Arts & Entertainment
Local Radio Station Stricken With “Idol Worship”
88.1 WCWP, the student radio station at C.W. Post University, scratches the American Idol itch.
Ever wonder what your favorite American Idol contestants have been up to? So did 88.1 FM WCWP's Christina Kay.
Kay, C.W Post's University radio station program director, was determined to find out. That inkling has become a 15-week long series dubbed
Every Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. Kay interview's one former American Idol contestant, leading up to the debut of the popular television competitions' tenth season in January.
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The original idea for the segment didn't include thoughts of an on-going season. Kay began by emailing the management of season eight contestant Matt Giraud. It took five minutes for the email to be returned and Kay was soon interviewing the singer. The ease in which the Giraud interview was scheduled persuaded the D.J to contact more former Idols. Soon, a segment was born.
"Next thing I knew, I had ten Idol contestants who wanted to do interviews," said Kay. "I was like, 'lets make a series out of it'."
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Currently in the third week of the series, Kay has interviewed Giraud, season five's Kevin Covais, and, this week, season eight's Anoop Desai.
Desai, who released his first album in May, was just named an "artist to watch out for" by Clear Channel, a prominent radio company.
Proving the immense popularity of the television program, Kay said WCWP has already seen an increase in listeners.
"Last week, during the Matt Giraud interview, our twitter was crazy," recalls Kay."His fan club was listening. That's 636 people right there. After every question, they'd be tweeting about something."
While Kay wishes to keep the entire lineup a surprise, it was revealed on Tuesday afternoon that next week's installment will feature season eight's Nick Mitchell (aka Norman Gentle). Mitchell didn't go far in the contest, but is now featured on The Wendy Williams Show.
Although the interviews are conducted around the premise of being a "former Idol contestant," Kay also discusses the current careers of the interviewees.
"They're all extremely grateful," Kay said. "Some of them don't want to talk about it (American Idol) anymore because that was the past. But some of them, it's really fresh in their mind. They're all really fun people."
Top 40: Total Access can be heard every weekday at 4 p.m. on and on the radio at 88.1FM. Future American Idol interviews are revealed every Tuesday evening on MyWCWP. Past interviews are available on the Top 40: Total Access Blog, also on the website.
