“The Blood is Wrong”: Live on Air

Is this a first in Radio?Image Credit: Thomas Wanhoff | Flickr

I love it when public personalities come out and talk about their diabetes. Not just when celebs with diabetes make a friendly gesture to others who share their condition (not that there’s anything wrong with that. Bret Michaels, you’re doing a great thing by helping a young fan who, unlike myself, never got to enjoy Look What the Cat Dragged In on cassette).

I’m talking a not-quite-as-well-known media personality. A talk-show host on WKXW-FM, better known as New Jersey 101.5. For those of you (probably all of you), who don’t know about NJ 101.5, it’s a New Jersey-based radio station that features primarily a talk/call-in format. Hosts are given lots of latitude with what they can discuss, and the cheesiness of the operation is what gives it its charm. Being New Jersey-centric (not New York; not Philadelphia), it gives the hosts a rare chance to bond and relate to the audience. At times, they really open up into their personal lives.

On January 3rd, during the first show of the year, Jeff Deminski, co-host of the Deminski and Doyle show, comes on the air saying he’s “feeling kinda funky … a little odd … a little off.” He goes on to tell the listeners that he has Type 1 diabetes, and that he knows his blood sugar is either low or high – but can’t really tell, then goes on to inform listeners what each extreme feels like, what normal ranges are, and so on.