Susan Lachmann (standing) with Nikki Giovanni (seated)
Susan Lachmann, host of “Women on Air,” has a captivating personality and is a dynamo, but anyone with less energy couldn’t wear all her hats. She’s a musician, educator, composer, artist in education and event producer. Her “day” job is a program assistant with the UT Extension Service in Sullivan County, Tennessee, where she works in family and consumer services. One of her roles there is teaching cooking segments on WJHL-TV.
After working her eight-hour job, there’s usually an hour of driving, another four to six hours in the studio which makes for a very long day – especially since “Women on Air” isn’t a paid production.
Yet, she’s hosted the program for 33 years. “Women on Air” is a radio program that focuses on music for women, by women. Women’s music, at its birth, was largely rooted in folk music. Although these roots still influence contemporary women artists, the genre has become much more diverse over the years, and Lachmann has been there through all the changes.
The show was conceived and started by Louise Vahle in 1987. When she planned a move out of state, she asked Lachmann to take over.
“Without knowing much at all about radio production, I said, ‘Okay, I’ll try it,’” Lachmann says. That was almost 2,000 episodes ago.
“I wanted to continue the format for all women’s voices. Special interest programming is nothing new; the special interest here is women in music, arts, education and community. It inspired me as a listener, filled a void in the radio genre at the time, and I believed it was valuable to others. Additionally, being a musician with access to a large library of recordings and a production studio was certainly a compelling opportunity,” she says.
Radio was not her original life plan. She wanted to be a combination of Carol Burnett, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Dolly Parton and perform and inspire people across the country.
“While other life choices kept me from the big dream, programming for radio allowed me to work close to it. As a walk-in with no formal training, I learned it as I went along. The technical end of things was challenging while the music and voices have always been joyful and engaging,” she says.
The first thing she heard on the program, before she took over, was Sweet Honey in the Rock, a five-woman African American acapella ensemble from Washington, D.C. “The more I listened, the more I wanted to hear, the more singers I wanted to know and the more music I wanted to explore. At that time in my life, I was a folk performer, so the show helped me find new material, too,” she says.
She doesn’t remember who her first interview was but does recall that her first “Women on Air” broadcast included excerpts from an Indigo Girls interview read from UTNE Reader. Since then, she has done several interviews with Amy Ray (a member of the Indigo Girls), including one when she forgot to push record.
“Getting an interview can be some hoop jumping. For the most part, I try to keep an eye out for festival schedules, arts events, new releases, concerts in the region; and then I start making phone calls. Most artists are glad to be on NPR; though nowadays, their PR teams often focus on larger, major markets. This doesn’t stop me from trying. It took 10 years of asking before I got an interview with Ani DiFranco; then when she answered the phone I got all choked up and could hardly speak; still it was worth the wait. Sometimes it works to go through a venue’s marketing department, sometimes a friendly email can get the ball rolling. Artists with new releases to promote are generally ready to talk as are performers coming to the area. I remember when Odetta had a new release; her PR team set up a schedule of calls in 15-minute intervals, and I was one of them. I’ll always try; I think ‘Women on Air’ is worth it, and I believe the audience is interested,” Lachmann says.
She has interviewed a wide variety of women. Some of her most memorable include poet Nikki Giovanni, journalist Susan Stamberg, singer Melissa Etheridge, comedian/actress Lily Tomlin and many others.
“Nikki Giovanni is a top favorite for her direct, unapologetic and forthright delivery. I have several interviews with her over the years and was an invited guest in her home and later produced a studio session with her. She never did mince words and was always highly engaging. Susan Stamberg is a standout for the sheer fact of her magnetic voice, which is unparalleled in my opinion. As a Founding Mother of the NPR Mothership, I could not have been more honored to speak with her and romp through conversation about their productions, and collegiality, as well as favorite April Fool’s Day yarns. Melissa Etheridge spoke poignantly about her song, ‘Pulse,’ dedicated to survivors of the Orlando nightclub shootings. Lily Tomlin was always very generous with her time in our interviews. We agreed that her wig in ‘Grace and Frankie’ was worthy of highest praise. She was just so fun and funny every interview. Once, I asked her to redo the intro welcome, which she did without hesitation while citing her cat had distracted her as it walked across the phone,” Lachmann says.
Her interviews aren’t always with people as famous as these women. One she remembers fondly is Julie Helwich of Smart Women Company. “She’s a creative inventive everyday person who found a way to turn an idea into a reality. Julie shared her story about struggling with mental illness, how she created small things at her kitchen table for creative use in the home. First it was scented Epsom salts for bathing. It burgeoned into printed materials such as cocktail napkins with the imprint ‘Smart Women Crave Good Company,’ then coffee mugs with ‘Smart Women Thirst for Knowledge.’ Any story that documents the how, what and why of an impulse and vision turned into tangible reality is attractive to me for the inspiration it delivers,” she says.
The interviews are just the beginning. Women on Air documents events and “HERstory” in the region. In addition to arts and entertainment, many educational institutions are featured. One example is Madeline L’Engle’s interview came from a Children’s Literature Festival at Saint Anne’s School, Bristol, Virginia.
“I’ve interviewed tarot card readers, astrologers, brain injury survivors, women entrepreneurs with coffee houses, art galleries and home-based cottage industry businesses. I’ve not shied away from some controversial topics including Supreme Court ruling on lesbian rights to marry, military discharge (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell) and sexual abuse. I’ve included instructors for the Prison Yoga Project and Valkyrie women’s tackle football players for their different ways of ‘being’ in the world. All these topics, issues and concerns effect and reflect women, and this is why ‘Women on Air’ continues,” she says.
Lachmann has a list of people she’d love to interview. Dolly Parton is at the top of her list, because she is “iconic.” She’s also tried to catch comediennes Leanne Morgan and Melanie, founders of the We Don’t Care Club for women because she considered the humor woven into everyday challenges valuable and necessary.
“Being a smaller market than Chicago or LA or ‘Good Morning America,’ can mean not being considered. I keep knocking on the door, so to speak, because I think ‘Women on Air’ is important, and I think an independent female producer warrants attention— particularly in the Southeast,” she says.
Her vision for the future of the show is that it remains mostly music and will always be women’s voices. She is interested in creating mini-series to highlight area entrepreneurs, writers, visual artists, etc., and in broadening the age range of voices.
“I want to hear more from women who are managing to stay creative and lively long past retirement. I want to hear more from youth who are navigating the changing landscape. And I want to keep exploring new music. I have been working bit by bit spending out of pocket to do digital transferring of interviews. The next step is to find a healthy grant to support time for transcription, compilation and cataloging. What I have is valuable, primary source material documenting women’s voices and regional HERstory. It needs a home somewhere besides my bookshelf,” she says.
The show started as a one-hour, once a week format. Throughout the years, it transformed into a 90-minute format, a two-hour format, then back to one-hour. When WETS had a format change, Women on Air moved to WEHC. Then the show was on both WETS and WEHC. Today it is on five times on three FM channels (WETS, WEHC, WISE) and two digital radio channels. The signal reaches throughout Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina. It’s on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. and Fridays at 6 p.m. on WEHC 90.7 FM and Wise 90.5 FM. It can be heard Saturdays at 10 p.m. on WETS 89.5FM and HD1, and Sundays at 7 p.m. and midnight on WETS HD2 Americana.
