Radio producer gives up show for something better

"[The show] has really crossed nitches," said Abrams. "Everyone has a love for animals. Many people have animals. If it has anything to do with pets we have them on the show. We have everything from bellboys at pet hotels that tell us what animals have been on there to celebrities."

By Terri Rimmer

HappyNews Citizen Journalist

Hal Abrams doesn't miss the old days of blue humor morning radio when he got up at 2 a.m. to prepare for the day.

In 1999, he jumped ship and decided to create his own show. As a result, Animal Radio was born.

"I gave up a successful major marketing morning show," said Abrams, producer and CEO of the animal show. "You get to your mid 30s and you start re-evaluating what you're going to do with your life. Now with what I do there's many animals being affected. I've combined what I did through the morning show into an informative animal program of celebrities. I'm doing great every day. Now things are taking off."

Animal Radio took over the affiliates for Animal Planet Radio.

"We've somehow managed to become the number one show and have a lot of listeners and a big following, and it's exciting to watch it every day; it really is. I never expected it to form legs of its own," said Abrams. "Now people wanted to have animal talk in that there were a lot of markets that didn't have it. I was very lucky. With my morning show connections, I was able to get the show on two top stations in L.A. Now instead of producing two hours of programming we're doing 24 hours."

Some music stations play the program on the weekends, said Abrams, whose show is on 118 stations.

Ed Asner is a frequent celebrity on the show as is Betty White. All time on the show is donated.

"It moves toward a profitable event," said Abrams. "The most important thing is people will come to you and say, for example, 'I didn't have my cat declawed because of what I heard on your show.' These things are all very gratifying and the money becomes not an issue when you think about the big picture.

"I'm in the midst of achieving some of those goals that we had set out for," said Abrams. "We want to be a very household name. I'd like it to be self-sufficient. I think we're heading in the direction of where we want to be. Pod casting is becoming a very big thing now and we're really trying to hook into trying to be able to download the show into IPOD players."

Abrams said the show is also looking into creating a satellite radio channel and has been contacted by a satellite network already.

"When a big satellite network calls you and wants more info, you get real excited," he said. "I'm sure the listenership of satellite radio will go up. We have more listeners than we could ever have on satellite radio alone."

Those interested in submitting stories or advertising on Animal Radio, may call toll-free 1-866-405-8405.

This story was produced by a Happynews Citizen Journalist.

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