V-103/Dave FM office party with… karaoke!
Office parties can be a drag but in the case of Dave FM and V-103, two very different radio stations, the combo made for an “Ebony and Ivory” sort of situation.
CBS Radio, which owns both stations, held the party yesterday at Hudson Grille and it featured karaoke.
"Best office party we've had in years," said V-103 morning co-host Wanda Smith, who is getting married to her second husband on Christmas Day in Miami and will be going to Honduras and Mexico for her honeymoon. She won't be back on air until January 11.
Smith wasn't sure why the party went so well but believed her boss Rick Caffey's opening speech helped. He noted how tough the economic times are but that actually means it's a good time to celebrate what you have.
Smith crooned Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive," then joined Caffey in a duet of the holiday classic, "The Christmas Song."
Dave FM's Yvonne Monet also busted a move with "Hot in Herre." "She was like a real white rapper," Smith said. "She had a hoodie and was being really silly. Everyone was cheering her on. Anyone who did karaoke, we cheered them, good or bad. It was just a big happy celebration for everybody."
To Smith, who has been at V-103 for 12 years-plus, “it felt like family. Sometimes, we go back and forth between departments and argue. But yesterday was all about love and hugging and embracing and dancing, black folks with white folks.”
She also went on air with Baron on Dave FM and Baron joined her and Frank Ski on V-103 once he got off the air at Dave FM 9 a.m.
When asked about any cultural differences he observed, he said he noticed the black folks at the party grabbed to-go boxes from the all-you-can-eat buffet. He compared it to little old white ladies stealing sugar packets from restaurants.
Ski didn’t deny it. “That was kind of hood,” he mused. “We call that ghetto fabulous!”
Baron rationalized that the food would have gone to waste so the black folks were being thrifty. The little old white ladies, in comparison, are just stealing.
Ski then suggested he and Baron do a bar crawl, something he only learned about last year.
He said black folks can’t do crawls at black clubs because they always make you wait an hour to get in. “You can’t hop black clubs,” he said.
Baron later said he was nervous going on V-103, worried he might say something offensive. Fortunately, Ski backed him up on the “take out” observation. But he did sound awkward repeating Ski’s line, “That was hood.” It didn’t sound quite right coming out of Baron’s mouth.
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
