Laguna Beach Independent, May 20, 2005

Recovery Radio has Connections in L.A., Phoenix, and Las Vegas: Co-Hosts Know Subject Matter First Hand

BY KEITH H. KARPÉ
Special to the Laguna Beach Independent

When Suzy M. walked out of the Las Vegas casino last Saturday night where she’d spent her last $200 -- again -- on the hollow pull of a slot machine, never in her wildest dreams did she think she was about to receive intervention from the heavens above.

But that’s exactly what happened, in a manner of speaking, when she heard the calm, lilting voices Stephen J. Groth M.D. and Bob Munck, co-hosts of the new call-in radio show, “Recovery Radio,” discussing addictive behaviors – alcoholism, drug addiction, bulimia, compulsive gambling, over eating and the always tragic end that awaits those whose addictions go unchecked.

Her compulsive gambling had become a major life issue when the federal government worker moved to Las Vegas six years ago to be closer to her children and grandchildren. It had now put her into the position of having more 300-percent- plus interest rate “payday” loans due and payable than her real payroll check could cover. She was helpless to stop her compulsive gambling, and so hopeless for an answer that she was contemplating suicide.

As if in a trance, Suzy M. sat behind the wheel of her dusty compact sedan in the deepening dusk of the desert, staring straight ahead at the concrete parking structure with all its nicks and cracks and scrapes laid bare beneath the harsh neon lights of the casino next door, a perfect reflection, she thought, even a metaphor of her life. It was just at that moment when all hope had vanished that she heard those illuminating voices again discussing her very problem.

How could this be? she thought. This must be a sign from her higher power, any higher power, these digitalized voices emanating from her car radio.  As disbelief gave way to the harsh reality of her predicament, with her heart in her throat and tears pooling in her eyes, she found herself dialing the program’s toll-free number. This was just uncanny, too perfect to be true, but what the Hell, she told herself. You are about to do yourself in, why not call a radio show and share her last words and thoughts with potentially millions around the world on the radio?

No one would know who she was and, even if they did, what would it matter now. Either way, she knew she had a solution of her own she could always depend on: suicide. But did she really want to take her life at 54 years old? She thought she knew the answer to that – yes – but then she heard the first ring, the second and the third and was snapped back to reality when the show’s screener picked up. “Hello, welcome to Recovery Radio! How can we help? What’s your problem tonight? Do you want to say something to the guys?”

Out of thin air, it seemed to her, even from the heavens above, perhaps, she had found a cure, maybe even a personal salvation of sorts. If nothing else, she hoped, maybe she had found someone she could talk to about her problem, someone who wouldn’t immediately write her off as a loser with a lack of self-control, but as someone with a chronic, always terminal disease if left untreated. She had taken the first step by calling. Now, would she be willing to stay on the line and talk honestly with someone for the first time in her life? Would she accept their help? Would she stop giving excuses?

Just two hours in length, the show is but a brief respite from the angry, table-pounding airwaves where Conservative talk radio reigns supreme. It is here that listeners get practical, tough and honest advice, where they can share their stories, ask questions, or just confirm that they are not alone in the terribly sad world of chronic alcoholism and addiction.

Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California near Los Angeles, Recovery Radio is owned by Worldwide Radio Network. The show can be heard live every Saturday evening at 6-8 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) on KKLA-FM (99.5) in Los Angeles; KFNX (1100 AM) in Phoenix; KNUU (970 AM) in Las Vegas; and at any time on the Internet. New markets are beckoning, as well, with programmers (and listeners) calling the show’s offices during the week from all parts of the U.S., including New York, Texas, Washington and dozens more, requesting CDs so they can evaluate its potential for their markets.

As one newspaper editor from upstate New York asked this past week, “Please tell me I can find your program in our tiny little town in the northwest part of New York state.” Not yet, she was told, but there is always opportunity down the road.

Beamed via satellite to an expanding list of the nation’s most highly competitive -- and saturated -- call-in radio markets, Recovery Radio has seen its market share steadily increase since its debut about two months ago, company officials said.

While it is certainly calls like Suzy M.’s that give the two-hour show an element of melodrama, it is also the surprising reach of the program and who may be listening -- and calling in -- that can add the element of surprise for both listeners and the show’s hosts.  Which is exactly what happened last week when the  hosts were interrupted by the frantically waving arms of one of the show’s producers who, separated from them in the booth by 3-inch-thick soundproof glass, was trying to get their attention. What the producer was trying to communicate was that Joe Walsh of the 1970’s rock band, “The Eagles,” was holding on line No. 4 to speak live and on the air. Surprise!

Walsh and his band mates, with such mega-hits as Desperado, Tequila Sunrise and Hotel California, comprised what is considered the seminal rock band of the 1970s, with its signature California style, picking up where the likes of The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, and The Band had left off in the 1960s with their distinctive East Coast-driven beats.

Walsh was calling on his cell phone while driving home to Los Angeles from out of town to ardently discuss his own recovery and how alcohol and drugs had left him nearly ruined in all areas of his life -- creatively, physically, mentally and financially. He has now re-built his life around sobriety, and he freely admits that even his near-legendary status as a rock guitarist, songwriter and performer doesn’t eclipse his prized sobriety.

“You paint a great picture there of the rock and roll scene,” he told the hosts on the air, after listening to a description of the group’s early years and its decade-long dominance at the top of the music charts. “Oh, yeah, it was fun, really fun early on. But then I became completely, absolutely, utterly dependent on cocaine and vodka. It overtook every aspect of my life and I couldn’t get out of bed without having a drink or a snort or whatever. I would shake uncontrollably and I couldn’t do the most basic functions for myself, that’s how bad it was. I would have rather been dead, and I nearly died more than a few times, and I just about lost everything and everybody in my life. I hit my bottom just before I lost it all.”

Walsh did recover, but only after dedicating more than a year to working at nothing but staying sober. According to widely published news reports at the time, Walsh traveled with a full-time “sitter” while on tour so he couldn’t use drugs or drink. But even then he said he was increasingly thinking about suicide as a bona fide solution to his emotional pain.

Obviously unscheduled, Walsh’s call to the radio show added drama and drove a flood of callers to the phone lines. But time was too tight during the broadcast to conduct a lengthier interview, so Walsh has agreed to visit the studio for a rare, live interview May 29.

As it would turn out a week later, the show, with or without celebrities like Walsh, proved to be a divine lifeline for Suzy M. the earlier caller who was desperate to stop her compulsive gambling.
Exactly one week after she had first called, Suzy M. was the first caller on the following week’s show and could hardly contain herself so thankful was she for the assistance she was given over the air.

“You saved my life,” she told told the hosts on the air, choking back tears. “I didn’t know what to do, where to go or who to turn to. I just wanted to blow my brains out. I know it’s just a day at a time, but I have so much more today than I did when I called a week ago. Thank you, thank you.”

Suzy M., who has become a big hit with the show’s hosts and with its four full-time staff members, has amassed more than two dozen meetings and has not spent even one nickel gambling. She said that for the first time in six years she still has money in her purse at the end of the week
For the Worldwide Radio Network’s newest two-hour offering, it was a milestone moment, the best example yet of what the show’s creator – Bob Munck – was trying to give back to the community.

“There is really nothing to stop our expansion except hours in a day in any market throughout the country,” said Munck. “As awareness grows through word-of-mouth and through publicity, we’ve received calls from radio stations, disc jockeys, advertising reps and others who have been as enthused as we are about the concept of giving something back to the communities from which we, as alcoholics and addicts, took so much when we were out there using.”

Reprinted with permission, May 20, 2005. All rights reserved. For copies of this article, please contact Worldwide Radio Networks, 95 Argonaut, Suite 102, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 ATTN: Public Relations