionally with clues, and folks who found me won a prize … probably tickets to live music. (By the way, we did get those comp tickets my partner was hoping for, and saw some great live music). On another occasion, Rachel was doing some sort of promotion in front of the apartment building where Dar Williams used to live. This was probably 7:00 a.m., in the winter, in Massachusetts. It was cold! Being an old jock, I figured everyone needed help staying warm, so I led them in aerobic exercises. Seemed like the thing to do.

Sometimes, we also hung out together “after hours” (i.e., after 10:00 a.m.). We met weekly to plan contests (some time, I’ll tell the story of a contest where the prize was shoes), plan interviews, and discuss other program stuff … and just stuff.

And occasionally, we just hung out. I remember sliding through the Massachusetts snow in her pickup, headed for breakfast at Cracker Barrel (my choice, definitely not hers) one morning. And then there was the time when a bunch of friends, including Rachel, spent a fun and sometimes silly evening trying to get a good view of Mars through my telescope.


Then, one day she asked me to help her make contacts with national media organizations. She was ready to move on. I did that, even though I felt pretty sure that once they met her, heard her on radio, she’d be gone. And sure enough … New York City, here she comes! And the rest, as they say, is history.

I’ve watched her meteoric rise (speaking of watching the stars) with a sense of awe—both because she is truly a remarkable woman and because I knew her when she was the morning DJ in the basement studio of a local radio station. Now we have the Rachel Maddow show on msnbc, an msnbc-hosted Rachel Maddow blog, a Rachel Maddow fan site, and, maybe the most telling achievement, a dedicated Rachel Maddow page at Huffington Post. What I have trouble wrapping my head around, given what I know about how hard she works at what she does, given what her schedule must look like, she also has an upcoming book.

Gradually, we lost touch … although I do have an email subject line that I still believe would get a response from her personal email. I used it only once (and it worked). I like to think it would work again … so I never try.

And I still have a big ol’ coffee mug with the “Big Breakfast” logo on it.