Debbie Reynolds at WCLV

Photo: Shutterstock/Vicki L. Miller


Debbie Reynolds died Wednesday, December 28, at the age of 84. Some years ago, she visited WCLV.  The plan was for me to interview her live, and afterward she would go to an adjacent studio to record two interviews with other local radio hosts to be broadcast on other radio stations in Cleveland.

That morning, on WCLV, Miss Reynolds talked about her time at a Warner Bros. radio station, where the bosses felt she could cultivate her speaking voice.  She also talked about the famous couch scene in "Singin' in the Rain," which she said was filmed in one take.

She graciously helped introduce the Movie Quiz. She said, "I was in this movie, which is about American history." The movie was "How the West Was Won."  When I finished taking the call from the winning listener, I said, "Would you like to talk to Debbie Reynolds?" and handed the phone across the console. Miss Reynolds spoke with the WCLV listener for a minute or so and handed the handset back to me.

As it happened, the other announcers were late, and although after the interview I offered Miss Reynolds a chance to sit in our vestibule and wait for them, she said no, she'd rather sit in the control room, which she did for a half hour.

Having learned radio in the days when engineers cued up records and gave the announcers their cue to talk, she said she was fascinated watching me operate the audio console buttons, start the CDs, fade and out of music, play spots via the computer, and handle all the spoken business required of present-day radio announcers.

"I couldn't do what you do," she said.

The other announcers never showed up, and Debbie Reynolds had a half hour of quiet time in the WCLV control room.