(Note link to additional content at the end of our show notes.)
If we were to pick one alumnus who best represented the warm, welcoming atmosphere of WJPZ, it would probably be Sharon Goodman Michaels, aka "B.B. Good" from the Class of 1993. Several Z89'ers have come on this podcast to talk about how she welcomed them to the station, and we are thrilled to welcome her to this podcast.
Like many of us, this Massachusetts native grew up loving radio - and she tells the story of how she recruited Kiss 108 DJ's to do her high school dance in Quincy.
BB went to Syracuse for its communications reputation. She got there early as part of the marching band, and quickly found WJPZ and then-leaders like Hal Rood, Scott Meach, and Brian Lapis.
At her happy place, BB made friend with classmates Beth (Russell) Gorab, Bette Kestin, Jeanne Schad, Tina (Mussolino) Perkins, Melanie Kushnir, and more.
How "Good" was Sharon as an undergrad? A commercial station in Utica offered her nights, and held the job for her until she could graduate Syracuse. From Rock 107 she went to Fly 92 in Albany, Kiss 95.7 Hartford, and JAMN 94.5 Boston. There, while riding the T, she saw a blind box ad for what would turn out to be the midday slot on Radio Disney, based in Dallas. A year later, they moved her show to then-MGM Studios at Disney World in Orlando. That's right. She was working in radio, at Disney World, every day. She tells amazing stories of listener interactions, letters, and more. Also, she interviewed an up and coming *NSYNC and Britney Spears.
After five years in Orlando, BB's show was moved back to Dallas. After a time, she was let go, and decided to stay home with her children. She became very active in the Jewish community in Dallas and still is.
BB has maintained her Z89 connections throughout her adult life, often crossing paths with radio folk when they came to Disney, and even doing a cameo on the sitcom According to Jim thanks to her classmate John Beck.
We wrap with BB talking about how much she enjoyed returning to Banquet in 2023, and the question of whether or not the Jonas Brothers did a song...about her.
Note: This interview was recorded in May. BB asked if she could speak about the current situation in Israel and have it included in the podcast. You can hear that conversation, recorded December 22nd, at this link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rkh58zh2sg3lrhid56wvy/WJPZ-at-50-BB-Good-Insert.mp3?rlkey=p7o0ndhyszj1gaj6guu83gbwl&dl=0
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.
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0:00:00 - Jag: Welcome to WJPZ at 50. I am Jon Jag Gay. Today's guest is somebody who has been on my wish list since we started this project. You won't find a better person in our alumni association. She has excelled in the radio field and has excelled at teaching and the values of WJPZ. No less than two alumni so far have said she was the first person they met when they walked into the radio station and were blown away. By the way, those two alumni are Dion Summers and Kid Michael Rock. BB Good, Welcome to the podcast.
0:00:28 - B.B.: Wow, I'm so honored to be here. Thank you for that amazing introduction. I hope I live up to it.
0:00:33 - Jag: I don't think there's any way you couldn't. No pressure, but I mean, you're a rock star. You were the class of 93. I was the class of 02 when I was in school. You were one of those alums that was like, wow, this is what you can accomplish if you do well here at WJPZ. And I know so many alumni hold you in such high regard, which is why I'm so thrilled to have you on the podcast.
0:00:52 - B.B.: Thank you. I'm really glad to be here.
0:00:54 - Jag: You and I have a lot in common, including a home state of Massachusetts. So we'll start at the beginning. How did you find out about Syracuse and then get to the radio station?
0:01:02 - B.B.: So I grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts, and I always liked radio. Probably you also listened to Kiss 108 growing up, right? Yeah. So I loved Kiss 108. I listened to Dale Dorman and Sonny Joe White and Lady D, and I was very involved in my high school student government. But for student government meant planning the activities and the school dances. And at some point I was listening to the radio and I heard Vinny Peruse on Kiss 108 talk about how he was from Quincy. And I was like, oh, that's cool. So I dialed in on the number and I'm like, hi, Sharon Goodman, I'm from Quincy also. I went to Quincy at Quincy High and we have a dance coming up. Would you be the DJ for our dance?
0:01:42 - Jag: Oh, wow.
0:01:43 - B.B.: Right? Whatever it was, I'm sure it was months in advance and oh, Kiss 108's going to do our dance, like not just some guy. And then the week of the dance, he called me from California and he's like, listen, I just got on to some game show. I can't remember if it was like The Price is Right or like, or what's the other one with Vanna White?
0:02:06 - Jag: Wheel of Fortune.
0:02:07 - B.B.: Wheel of Fortune. One of those. If I looked it up, I could find it. He's like, so I'm not going to make it back for your dance? And I'm like, oh, no, I've been selling this Kiss 108 DJ He's like, but don't worry, I'm going to have another DJ coming up thinking, oh no. And he said, I'm going to send Lady D. And I was like, you what? Lady D? Like my idol. Anyway, Lady D, the real Diana Steele, from Kiss 108 came and did this dance, and I was like totally hooked. Like, I just probably stood right next to her the whole night, asked her a million questions and whatever.
0:02:38 - B.B.: So that was kind of what made me love radio, I guess, growing up, listening to it. And then I heard about Syracuse. I knew there was like a radio and television program. And the interesting thing is I didn't even get into Newhouse initially. Okay, what did I get into?
0:02:53 - Jag: I guess.
0:02:53 - B.B.: Arts and Sciences?
0:02:54 - Jag: Arts and Sciences, VPA, probably one of those two.
0:02:57 - B.B.: Yeah. And then I went to go find Professor Mason because I heard Professor Mason was the one who could help you get in. And I didn't quite have the GPA because you needed like a three, five, and I didn't have that. But I got to know him, and I think he even let me audit his 101 class or something. And anyway, somehow I talked my way into Newhouse, and he was wonderful to me all my years there and had a great experience.
0:03:22 - Jag: There's a joke about talking your way into a communication school. So you're on campus, you're obviously focused on getting into Newhouse. How did you come upon WJPZ?
0:03:33 - B.B.: So initially I got the campus a little early because I was in the marching band.
0:03:38 - Jag: Okay.
0:03:38 - B.B.: So I feel like I was very involved with marching band right at the beginning. So I don't remember exactly when I made it to the radio station, but I do remember, like, Hollywood Hal was one of the first people I met and Scott Meach and Brian Lapis. And they were all like, really friendly, kind of silly, and I thought, this is a fun place. And I really don't remember the progression of how it went, but I definitely started off being a DJ in the middle of the night, two to four in the morning, four to six in the morning, and then kind of worked my way up.
0:04:12 - B.B.: I did a little bit of news, which is really not my thing, and I definitely had some time when I was on the morning show, like John Beck. I remember doing stuff with John Beck and Steve well, Steve Donovan was after me, so it couldn't have been Steve Donovan.
0:04:28 - Jag: He was two years behind you. He was 95, so you would have been at the same time. So that's very possible.
0:04:33 - B.B.: Yes. And Carl Wiser and a bunch of these guys. And I feel like that was just like my hangout place between classes. Whenever I wasn't doing other things, I was there. My happy place
0:04:44 - Jag: Calling it my happy place is just something that is echoed through 50 plus years of this radio station that I feel like so many of us have gone in and had that impression of, wow, this is a real warm, welcoming environment. Why don't we come in? They're so inviting. Let me get involved with this place. And when I'm not in class, this is probably where I'm going to be.
0:05:03 - B.B.: Absolutely.
0:05:04 - Jag: Anything else from your time at Z? Funny stories and other relationships you can think of?
0:05:09 - B.B.: Well, yeah, I mean, I had so many friends. A big group of my friends came from there. Like Dave Gorab and Beth Russell and Bette Kestin and Jeanne Schad. This is going to be the shout out show.
0:05:24 - Jag: By the way, she told me before we started recording that she had notes. She didn't want to leave anybody else. So I don't want to get in your way. Continue.
0:05:29 - B.B.: Okay. Well, I was also Charlie Catron. Rob Catron did I think, the Friday night party. And there was a bunch of us that would come in and be his studio audience, I guess. I don't know. We were there for that. And Brian Lapis, Lippy was just great. I feel like he was like the DJ coordinator or whatever.
0:05:49 - Jag: Okay.
0:05:50 - B.B.: Used to sit down with me and give me like air check reviews and that kind of thing, which was helpful. Yeah. Oh, and Tina Mussulino, she said she remembers me training her. I said, I can't even believe that. But when I saw her at the Banquet, she was reminding me of that. And now she's a professor at Newhouse.
0:06:08 - Jag: Tina Perkins, and she has edited a few of these podcasts for me. She's wonderful, Tina, now Tina Perkins, that's for sure.
0:06:14 - B.B.: So impressive. Yeah. There was Melanie Kushner, who was a friend of mine from a couple of years behind. And at one point she organized the trip and we went up to Canada because her dad was like Celine Dion's manager.
0:06:26 - Jag: Oh my goodness.
0:06:26 - B.B.: Yeah. We went to go see a Celine Dion concert and she brought us backstage and Celine Dion comes out and goes, oh, Melanie. And she's like it was her kid.
0:06:37 - Jag: Oh, wow.
0:06:37 - B.B.: That was a pretty impressive time and a fun trip. Yeah. There are just so many wonderful people that I got the chance to interact with at Z89. It's like a long time ago. Old memories, but great memories.
0:06:51 - Jag: It feels like 30 years ago and 30 seconds ago at the same time, I bet.
0:06:55 - B.B.: Yeah. Really. And it is 30 years. That's the crazy thing. When we were at the Banquet, Dion said, stop counting the years. Stop counting. Gosh, it was so long ago.
0:07:07 - Jag: I'm smiling almost as much talking to you as I was talking to Dion. And Dion talked about that first night, getting to the radio station and seeing you doing nights and a whirlwind and phone calls and getting your carts and everything ready and being so blown away and impressed by you. And it was like, this is where I need to be.
0:07:24 - B.B.: Wow. Thank you. It's interesting, too, how the technology moved along. We only had carts, and then it became CDs. We just worked with what we had and it was great. But by the time I sort of finished my career in radio, I wasn't even touching CDs anymore. It was just buttons on computers. But we're still editing with Vox Pro. I had pretty fast fingers on the Vox Pro.
0:07:50 - Jag: Oh, yeah. You can play that thing like a guitar when you get it going, right. So you're transitioning me perfectly. B.B., to ask you about your career after Syracuse. There are stories of alumni visiting you in Utica when you were on the air. Stacey Simms talked about living with you at one point. Take me through your journey after Syracuse.
0:08:08 - B.B.: So I actually started working at Rock 107 in Utica. And I worked for this great guy named JR who ended up working in Attleborough, Massachusetts. And I know Mike Rock worked for him for a long time. And I was doing like, weekends and while I was still in school. And at some point, the night guy left.
0:08:27 - Jag: Okay.
0:08:28 - B.B.: And they offered me the night show for a pathetic amount of money, which I'm not even going to say on the radio if I could even remember it. And I went to my parents and I said, oh, my gosh, I got offered this full time job. And they're like, no, you have to finish, get your degree, then you can go take this job. And so the amazing thing is, they saved the job for me. Like, they put people and I did some when I had days off or I had shifts they couldn't cover, I covered, but they basically saved the job. And as soon as I graduated in May, I moved right to Utica. And this night job was waiting for me.
0:09:02 - B.B.: And we used to do this crazy thing. We did, like, the top five at nine or something, and it was like they're calculated what was it? Hold on a second. Calculated tabulated, computated, whatever. And here it is. And then we gave away BB's freebies and we did, like, all this fun stuff. So that was amazing. It was also the first job that I got fired from when they closed the radio station or changed the format or something.
0:09:30 - Jag: Right.
0:09:31 - B.B.: And I also made some amazing friends there, like Bill Keeler, who I ended up working with other times in my career. He was the morning guy there. I lived with Stacey Simms. She was amazing, wonderful roommate. And she actually met her husband in Utica, who she's very happily married to, thank G-d. I think part of the reason why I had a good success in Utica was like, every listener was my friend.
0:09:56 - B.B.: And every time I went and did any event, listeners would come up to me be like, remember, I'm so and so I called you. Oh, yeah. So I honestly felt like the reason why it was successful was because all my friends were listening, and then they'd all come out to events, so the listeners became like my crew.
0:10:13 - Jag: You can see that in a small market sometimes, and that's such a great lesson that we've taught DJs for 50 years of JPZ is you're not talking to, hey, all of you out there in radio land, you're talking to that one person listening. And that's how you develop that relationship and that friendship. It's sometimes a lost art. So I'm really glad to hear you say that.
0:10:29 - B.B.: Yeah, it was a really good training ground after Z89 for me, and it was also really gosh, like, going through the process of the station changing hands or whatever that caused us all to lose our jobs also was good training for me. And I ended up kind of working my way back to Boston. So I went from Rock 107 to Fly 92 in Albany, where we "qualiflied" to win. My crazy memory from Fly 92 is I was working like, overnights there. So I got into the station a couple of hours early to get prepped and whatever, and I was sitting in, like, I don't know, the DJ office or the conference room or something, and I had TV in there, and I watched the OJ. Simpson.
0:11:13 - Jag: The Ford Bronco Chase.
0:11:14 - B.B.: Yes. That's my memory of Fly 92.
0:11:18 - Jag: I think that's 94, if memory serves. 1994.
0:11:21 - B.B.: And then I went from there. I worked in Hartford at Kiss 95.7, maybe.
0:11:28 - Jag: That's right, yeah, Kiss 95.7. Yeah.
0:11:30 - B.B.: Okay. Jaybeau Jones. And I think I had what to do with Lippy and Brian Lapis when I was there, worked with really nice, fun people. They gave me a nice opportunity as more call letters on my resume. And then I ended up in Kix 106 in North Attleboro and then made my way to JAMN 94.5 in Boston and worked for legendary people. Cadillac Jack McCartney and Baltazar and Ralphie Marino. And I think by then, Lady D was there. I got the chance to actually work with Lady D, which was like, wow.
0:12:06 - Jag: There you are, you're at JAMN. You're working at your hometown radio station in Boston. That's amazing.
0:12:10 - B.B.: Yeah, but I was working like, crazy overnight shifts on the weekends. It wasn't a full time gig, and I really felt like, here I am, I'm a few years out of college, I should be working. And I was somewhere, I think, on the T, going into some event in Boston, and I saw Mickey Mouse ears and an ad. It said, like, coming soon. It was very, like, covert, but I don't know if it even said Radio Disney or just something coming soon.
0:12:38 - Jag: Okay.
0:12:39 - B.B.: And then I found out there was a place to send, like, a blind box or whatever you call it, the tape and the resume. And lo and behold, it went to Dallas. And then I got a call from the amazing Robin Jones who ran Radio Disney, and she invited me out to Dallas to come and check this out.
0:13:00 - Jag: You weren't even 30 at this point.
0:13:01 - B.B.: Right, right. I moved out here in 98. So yeah.
0:13:07 - Jag: You were still in your 20's and you get this big opportunity to go to Radio Disney in Dallas. That's amazing.
0:13:11 - B.B.: Yeah, it was incredible. And so I moved out here, I did the midday show for Robin and worked with just amazing, amazing people. But it was now a radio station. Like Rock 107 was like a little studio in a house down like a dirt road.
0:13:26 - Jag: Right.
0:13:26 - B.B.: This is like a big tall office building in Dallas. And half the building. It doesn't even exist anymore. By the way, half the building was all offices and half the building was all radio studios. Like Tom Joyner was there.
0:13:39 - Jag: Oh, wow.
0:13:40 - B.B.: Yeah. I mean, just anybody you could think of that worked for ABC in Dallas was in this building. And every day there were artists in the lobby and it was just like a crazy environment to work in. But I'm in a little office, a little studio in an office building.
0:13:56 - Jag: I'm dying to ask you how your on air content would have changed going from a rock station to Radio Disney? Was there much change?
0:14:03 - B.B.: Well, my cute B.B. Good name, like fit Disney along the way.
0:14:08 - Jag: Yeah.
0:14:09 - B.B.: And even though it was Rock station, it wasn't really rock, it was kind of mislabeled. Like Rock 107 was really a top 40 radio station. Okay. I'm trying to think of who we were playing.
0:14:21 - Jag: Not that I have you pegged as a Howard Stern type, so you weren't going from the Swedish bikini team to Mickey Mouse. It wasn't that much of a discrepancy for you.
0:14:30 - B.B.: Yeah, I feel like I was pretty PG all along, but don't go back and listen to my morning show tapes with Bill Keeler. But yeah, I felt like Disney was a natural fit for me just in how sort of I carry myself. I know Steve Donovan was a little proud of the fact that he had the most curses on his show. There'll be no cursing today.
0:14:57 - Jag: I wouldn't expect that out of you. So you're on Radio Disney and that opens you up into the opportunities of the Wide World of Disney.
0:15:05 - B.B.: Right, right. So first of all, I got to do amazing things and so many incredible interviews and just working with an incredible staff. And there were these two guys named just plain Mark and Zippy, and they did the afternoon show from Walt Disney World. And at some point in that first year, there was all this talk that they were going to open up a studio out in California at Disneyland. So I'm hearing all these rumors whatever, that they're going to be moving them, and suddenly one day I get called into my boss's office and they said, so we want to move you to Walt Disney World.
0:15:38 - B.B.: And I said, whoa, this is cool.
0:15:42 - Jag: Yeah.
0:15:42 - B.B.: And so my fiancée at the time, my now husband, almost 25 years later, Charles, said, okay, let's go. And so we moved. And that was like March, April, May ish of 99, and I spent the next five years doing my show from inside Disney MGM studios at Walt Disney World.
0:16:03 - Jag: Wow.
0:16:04 - B.B.: Which was like a dream of going to Disney World.
0:16:07 - Jag: Yeah, I'm just going to work, but I'm going there every day. That's amazing.
0:16:10 - B.B.: Right? I had to kind of pinch myself sometimes and say, like, look, I get to go where people work all year long to go on vacation. I get to go here every day.
0:16:18 - Jag: Right.
0:16:19 - B.B.: And the question everybody always asks, could you go for free? Yes. I had this silver Pass I could use or my husband could use, and we could bring in three guests every day. And no, I don't still have it. That's the other question - can you still go? But yeah, it was amazing. Like, driving up to Disney World every day, going into the studio, and I used to call it my fishbowl because I was encasing glass, and kids would come up to the window every day. So every day I would meet families. I would meet kids who some of them had sent me letters. I'm coming to Walt Disney World. I'm coming to see you.
0:16:53 - Jag: Oh, wow.
0:16:54 - B.B.: And I said, those years that I was at Walt Disney World, I was probably on way more refrigerators than I could ever imagine, smiling and handing out little prizes and stuff. But back in the day, you took the real photo, not just on a phone. And I got to meet kids from all over the world, and I got to do a lot of incredible things with, like, make a wish and give kids the world. I got to meet some incredible families.
0:17:20 - B.B.: I got to interview movie stars and sports figures and singers and just everybody from Julie Andrews to Britney Spears to NSYNC to the kid from Jerry Maguire. Like anybody you can think of.
0:17:37 - Jag: I'm doing the math. And if my timeline is right, you're at Disney World as Britney and Justin have been Mouseketeers, and now they're really hitting it big as pop stars with the late 90s there with NSYNC and Britney and Christina and all that. I mean, to have those folks on your show, they were as big as it gets at that time.
0:17:54 - B.B.: They weren't even that big yet. They were becoming big. Like, I remember interviewing Britney Spears, and she walked in, and I was like, wow, it's so cool to have you here. And she's like, I'm just a Southern girl singing, whatever. And I was like, okay. I have memories of interviewing the guys from NSync and being really frustrated with that guy Chris because he wouldn't stop talking, kept talking over everybody. I thought, how am I going to edit this.
0:18:20 - B.B.: And it actually turned out where we lived. We lived about 15, 20 minutes away from Walt Disney World in a place called Dr. Phillips, Florida.
0:18:29 - Jag: Okay.
0:18:30 - B.B.: We only lived like not far away from Joey Fatone, from Instinct. So every now and if one, I'd like see him out and around and be like, Joe my buddy, from NSync.
0:18:39 - Jag: Part of the family, part of the big Disney family.
0:18:41 - B.B.: Right, right. And our oldest daughter just turned 22, and I believe he has a daughter that's born like, within a couple of weeks of my daughter because I feel like I was on maternity leave. And then I was reading in the teeny bopper magazines that Joey Fatone had a baby at the same time.
0:18:59 - Jag: It's called show prep, boys and girls.
0:19:02 - B.B.: Yes. Back before the Internet. Right? Yeah.
0:19:04 - Jag: You had to read hard copies of things. Exactly.
0:19:07 - B.B.: Right. Speaking of before the Internet, too, I have, which I received years after I finished at Radio Disney, some scrapbooks full of handwritten letters from kids. Because before even email and before now, texting and all that, kids would send me actual letters at Walt Disney World. And they would send letters after they'd visited with photos because I guess we must have had like a PO box or something they could write to.
0:19:31 - B.B.: And along the way, I had these wonderful people that I worked with, producers and phone screeners and stuff. And when they were not busy answering phones, they would take these letters and put them in scrapbooks, and I'd forgotten about them. And then years after I stopped working for Radio Disney and they were closing the offices here in Dallas, I got a call from one of my friends, one of the producers, and he said, we're cleaning out these rooms here and we found this box of stuff from Orlando. Do you want it? And I said, okay.
0:19:57 - B.B.: And I was so thrilled, I said yes because it was so much fun and so much fun for me to look at these letters and these notes with my kids who were at the time, probably the ages of those kids that had been writing to me, which was just super fun.
0:20:11 - Jag: Radio Disney, was it national or worldwide at that point that you were on? It was probably national. National. Okay.
0:20:16 - B.B.: And it used to be on mostly Am radio stations, but by the end, it was on the Internet on RadioDisney.com. And it was, remember there was like a TV channel that was like music videos. Not MTV or VH1, but like something else. I think we had one of those channels. And all I know is when I started, we were like 15, 16 AM stations, and by the time I left ten years later, it was 30 plus stations and on the Internet. And just I do remember at one point getting like a call in the middle of the day on the toll-free number from people in Glasgow Scotland.
0:20:53 - Jag: Oh, wow.
0:20:54 - B.B.: And they're like, yeah, we're listening. Can you play a song for us? And I thought they were teasing me, and they're like, no. And they're telling me stuff about where they're calling from in Scotland. They must have been listening, like, online, I don't know.
0:21:05 - Jag: So how long were you in Orlando?
0:21:06 - B.B.: I was in Orlando for five years.
0:21:08 - Jag: Okay.
0:21:09 - B.B.: Our oldest daughter was born there, and our second daughter was born there. And I used to call them my $10 Disney babies because we had such good health insurance. It was $10 copayment, and then that's it.
0:21:22 - Jag: I don't think that's something you'd find too often these days at this in the world of health insurance. Wow, that's cool.
0:21:28 - B.B.: And when we left, Shira was three, and Rebecca was one and a half, and I was very pregnant with my son David, and at the time, not happy at all about having to come back to Dallas.
0:21:39 - Jag: So they closed the studio. Is that why you came back to Dallas?
0:21:41 - B.B.: They had gone through some changes out at Disneyland, and first they closed that studio, and then they decided they wanted to just sort of bring the team back to Dallas. And the interesting thing was, every year I'd come back to Dallas for meetings, and I remember coming into one of the meetings, and I knew I was pregnant with my son, but I wasn't saying anything yet. And I'm, like, prepared with all the look at all the good things I'm doing at Walt Disney World and all these people I'm interviewing.
0:22:05 - B.B.: I'm showing them how great we are and what wonderful people I'm working with. And they listened very nicely, and then they said, okay, so we're closing the studio. We're bringing you back to Dallas. And I'm like, come again? And the crazy thing was, it hit me like, I don't know, like a ton of bricks, whatever. I did not see this coming at all. My husband had just started nursing school. He had a second career.
0:22:29 - B.B.: I was pregnant with my son, but no one knew yet. I thought, who's going to hire a pregnant DJ, right? And I had two little kids, and we owned a home in Orlando. Thought, oh, my gosh, we have to sell our house. Anyway, it all worked out. But needless to say, I had a lot of conversations with G-d over those times, like, what are you doing to me? Yeah, but 20 something years or how many years? Now we're 19 years almost in Dallas. I'm so grateful to be here. I love Dallas. I love living here.
0:22:59 - B.B.: It was a good move.
0:23:00 - Jag: So was it still Radio Disney that you worked for in Dallas? Or what happened after you moved out to Dallas? They moved your job?
0:23:06 - B.B.: I basically came back to the job. I left. So I went back to that beautiful office building in Dallas, and I don't remember exactly how we carried it off on the air, other than to just say I was back in my oh, I think at that point, at some point, they had us, like, sort of acting as big sisters, camp counselors, babysitters, whatever. So at some point I was B.B. Good in the treehouse. I had a treehouse or something.
0:23:35 - B.B.: We went through a couple of different changes.
0:23:38 - Jag: So how long were you at Radio Disney back in Dallas? Once you headed back to Dallas?
0:23:42 - B.B.: Another four years. And it's interesting, they had given me, like, a contract for two years with a chance of a year extension. And in my head, when I got back here, I'm like, we're here for two years, and then we're leaving. We're going to Hollywood, New York City. Back to Boston. I don't know, Dallas. What are we doing in Dallas? And sure enough, two years became three years. Three years became four years.
0:24:03 - B.B.: And at that point, there was talk about moving Radio Disney out to California, to Burbank, to the Disney Channel building. And I should have seen the writing on the wall as a lot of my bosses were being changed out for new bosses. But I was a little clueless. And at some point, I went in for a meeting with one of the new bosses, and they said, we love you, you're great, but we're not renewing your contract. And in two months you're going to be out on the street.
0:24:32 - B.B.: And I was like, but wait, I'm not replaceable. I'm B.B. Good! But at that point in my life, I had a two year old, a four year old, a six year old, and an eight year old. My husband had finished nursing school, so he was gainfully employed, thank God. And it was a time to sort of take a break, make a new path. It's funny because I sent these out to all the people that I had worked with. If you can see, it's a little plastic boot.
0:24:58 - Jag: It's a cowboy boot.
0:24:59 - B.B.: Yes, a cowboy boot. And I sent this out thinking I was going to keep working. Radio Disney gave me the boot, but there's still work to do. Whatever.
0:25:08 - Jag: Brilliant!
0:25:09 - B.B.: Yeah, and I mailed out probably 50 of these to all my Radio friends and record friends. But I think there were other plans for me. So I was busy being a stay at home mom, very involved in my community and my kids schools and doing a lot of volunteer work for a while. And actually, my youngest daughter is 16, so she got her driver's license this past year. So I finally, after 20 years, retired from doing carpool.
0:25:41 - Jag: That's funny. If you're comfortable talking about it, I wanted to ask you because I know faith and religion is a big part of your life at this point. Did that kind of go hand in hand with the decision to be a stay at home mom after the Disney stuff ended?
0:25:53 - B.B.: No, I would say that was already happening. So I met my husband Charles, actually at Syracuse at a Shabbat dinner. Neither of us were at all religious, but just was a place to go. We dated a little bit, and then we sort of went our separate ways for seven years. We got back together as I was being hired by Disney and being brought out to Dallas. Okay, so what I left out before was that we got engaged to get married, and then Disney's like, okay, let's go to Dallas. And I was like, well, wait, I can't go to Dallas. I just got engaged, and my fiancé has a job here.
0:26:27 - B.B.: And my wonderful, wonderful husband said, no, let's go. I'll find a job, like, let's just go.
0:26:31 - Jag: He was working in Boston with you at that point?
0:26:33 - B.B.: He was in New York, I was in Boston. Kind of like the Northeast thing. But he was a good gig, and he focused on my career, which was amazing. So he moved out to Dallas, and actually in Dallas, we got very connected with the Jewish community here. There were some really charismatic rabbis that said, boom, new blood, new customers. And the more we got friendly with these rabbis and these different organizations, the more I, for one, felt like this is really how I want to live my life. And so I'm very grateful we've been able to give our kids a Jewish Day school education.
0:27:13 - B.B.: Our oldest daughter is married, living in Israel right now. Our son in law is actually in school to become a rabbi.
0:27:18 - Jag: Wow.
0:27:18 - B.B.: I'll be able to say, my son in law the rabbi. How wonderful.
0:27:22 - Jag: Every Jewish mother's dream.
0:27:23 - B.B.: Look at that, right? So. Yeah, we're Sabbath observant. So I guess it will be a little difficult to work in a radio gig where I'd be like, oh, sorry, can't do that on Saturday. I'm busy.
0:27:36 - Jag: I can't spend Saturday afternoon at a car dealer giving away free pizza. I've got other things to do.
0:27:41 - B.B.: Exactly. But I have found for me, I like to say I'm passionately Jewish. My passion for living a Jewish life has really centered me in a way that I probably wasn't before this. And I'm actually working for an Israeli organization now, too, which is interesting.
0:28:01 - Jag: Really?
0:28:02 - B.B.: Yeah. I recently started working for an organization called Israel 365. I am helping them start a branch here in Dallas. It's partially a media company, which is incredible because that kind of fits with what I do. But a lot of my job here is basically making friends with people of different faiths who support Israel and want to have education and events, and I get paid to go out and go out for coffee with people and make friends. So got to love that.
0:28:33 - Jag: Which is perfect for your personality, I've got to say. Before I forget, I want to ask you about the bee. You were the bee in the cartoon for Disney, too, right? I don't want to forget to ask you about that.
0:28:43 - B.B.: Sure. So my nickname B.B. Good came from my maiden name being Goodman.
0:28:48 - Jag: Right.
0:28:48 - B.B.: And I always heard you wanted to have three syllables. Listen to who we grew up listening to. Right. Lady D. JJ Wright.
0:28:57 - Jag: Dale Dorman.
0:28:57 - B.B.: Ed McMann. Right?
0:28:58 - Jag: Yeah.
0:28:58 - B.B.: Dale Dorman. So I knew it had to be three syllables. So I went with B.B. Good. And it's funny, when I went to go work for JAMN 94.5 in Boston, Cadillac Jack sat me down. He said, okay, we got to think of a different name for you. And he came up with some very urban name. And I was like, yeah, I don't think so. Let me be B.B. Good.
0:29:16 - Jag: Good.
0:29:16 - B.B.: This is who I am. And then for Disney, it fit perfectly. Like, "be good." And when Radio Disney got connected with Disney Channel, they animated my voice because the first 2 hours of the show I did was called Mickey and Minnie's Tune Time. And then it actually became Playhouse Disney before I finished working for the company. But in kind of partnership doing things with the Disney Channel, they had me sort of introducing different songs and shows and things. So that's how I got animated.
0:29:45 - Jag: I think you might be the first guest I've had on the podcast that has had an animated version of themselves. That's pretty cool.
0:29:51 - B.B.: And my friend John Beck got me a little speaking role on According to Jim. I have to tell you this story. John says, we need you to voice a few lines for this show. And I said, Great. Okay. And you just met my daughter Rebecca a few minutes ago, who's 20. Okay? So I did the voice recording, whatever, and they had me filling out a bunch of contracts. I'm literally filling out these contracts in my car outside, like a post office, et cetera, while I'm having contractions to give birth to Rebecca.
0:30:23 - Jag: Wow.
0:30:24 - B.B.: Okay. Filled this out, then went to the hospital, had the baby. Okay. I got paid something. I'm going to guess like $600, $700 for these few lines. I'm like, this is great. The funny thing is, I still get checks 20 years later from that one line or two lines on the show. Now, granted, the checks now are like, $7 or $8, but I have, over 20 years, got checks from that one line on, According to Jim.
0:30:51 - Jag: The syndication royalties. Oh my gosh, it's amazing.
0:30:54 - B.B.: I called John, can you give me a few more lines on some shows? Man, this is great, though. The money just roaring in. He's like, Maybe it's like $5. I'm like, I know. I'm buying Starbucks on you this week.
0:31:05 - Jag: What was the role?
0:31:06 - B.B.: It's actually very funny. The character played, I think, Jim's brother or Jim's brother in law. It was his birthday, and they wanted me to be like, it's B.B. Good on Radio Disney. And we've got to say Happy birthday to so and so and so and so and let's say his name was Tom. And I said Tim. It was like the joke was that the DJ messed up his name and that he's an adult wanting to hear himself on the kids station hearing a Happy birthday shout out. It was very cute.
0:31:38 - Jag: That's funny. Any other stories or interactions with alumni or stuff that comes to mind that we haven't covered at this point?
0:31:45 - B.B.: Definitely a lot of people along the way that I got the chance to meet. And especially being at Walt Disney World, there were two other radio studios next to where I was. So very often radio stations would come in and be broadcasting next door or if there was a big event. So because of that, I would get to see radio friends from time to time, which was really nice.
0:32:09 - Jag: So starting out at Syracuse, at WJPZ, as you think back, what were some of the lessons that you learned, BB, that served you well in your radio career and life in general that you learned in your time at the radio station?
0:32:23 - B.B.: I think one of them you hit on a little bit before talking to one person. We're not talking to a big group. We're talking to one person having a conversation, and the person you're talking to is your friend, someone you like, they like you, like you have a lot in common. So I learned that I definitely think I learned maybe I knew it before, but being curious, which I think has helped me tremendously in my career and in my life, just trying not to draw conclusions about people or events or whatever, and just being curious. And that's helped me throughout my life and throughout my career.
0:32:59 - B.B.: I definitely think being prepared, whether it's being prepared for an interview or a show or whatever, helps me. Help me then, helps me now. I had this great boss that I worked for at Radio Disney. His name was Dan Pearman, such a sweet, sweet man. And he at one point said to me, I wish I had a whole staff of BB Goods, because isn't that great? He said, whenever you come to me with an issue or a problem, you've already thought through some solutions before you walk in my office.
0:33:32 - B.B.: And I thought to myself, doesn't everybody do that? No, I don't know. I guess not. And he was just a pleasure to work for. He was a pleasure to work for in Dallas, and he was a pleasure to work for when I was in Orlando, only speaking him on the phone for months at a time. I also had some really good experiences, like visiting either people from Z89 when I was starting out, or radio people. I remember Rocco being so nice when he worked at Hot 97 and me coming to New York City sometimes, I guess, like looking to try and find work. And he was super nice.
0:34:09 - B.B.: And somehow I got connected with some of the DJs at WPLJ, and I remember meeting Scott Shannon and him being just so lovely and AJ Hammer and Todd Pettingill and Christy Weimer and just some of these people that were legends in radio. At some point, I got to meet JoJo "Cookin" Kincaid. That was like a dream come true.
0:34:31 - Jag: Big name. Yeah.
0:34:33 - B.B.: So I'm grateful for my experiences. I'm really grateful.
0:34:37 - Jag: And I want to speak on behalf of the Alumni Association, BB, when I say it was so wonderful to have you back in Syracuse this year and so great to see you and give you a big hug in person. I'm so glad to have you back in the fold this year. I know there are so many alumni who look to you as something to aspire to with what you've done in your career and just the person that you are and also paying it forward. So thank you for coming back to Syracuse and thank you for doing this podcast.
0:35:03 - B.B.: It's because of you I was there. If you didn't do these podcasts, I probably would have just been watching from the outside looking in, because you have put so many hours and so much effort and creativity and preparation into this, and it's so appreciated. And hearing my friend Steve Donovan, I think that was the first one I listened to. And I thought, gosh, I miss these people. I want to see these people again. So I am truly grateful that you did this, and hopefully we'll be together again next year.
0:35:32 - Jag: And I will say, when you told me that in Syracuse, I got a little choked up when you told me that in person, that the podcast meant that much. And it's been such a joy to do this podcast. And as many hours as I've put into it, I've gotten more out of it. These connections and this family that if you're not part of this group, there's almost no way to explain it to somebody. What this family is through now, six decades of this radio station and what we have is so truly special.
0:35:58 - Jag: And I thank you for being a part of that.
0:36:00 - B.B.: Thank you.
0:36:01 - Jag: Before I let you go, the Jonas Brothers may or may not have done a song about you. What's the story here?
0:36:07 - B.B.: Okay, so after I stopped working for Radio Disney I don't know how much after that time, but I stopped working back in 2008, I got a call from my boss, Dan Pearman, and he said, have you heard the new Jonas Brothers song? And I probably said, no, I've cut all that out of my life. I'm focusing on my kids now. He said, because the song is called BB Good. And I'm like, Come on. So, of course, I went online and found it, and they referred to BB Good as a she.
0:36:32 - B.B.: She's got a be BB Good to me and BB Good to you. And I thought and I had interviewed the Jonas brothers shortly before I stopped working for Radio Disney. So if any of my radio friends are connected to the Jonas brothers that can find out, I would love to know if I had anything to do with that song. And we should all call into our favorite radio stations and request it so it becomes very popular.
0:36:53 - Jag: We'll link to the song in the show notes and if somebody listening can make that connection and figure that out, let's get on that and do BB Good a solid.
0:37:00 - B.B.: Thank you. This was so much fun.