MORE FROM 'SCARY' MARY COCHRAN:

I am a petite brunette. Once, I was broadcasting live at the fair and a listener came up and asked for Scary Mary. I said, "Hi, I am Scary Mary." He said, "Gee, you sound taller!" With all of the compression and EQ they have on our voices, I sound like I am 6 ft tall and blonde.

One thing you only do once in radio is lock yourself out of the studio. I did this one night (I worked overnight at KMOD). This was back when we were playing records. After I left the restroom which was out in the hallway, not in the radio station, I realized that I neglected to pick up my keys. Totally freaking out, I ran to my car and drove to the nearest convenience store and called my friend Theresa DeVito, who also worked there. I said, "Theresa, get here now! I am locked out of the station."

Meanwhile I am sitting in my car listening to the record come to an end, then starts the sound of the needle circling the last groove over and over and over. She sped down there, hair still in curlers with her PJ's on and unlocked the door. The first thing you look at when something like that happens is the hot line to see if your boss knows. Luckily it wasn't flashing, but every other line was. I picked up the first call and heard, "Your God damn record's over!"

Of course, both of these stories were back when FM rock radio was fresh and daring and fun, and we could play what we wanted for the most part and were actually live on the air. In other words, the good old days...

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