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Co-Founders and Co-Hosts, ChickChat Radio
www.chickchatradio.com

Lara Dyan and Heidi Hanzel quit their day jobs to pursue their big dream – doing for radio programming what Oprah has done for daytime TV.

Dyan is single and lives in a studio apartment in New York City. Hanzel is married and lives in the country outside of Washington, D.C. Together the duo hosts “ChickChat“,a daily radio talk show about dating, getting married, having kids, losing weight – any topic that makes it, as their slogan says, ‘girls’ night out, every day.”

They point out that TV offers many shows that are popular with women, movies have the whole chick flick genre and there are plenty of women’s magazines, but little on the talk radio dial that sounds like women do when they get together after work or at a cocktail party.

Few Radio Shows for Women

Heidi: “My husband works in radio and would come back from radio conventions where consultants would talk about the fact that there are not many women in talk radio. We kept saying that we should do something about it. Lara and I were working at a telecom company together at the time, and I often daydreamed about downwardly mobile jobs and what kind of work would make waking up every day a joy. One day, after I was at my next job, I decided to drag her into the studio and get something down on tape.

“My husband was meeting with a radio consultant and while bringing him to the airport, he played the tape we made. The man said, ‘This is amazing stuff.’ So we got an investor and launched into syndication in the fall of 2002.”

Giving Up a Good Paycheck for a Dream

Lara: “We were able to demonstrate to the investor that there is a big gaping hole in the radio industry – that there is a market opportunity for women in talk radio. When we got the green light to do this full time, I was making more money than I had ever made before in a regular office job, and I quit because I believed in ChickChat Radio. Because this has more potential and it’s more fun than other work I’ve done. It’s a better job.”

Happy Hour and Layoff Lead to Launch

Lara: “When we started ChickChat full time, I was in the middle of an MBA program in New York and had had several marketing jobs in telecom and had regularly put on pantyhose and suits and business casual clothes every day, taking the subway to the office and working in a male-dominated field. I loved marketing, but didn’t feel like it had much of a greater purpose.”

“I had stacks of telecom industry magazines at home next to my copies of Real Simple. Guess which ones never got read? One day Heidi and I went for a drink at a bar. We were sitting on a lounge-y couch and the hostess kept leaning further and further over her post to listen to our conversation – she almost fell into our lap. I remembered that moment and thought people might like to hear what Heidi and I have to say.”

Heidi: “I was director of marketing of a non-profit in Virginia by that time. The day I was laid off was the day the consultant listened to the demo. So it was a little bit of right place, right time.”

Favorite Girl-Talk Topics

Heidi: “We’ve interviewed great women and other guests – we just had on Kate White, who is editor-in-chief of Cosmo magazine, and we also talked to the guy who wrote He’s Just Not That Into You.”

Lara: “We talk about Desperate Housewives every week, The Apprentice… I’m single and I live in New York, so I love telling dating adventure stories.”

Heidi: “I like to give out tips on winning the war on frumpiness. I’m scared to death about turning into a frumpy woman. I’m talking about getting a tattoo, wearing a do-rag, and walking the walk. Having a walk. Every woman needs to have a walk.”

Lara: “I just hit my freak-out weight, so there is a lot of gym activity and a lot of freaking out and trying to figure out how to not be at my freak-out weight.”

What These Women Want (Besides More Style Sense and Weight Loss)

Heidi: “Securing three top 10 national markets would be nice – I’d take New York, LA and Chicago any day. We have these markets through SIRIUS (satellite radio) and online. It would be nice to have them through radio stations. And a major corporate sponsor and lots of women having fun with us every day.”

Making Money Sacrifices

Lara: “We’re only covered in a very small way money-wise, so we’re clipping coupons. I now buy one pair of new shoes every two years and eat at home more than I eat out – both of which were big changes to be able to do ChickChat. We have seriously downsized in order to do this full time.”

Heidi: “Instead of buying a new shampoo, I look in the back of my bathroom cabinet. If there’s some old Prell back there, I think, ‘Hey, I can use Prell!’”

Greatest Success

Heidi: “Three years on the air. For people who are not in radio, they might not understand how many shows have come and gone in that time, and how many women’s shows have come and gone.”

Greatest Challenge

Lara: “Getting a male program director who’s been successful using the same formula for years to consider something new and fresh and different. There isn’t much like us out there. We’re trying to appeal to a director who has conservative political talk on all day. It’s hard for us to find a home on the radio dial in that sense.”

Source of Inspiration

Heidi: “Ooh ooh, I have one. The most inspirational thing that happened to ChickChat was an e-mail that we got in our first week of syndication where a guy said he had milk in his fridge that was going to last longer than our show. I have a mental gallon of milk in my mind that I’m going to serve on back in 20 years.”

Words of Advice

Heidi: “Read Gail Evans’ book, ‘She Wins, You Win: The Most Important Strategies for Making Women More Powerful.’ It will change the way you do business.”

Lara: “It is never too late to change your career path and start your own business. We were in our mid-thirties when we started ChickChat, which is young to some and old to others. Also important: Work with people you trust.”

How to Listen In

Lara: “We’re on approximately 15 radio stations nationwide, on the Lifestyle TalkRadio Network and SIRIUS Satellite Radio.”

Heidi: “Off our Web site, listeners can podcast or download their favorite shows, or listen live from two to four o’clock (Eastern Time) in the afternoons.”

How Do They Spend Their Personal Time?

Heidi: “Huh?”

Lara: “The lines between personal and professional time are gone. Everything I do – from watching TV, going to a movie, walking down the street, talking to a friend on the phone – in the back of my mind I’m always thinking, ‘Is this something that applies to ChickChat?’ I love that I read Cosmo and go to the movies for work!”

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