A model and actress on the side, music-
spinner Amanda Shalhoub is a cousin of
TV star Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”).
spinner Amanda Shalhoub is a cousin of
TV star Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”).
I started at WUWM when I was 19. I saw a brochure in the student lounge that said, ‘Call for internships!’ So I went in and Bruce Winter, my boss now, asked what I knew how to do. Uh, nothing…
It’s odd. I go to an event and people come up and are like, ‘I’m so glad to meet you.’ Which is always weird to me. You don’t realize there are all these listeners out there.
I did have a stalker when I lived in Colorado. A guy found my picture on the Web site of the station where I worked and he’d write these e-mails in Spanish, which I speak, about how he saw me in a dream, how we’re meant to be together. And I wrote him back! I know, I don’t know why.
Our average listener is a baby boomer, middle-aged, mostly men. I used to worry about sounding too young and was cautious about how I phrased things. But not anymore. I feel more intertwined with my audience now.
I do make an effort to make my playlists “younger” than the others. I slip in a lot of stuff. More punk things, stuff with a beat. I don’t know if the music has gotten cooler or if I’ve gotten older, but now my friends think I work at the coolest radio station in town.
I’ve been modeling since I was a kid. I’ve got a whole portfolio of things I’ve done. Recently, I was a on a billboard in Appleton.
I was in the film Guardians and it was really fun. It was a creature feature, and I was the screamer. Acting hasn’t always been my passion, but it’s evolving into it. It’s my outlet.
Tony Shalhoub is my second cousin. I do think the whole OCD thing runs in my family, and I think that’s where Tony gets some of his material. I have an uncle who is very paranoid about food and cleanliness. You just can’t make stuff like that up.
Sometimes I wish my job wasn’t so cool, so I could just flutter off and do whatever. But I think I’m a lifer. As long as things stay the way they are, I’ll stay here forever.
– as told to Katie Pelech
