Delilah: The Song She Loves
With 10 kids (three biological) and a grandkid on the way, Delilah would dedicate Edwin McCain's song "I Could Not Ask for More" to herself. courtesy of the artist hide caption
With 10 kids (three biological) and a grandkid on the way, Delilah would dedicate Edwin McCain's song "I Could Not Ask for More" to herself.
courtesy of the artistIf you've been driving down the interstate late at night, you may know the voice of Delilah. You're the only car on the road, flipping your FM radio dial, wishing you had someone special to talk to. And there she is, sending out "love songs and loving stories to help you connect heart to heart with the special people who've been blessed to be a part of your life."
Delilah Rene Luke has more than 8 million listeners and a multimillion-dollar radio deal. It's no exaggeration to call her the Oprah of radio. She's been on the air for 35 years and doing Delilah After Dark for 25. And she's the same person on either side of the microphone. Every night, thousands of people call in to tell her their story. Delilah, a true Queen of Hearts, listens, then plays a song to fit that person's situation — it's an old-fashioned shout-out.
From her home studio, Delilah does her show live Monday through Friday, with pre-produced programs on the weekend. More than 100,000 attempted calls are made every night, only 100 of which are taken; that number is then whittled down to the 25 that Delilah personally answers on-air.
It's difficult to give people one-on-one advice, especially night after night, but Delilah says it's just part of her personality.
"It's what I do best — pry into people's business and mind their business," Delilah says, laughing. "I can't help myself. I can't even go through the grocery line of the grocery store without talking to people and then giving them my opinion."
Delilah's Song
With 10 kids (three biological) and an eighth grandkid on the way, Delilah says she'd dedicate Edwin McCain's song "I Could Not Ask for More" to herself.
"I never in a million bazillion trillion years imagined that my life would have this many layers of love and richness," she says.
In an interview, Weekend Edition Saturday guest host Jacki Lyden asks how long Delilah will do her show. "Until I don't have breath in my body," Delilah quickly replies.
"Music is the language of the angels," she adds. "You can hear just one or two chords, one or two notes of a song, and bam — you're right back there, you're right back in that moment, you're back in that day, you're back at that prom, you're back in the car. Songs say what our emotions can't. I love that about music."