Dr. Joy Brown tribute

Jeremy Levy back with you. Today, I’m going to be writing about a radio host I started listening to when I was 10 or 11 years old, Dr. Joy Brown. Dr. Joy Brown was born on October 24, 1944, and lived in Colorado for a time. She also lived in St. Louis and New York. She died in August of 2016. Dr. Joy Brown hosted the Dr. Joy Brown show first on the WOR radio network, and she then hosted a nationally syndicated show after that. I first heard her on 710 WOR radio when I visited my grandpa and Grandma Steinmuller in New York. I was a listener to Dr. Laura at the time when I would be at home from school in Colorado Springs at CSDB. When I visited New York, I realized that there was an alternative to Dr. Laura. Sometimes I thought that Dr. Laura would be rude to callers. Dr. Joy Brown wasn’t that way. She would listen to their concerns and try to help them with their problems.  The calls I really enjoyed of hers were the calls about parents calling in about their children. Parents would call in asking about problems they were having with their kids. I really thought that Joy Brown had some good tips for parents having trouble with controlling their kids. Also, she had one piece of advice which people can use when you are in a situation that is difficult with another person. Instead of bringing it up to them, which you know will cause an argument or friction between the two of you, be stupid and cheerful. This way the situation between the two of you might not happen. People can use this around difficult people. Some people didn’t understand that the best way for her to help them was to call at the beginning of the hour or when the hour started. Many people would wait to call near the end of the hour, and she would not have time to help them. Many times, she would try and make this clear to the listeners at the beginning of the hour.  Dr. Joy Brown was nationally syndicated by a couple of different radio networks. One of my favorite memories is listening to her in Kauai Hawaii on 570 KQNG radio. She would be on from 11 AM-. 1 PM in the afternoon. One of the days I was there during Christmas, and at the beginning of that our she played Alvin and the Chip Monks version of the 12 days of Christmas. At the end of the song, she was glad it was over. She didn’t really like that version.  Back in 2014 or 2015, I found her at night on 760 radio in Colorado from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Her show did evolve over time to include the producer reading comments from listeners about a topic that Dr. Joy Brown would pose at the beginning of the hour. The listener would respond to the question on Facebook. She had some great producers during this time period. One of them was named Greg, and I really liked that he would talk back and forth with her during the show. Her show was also broadcast in Canada.   I found a you tube video of when she had an appearance in Canada, and that was good. She really enjoyed visiting Canada. She had a great affiliate there. The radio station that she was on was a more news radio station. I think the only talk show was hers on this station. One call I identified with was a caller from New York who was blind. This caller was a teenager. He wanted to have some purpose in his life. Dr. Joy had the wonderful suggestion of volunteering. I took that suggestion back in 2016 or 2017, and started volunteering at Life Care of Stonegate playing the piano for the patients during their dinners. I really enjoyed this, and it seemed the patients did as well. One year I won regional volunteer of the year. During the 2010’s shows, one day during the week she would devote a segment of her show to movies. She had a link on her website for movie reviews. She wasn’t as good as Reggie McDaniel was, but her movie reviews were really great.    Many people will miss her including me. She had a great radio career. Thanks for tuning in.