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Local resident gives healthy advice on internet radio show
By Chris Roark, Croark@acnpapers.com
As Cara Perkins stares out of her window at the Arlington skyline, she has Cowboys Stadium to her left, Six Flags Over Texas to her right and a chance to spread a healthy message worldwide at her fingertips.
Perkins, a Flower Mound resident, is host of the internet radio show “Healthy Now, Healthy Later,” which airs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT Wednesdays on the Fishbowl Radio Network.
Fishbowl Radio Network is owned by Sammi G., a local radio personality who has spent time at various stations such as KISS FM, K-104 and ABC Radio Networks.
When Perkins heard about the opportunity in June, she dove right in. Her show includes a variety of ideas on how to stay healthy, and a prominent theme is getting children in the kitchen.
“Two things I love to do is entertain and cook,” Perkins said. “But I needed a platform to share that.
“I think that people are more likely to be healthy if they cook instead of ordering out,” Perkins said. “And if you get your children into cooking, they will gravitate toward a healthy lifestyle as they get older.”
Perkins and her husband have two children, ages 10 and 16.
“They know how to cook,” Perkins said. “People ask me how I get them so healthy. Well, they sit in our front yard eating an apple or a bell pepper.”
Perkins has been known to have her children call into the show to discuss their healthy lifestyle and food they’ve cooked.
“People don’t believe that you can get a 10-year-old to cook,” Perkins said. “My kids’ friends will come over, and we’ll eat at the house, and it won’t be McDonalds,” Perkins said. “So we try to incorporate that on the air. Six-year-olds will eat salad.”
Perkins’ show has various themes centered around healthy options. Her most recent show, for example, shared the topic of healthy options when tailgating since football season is now underway.
Among the ideas she shared was having a sandwich bar instead of grilling traditional meat choices. Or if game-goers want meat, she suggests having thin pieces. She also urges the use of skewers, calling them a fun way to reduce the amount of meat consumed.
Often times, Perkins’ topics will be the result of a question she poses to the audience the week before and the responses she gets throughout the week on email or on her Facebook page.
Other topics have included how to prepare a quick and healthy breakfast.
She also did a show on staying fit without using the “e” word.
“We stay away from the words “diet” and “exercise” because they have a negative sound to it,” Perkins said. “That’s one reason why I play 70s and 80s music because it makes you want to dance while you’re cleaning house, and you don’t even realize you’re exercising. We look for ways to exercise without calling it exercise, like walking your kids to school instead of driving them.”
While the show is relatively new, Perkins said it has gotten immediate feedback. Fishbowl Radio Network keeps up with the number of hits on various sites, such as the station’s site, each host’s Facebook page and each host’s personal site. She said her sites are constantly gaining new friends.
“A lot of people love it because she provides information that’s not usually out there,” Sammi G. said. “There are a lot of moms who are still trying to keep their kids healthy, and Cara offers ways to do that through recipes, strategies and encouraging kids to get involved. Because obesity is such a problem, people respond well to her real-life solutions.”
People have responded well to Fishbowl Radio Network overall, too. There are about 65 shows on the network, ranging in themes from music to sports talk to religion discussions.
While most of the show hosts are from the Metroplex, technology enables some hosts to have a show from another state.
In terms of its audience, Sammi G. said the show has grabbed a decent following as far away as Mexico, China and Malaysia.
Shows are produced at an Arlington studio in one of four rooms appropriately called the Grey Bowl, the Red Bowl, the Blue Bowl and the Green Bowl (based on the color of the room’s walls).
Sammi G. brought the network to life a year ago after seeing an abundance of talent but a lack of opportunities.
“I have been in the radio business since 1989, and I started to notice that the industry was getting downsized and students just weren’t getting hired,” Sammi G. said. “So this gives veterans and people new to the industry a chance to do what they love.”
Sammi G. said Fishbowl gives those with or without radio experience a unique opportunity since it offers support and critique of their performance.
“We have everything that other radio stations have,” Sammi G. said. “We have programming, promotions, a production crew, an engineering staff and a sales team. Except this is their own entity.”
Rather than working for Fishbowl Radio Network, hosts rent the studio for two hours a week. Then they sell air time to companies for a spot on the show, the show’s website or at public appearances. The staff at the studio help in advertising sales, though some hosts go out and find clients themselves.
Also like traditional radio stations, music is played when a show isn’t on the air. And the “every second counts” mentality is also the same as shows and commercial breaks must run hand-in-hand up to the second.
Perkins said she hopes the popularity of her show will help her brand “Healthy Now, Healthy Later” to help become a cookbook, as well as speaking engagements.
“I want to teach kids how to cook,” Perkins said. “Cooking is a lost art because it’s not done enough.”
For information, go to www.fishbowlradionetwork.com.
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