By Rob Adams
Sentinel Reporter/Broadcasting Manager
The members of the Girls Circle Camp from YWCA Greenwich were asked is they were come up with a headline for their program.
Their answer: Girls just want to have fun.
While it’s a play on the 1983 Cyndi Lauper tune, the Girls Circle Camp seemed to have plenty of fun as they visited WGCH Radio last Thursday. They helped host the program Doubleheader and turned their interviewer – this journalist, in fact – into the interviewee.
While it’s not a common practice to the reporter into “me” or “I” in a news story, that’s exactly what they did.
The YWCA asked that some of the last names be withheld since proper permissions were not received.
With YWCA Greenwich Prevention and Outreach Coordinator Leslie Coplin acting as a chaperone, Girls Circle Camp peppered me with questions about radio, broadcasting, and my career.
Five girls at a time approached the bank of microphones in the main air studio at WGCH, getting comfortable with that feeling of being on the air.
“Why do you like radio broadcasting?” asked Violet Nethercott, with the first question.
Of course, my answers are all irrelevant. The bigger idea was to create and atmosphere that was fun for Girls Circle Camp, which is open to girls entering sixth through eighth grade.
Further questions included “Did you always want to be in radio?” (asked by Ciarra Castro), along with “How long have you been on the radio?” (full disclosure: longer than these girls have been alive).
While some of the girls came in nervous, none of them backed away from their chance to talk. Given the opportunity to do an outcue (what is said when going to commercial), every girl raised their hand. The same happened when offered the chance to sign off the program and to do a liner in the production studio.
“Hi, it’s Tessa from Girls Circle Camp YWCA Greenwich,” Tessa said in a liner that was combined with Sierra’s.
“Hi my name is Ciarra and you’re listening to Doubleheader,” added Ciarra Castro.
The laughing continuing throughout the one-hour program, as the girls enjoyed the sounds of a flub I made in a 2001 hockey broadcast where my voice changed, a la Peter Brady of “Brady Bunch” TV fame.
Kelly wanted to know if I had interviewed anyone famous, and yes, when one gets into being a journalist – be it here at the Sentinel or on the radio – one has the opportunity to meet some pretty interesting people in varying degrees of fame.
While some of the names didn’t register, the mention of Derek Jeter certainly made the girls take notice.
“Wow,” was one of the exclamations heard.
Allie laughed when she had her chance to go on the air. Or maybe it was nerves.
“A little of both,” she said, giggling.
Asked by a caller what kind of radio show they would host, the girls suggested topics stretching from news to sports to dance to music and makeup artistry.
Jackson Boolbol, a Greenwich resident who attends Greens Farms Academy and has been assisting on the program, chimed into say that he also would host a sports show.
Girls Circle Camp is a girls-only program that includes activities that help empower and build confidence. In one activity, the girls went to a rope course in Stamford that helped to build trust.
“We had to think together and act like the floor was lava,” one girl said, describing the team work that would get all of the girls from one side of the rope course to the other.
“We finally persisted, and we finally did it,” she added.
The girls have met with other members of the community to learn various fun skills with field trips, crafts, and workshops.
Just like being on the radio.
Girls Circle Camp from YWCA Greenwich ends on July 21.
