By Rick Kaempfer
CARA IN THE EVENING
Record & CD
Collectors Show
The Midwest's Largest Record Show
SUNDAY • NOV 20
SUNDAY • JAN 19
8:45AM - 4PM
VINYL
& CD’s
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45'S • 12"SINGLES
Rock • Alternative • Jazz • Soul
Plus, an expanded Metal selection.
BEST WESTERN
CHICAGO - HILLSIDE
4400 FRONTAGE ROAD
HILLSIDE, IL
I-290 Eisenhower Expy -Wolf/Mannheim Exit
Admission
$3.00
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Early Bird Time: 6:30am
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20 illinoisentertainer.com january 2014
I
It's a good thing Cara Carriveau is
adaptable. Last year she was working
the midday shift at WTMX (101.9FM).
After her show one day she was told that
she wasn't going to be doing middays
anymore, and that she wasn't going to be
working at WTMX. She and fellow
Hubbard Media evening jock Lisa Allen
from WILV were switching
jobs.
"I didn't see it coming,"
she admits, "but in many Cara Carriveau
ways it wasn't a difficult
transition at all. Physically,
I was still going to be
working in the same hallway, seeing the same people. I already knew and
liked all of my co-workers.
To me, that's a really
underrated part of a job. It
really does matter. I knew I
would still be having fun
every day – that it wouldn't feel like a job. Even the
studio was easy to figure
out. It faces the WTMX
studio, so everything is
exactly the same, but on
the opposite side. It was
just a matter of reaching the other direction.”
The musical transition from one station to the other also wasn't that difficult.
"I liked the music. Prince & Blondie are
two of my favorites, and I had never gotten a chance to play those on the radio
before. That was one of the biggest perks
for me when I first started here. Although
to be honest, I would play polka disco if
that's what the listeners wanted. "
It's a good thing too, because at the
end of last year, that musical mix on the
radio station started changing ever so
slightly. When she started working there,
the station was known as Rewind 100.3,
and it played music from the '80s and
'90s. Late last year, however, Rewind
100.3 tweaked its music list and became
Chicago's 100.3. Cara says not to make
too much of that change.
"It's not so much that we've changed
what we're playing, "she explains, "We
still play those great songs from the '80s
and '90s. We've just added more current
material. You can't really call yourself
'Rewind' if you're playing new music."
While moving down the hallway and
down the dial (from 101.9 to 100.3) was a
piece of cake for the veteran disc jockey,
the lifestyle change of moving from middays to evenings was a much bigger
adjustment.
"I'm a mom of two, so that was a bit of
a jolt," she admits. "The worst part was
that I didn't get home until 1am, and the
alarm goes off for school in the morning
at 6:30. My little one is only 8, so I still
needed to help him get ready for school."
She also didn't have as much time to
date, even though her web profile on the
WILV site says "She's single and ready to
mingle." "I DIDN'T WRITE THAT!" she
says with a laugh. "These days I'd much
rather spend my weekend nights with
my kids."
But the positive thinkin