Live! From Your House!

• Broadcasting from your kitchen table is becoming the norm these days, as dedicated air personalities across America continue to serve the public interest from their homes as the coronavirus pandemic plays out. RAMP had the pleasure of chatting with Scott Mackay (left), who hosts Mackay in the Morning on Alpha Media’s suburban Chicago Classic Hits station, WERV (95.9 The River)/Aurora, IL alongside his co-host, River Content Director Danielle Tufano (center) and traffic guy Jan Shimek (right).

Mackay shared some of the challenges of working remotely, while physically separated from his co-hosts by miles, as they are at home in Aurora, Geneva and Chicago. “The hardest part for me is not hearing the entire feed from the station,” he says. “All I can hear is Danielle and Jan, and I get my cues from Danielle, who is controlling the board virtually from her home. There is no one allowed in our stations, so she handles all the music, commercials and sound bites from her house. I cannot hear those things. Other than that,” Mackay says, “it’s business as (un)usual.”

On a positively rewarding note, Mackay added, “One of the things that really opened up my eyes, was the appreciation from our fans. They have sent us so many heartwarming messages over social media and texts, telling us how happy they are that we are still on the air. They hear us every single day and we sometimes forget that. We are part of their daily routine and part of their family. Without them we really wouldn’t matter in the big scheme of things.”