12 Step Radio: Reality Radio: A Faceless Confessional

[Guest guest]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/17/arts/17STEP.html?th

 

July 17, 2004

Reality Radio: A Faceless Confessional

By FELICIA R. LEE

 

With her chic short haircut and tasteful big jewelry,

Raquel G. looks the sophisticated suburban matron and

homemaker, which she is. But on a recent Saturday

night, seated inside a womblike Manhattan studio full

of microphones and nervous energy, the life she

described was not that of a Westchester mother of

three but that of a compulsive overeater.

 

" My name is Raquel and I'm a food addict, " she said

into the microphone, bringing a wave of " Hello,

Raquel, " from the other guests.

 

And so it went at the taping of " Steppin' Out, " the

syndicated 12-step radio show broadcast on 22 stations

nationwide, including New York City, Anchorage and Las

Vegas. It is also heard on Sirius and XM Satellite

Radio.

 

As the name suggests, the program is loosely based on

the myriad 12-step programs inspired by Alcoholics

Anonymous to battle addictions ranging from cluttering

to sex. Past shows have featured nights devoted to

drug addicts or gamblers or alcoholics — all members

of real 12-step addiction programs — or the people who

support them. Call it reality radio for those who

value privacy, even in a cultural moment when

television is glutted with people who have plastic

surgery, update their wardrobes, renovate their homes

and search for spouses in front of millions.

 

" I thought there were a lot of great stories, " said

Denise McIntee, the show's producer. She started doing

the shows about every other week in 1999, spurred by

the stories she heard at the Alcoholics Anonymous

meetings she attended for a college course on women

and alcoholism. " They were full of inspiration and

hope, " she said. " It was just a beautiful thing,

actually, and radio was the one medium that would

respect anonymity. "

 

Ms. McIntee, a veteran radio producer who hopes to add

more stations this year, and the host, Drew Martin

(whose day job is as a Web designer), say they are

providing a public service. In fact, they plan to

appeal to stations to heed the Federal Communications

Commission's call for radio stations to increase their

public affairs programming in this election year.

 

The show grew station by station and began syndicating

nationally in 2002. Guests gather from 11 to 1 every

Saturday night at the ABC studios on the Upper West

Side of Manhattan. The program goes live to some

stations and is taped to others. Raquel G. and Lindsey

W., Carol B. and Paul M., all Overeaters Anonymous

members, met on a recent night in Studio 12, a

low-ceilinged room with gray walls and a dark blue

carpet. In keeping with the philosophy of 12-step

addiction programs, they asked to remain anonymous.

 

There was a lot of easy banter as the four waited to

be interviewed by Mr. Martin. " Stay away from the

jargon, " he warned. Ms. McIntee wondered aloud how one

manages a food addiction, given that everyone eats.

" What do you do when you go on vacation, when you go

to a wedding? " she asked.

 

Ms. McIntee and Mr. Martin explained that tonight, as

always, the one-hour program would follow a simple

format. Mr. Martin would shoot out questions about

their lives. When did you know you were an addict? How

did you hit bottom? No experts weigh in, just real

people who overcome real problems: they drank,

gambled, snorted coke, binged on food. In the studio

was a file cabinet laden with cut vegetables and dip

and a bowl of peanuts, but none of the overeaters

touched the food.

 

Two shows would be taped back-to-back that night, Mr.

Martin said, and with the commercial breaks, each

guest would talk about 20 minutes.

 

Raquel G. spoke easily of losing 80 pounds and

learning to abstain from sugar and flour as a member

of Overeaters Anonymous for 31 years. She drew

laughter when she recalled Halloween with her

children. " I'd walk them to death getting candy, " she

said. Of course, she added, she had to taste half the

goodies to make sure everything was safe.

 

Raquel G., a youthful looking 65, is the sponsor of

38-year-old Lindsey W., a baby-faced man who once

carried 400 pounds on his 5-foot-5 frame but has

dropped more than 200 pounds. " I got into a depression

mood every once in a while, " he said evenly during his

turn at the microphone. He revealed that he calls

Raquel G. virtually every day to tell her what he

eats, how he is feeling.

 

Carol B., a tall, thin retired clinical social worker

and an overeaters member for 27 years, told of years

lost to binge eating and abusing laxatives and diet

pills. " You feel like you have a double life, " she

said. " Everything's very secretive. I analyzed my

eating to death. It did no good. "

 

Paul M.'s story was that he had been overweight most

of his life and still battled with a stubborn 60 to 70

pounds that had been tackled with everything from

special diets to fat farms. The only thing that

worked, he said, was calling himself an addict and

abstaining from sugar and white flour.

 

If nothing else, " Steppin' Out " reflects the diversity

of talk radio and the desire among audiences for both

information and entertainment, said Michael Harrison,

the publisher of Talkers, the leading trade magazine

for talk radio and cable talk shows. The show is well

respected within the industry, he said.

 

" The impression of talk radio is that it is all Rush

Limbaugh or Howard Stern or politics, " Mr. Harrison

said. " But it's a large, thriving, dynamic industry,

and half the adult population of the U.S. listens to

talk radio regularly.

 

" Everybody knows a drug addict or an alcoholic or

someone with an addiction. Even if you don't there's

something about hearing the details of someone's life

that is, at worst, entertainment. " He added that

people increasingly turned to television, books and

talk radio for self-improvement advice.

 

Ms. McIntee estimated that " Steppin' Out " had about

500,000 listeners, but the program doesn't

to Arbitron so the figure is inferential. Based on

e-mail and letters, that audience consists of those

who like the soap-opera aspect of eavesdropping on

other lives and people with their own problems. (She

recruits the guests through 12-step groups.)

 

For instance, one recent e-mail message to the program

said: " I found your radio show tonight, and I couldn't

have found it at a better time. My boyfriend is

currently in rehab, recovering from alcohol abuse. I'm

going to visit him tomorrow, and I've been a little

worried. Hearing those stories tonight made me realize

that he isn't a different person. He needs love and

respect just like all of us. "

 

Another listener, named Susan, said she was an

Alcoholics Anonymous member who had multiple

sclerosis, so it was hard to get to meetings. " I

always hear something that helps me, " she said of the

radio shows.

 

Gary S., a member of Gamblers Anonymous from

Plainfield, N.J., who at one point was betting $1,000

a day, said the show reveals that help is available.

When he appeared on " Steppin' Out " two months ago, he

said, he did so thinking, " I hope they can relate to

my story and understand perhaps they have a problem. "

 

Is " Steppin' Out " therapy or plain old voyeurism?

Diane Churchill, a Manhattan therapist who specializes

in addiction, said that the radio show is not a

substitute for therapy but that " it provides an

inspiration to come a little closer. "

 

She said: " Most people wait until someone can take

them to a 12-step meeting. If people can hear what

it's like, get to know the language, they'll have a

little more confidence going in. People, whether they

know it or not, are waiting to hear a piece of their

story so they don't feel so isolated, so marginalized,

so judged. "

 

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company