As I walked Dec. 3 through the trees decked in sparkling
Christmas lights at Gilroy Gardens, I couldn’t believe I was going
to meet the No. 1 woman radio host in U.S. history. Not only did I
get to meet one of my personal heroines, but I also had dinner with
the blonde disc jockey known simply as Delilah in a private area of
the Gardens.
As I walked Dec. 3 through the trees decked in sparkling Christmas lights at Gilroy Gardens, I couldn’t believe I was going to meet the No. 1 woman radio host in U.S. history. Not only did I get to meet one of my personal heroines, but I also had dinner with the blonde disc jockey known simply as Delilah in a private area of the Gardens.
It was thanks to Paula Pardue, the manager of Pacheco Pass Self-Storage, that this surprising turn of events came about. When she called KBAY and won VIP tickets to an evening with Delilah, I was lucky enough to be invited to join her for opening night of the Holiday Lights show.
Delilah told the small dinner party about how her radio career began in her hometown of Reedsport, Oregon, when she won a speaking contest in school. Owners of the local radio station were so impressed they gave her a job as the school news reporter.
Delilah Luke worked her way up from reporter to hosting shows in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia and Rochester, before the nationally syndicated version of her show on the air today. Along the way, she survived being broke, sleeping in a park, divorce and supporting her family as a single mom. She is disarmingly candid, down to earth and uses what she learns from her failures and mistakes in life to relate to her audience.
“I was fired 12 times,” she tells the Gilroy audience. “I ate a lot of top ramen.”
Determined to never give up, Delilah is in her 36th year in radio. Her evening show reaches more than 8 million people in more than 200 radio markets in the United States and Canada.
“We’re here to play songs of hope and inspiration,” she greets her listeners on a typical show. She doles out advice to those who call with her personal faith in God and hopeful look toward the future. Her advice is filled with humor and compassion for all as she highlights positive stories of people caring for each other.
Tonight it’s a call coming over the airwaves from the fiancee of a long-haul trucker. Delilah is his companion away from home, but his fiancee feels good about that. She likes knowing there’s someone who reminds him of home and his loved ones as he is out on the road. Delilah’s show keeps him company on a long night alone. The fiancee doesn’t mind this “other” woman.
“I was widowed, and I never thought I’d find love again,” she tells Delilah.
Next Judy calls in for a song for her boyfriend, describing how he’s so kind-hearted he even cuts up his old scarves for squirrels to line their nests with so they’re not so cold in winter. She hopes to marry this man. He was injured in a fire and has trouble with his breathing.
“But there’s nothing wrong with this man!” the caller declares with passion.
Delilah has a knack for finding the perfect song for each caller. It takes her less than 3 minutes to choose the song as she chats with them on air and gets to know something about them. She quickly types “You are the Sunshine of My Life,” over her computer for the producer to put into play by the time the call is done. It’s a far cry from the days when she had to edit the tape with a razor blade on a reel to reel player.
Listeners enjoy hearing stories of life on the farm outside Seattle, where Delilah lives with six children.
She also has four horses, two cows, a swan and an emu. Delilah’s typical nightly audience includes everyone from a Gilroy police officer on patrol, to a child who is afraid of the dark. Delilah is mom to a total of 11 children – five were adopted from the foster care system.
During dinner, Delilah explains that less than 5 percent of children in foster care will ever know what it’s like to have a “forever family,” as she calls an adoptive family.
“Tonight, 500,000 children will go to bed not knowing where they are going to be staying the next day,” Delilah tells the Gilroy Gardens audience. “They age out of the system at 18 and have nowhere to go, no skills, no support. Eighty percent end up incarcerated before age 25. We’re creating hardened criminals.”
Delilah has established a nonprofit foundation called Point Hope, which partners with local organizations in order to help foster children.
The final call of the night is from Jonathan, who asks for a song for his wife on their fifth anniversary. They are 1,000 miles apart, and he wants Delilah to play, “Beautiful in my Eyes,” by Joshua Kadison.
Her name is Lauralei and she is hearing-impaired, but he sang the song for her at their wedding. Since she reads lips, she knew that he was singing to her the words that Delilah now puts on the radio to ease his lonely night:
“You’re my peace of mind, in this crazy world/ You’re every thing I’ve tried to find/ Your love is a pearl/ You’re my rainbow skies/ And my only prayer is that you realize/ You’ll always be beautiful in my eyes …”
“Changing the world one heart at a time,” Delilah says. “Reaching out to help others. That’s what this show and my life is all about. I hope to do this until the day God calls me home.”
To learn more go to pointhope.org.
