Pageant News Bureau - Radio Girls

April Brooks, Kandice Pelletier and Mike Rose

Queens on the air

Photos by Joe Whiteko / PNB

Ah, the Golden Age of Radio! Families gathered around the big set in the parlor, and at the flick of a dial, they connected with the world, through the magic of sound and imagination.

There were weepy soap operas for Mom, comedies for Dad, tales of mystery and adventure for little Johnny. And for bobby-soxer Nell, there was music from a big city ballroom. "Glenn Miller is so hep," she was heard to sigh.

Those innocent days are gone forever, but radio is still going strong. And today it features something that no one foresaw in the 1930s and '40s: the talk show.

No doubt about it, talk radio is king. People love it, people hate it, sometimes they even call in and join the conversation. But they listen by the millions.

Recently, some members of the talk radio audience got a chance to hear beauty queens, and the people liked what they heard. April Brooks, Miss Northwest Georgia, and Kandice Pelletier, Miss Coastal Georgia, were guests on the "Mike Rose Show" on Atlanta's WALR.

If you think pageant girls only field beachball questions, you should have tuned in that day. Talk radio listeners don't throw anything slow or soft. Ms. Brooks and Ms. Pelletier were asked to comment on tax cuts, eating disorders, human cloning, women's rights and Hugh Hefner. Their answers, to the surprise of Mike Rose, were poised and substantive.

As the women departed, their host had a parting comment. He predicted that one of them would soon become Miss Georgia. And he invited the winner, whoever she might be, to return.

Stay tuned, and we mean that literally.