All That for an Internship? (c) 2001 It was the second to last Tuesday in July. I was working temporarily as a guest co-host for a morning radio show. The regular host, George, had taken some vacation time so the intern, Andy, took over for him. Intern Andy then became King Andy. Well, King Andy needed someone to pick on, so I volunteered. Yes, I know, I'm a glutton for punishment. So it was five in the morning and I was heading to the station, coffee in hand. On my way out of my apartment complex, I stopped and got the mail that I had neglected to get over the pat four days. I threw the envelopes and catalogues on my front seat and drove off to the radio station, deciding I would sort through the mail during breaks on the air. I met Andy, a twenty-three year old with brown hair that he had just frosted a few weeks prior, at the door to the building, which also housed a dentist office. We walked upstairs together, me toting a coffee mug full of coffee, an armful of mail and a couple of CDs from my personal collection and he carrying the keys. We both still looked like we were ready to go back to bed and not to work. I waved at Scott, the general manager and hurried over to him. "So what new music did you bring for us today?" he asked me. "Well, being it's Tuesday, I brought the Backstreet Boys. We're gonna debut 'Shape of my Heart' today. I also brought in Brian McKnight. I figured I'd tie Andy up and play 'Back at One'." Scott nodded. "You're exactly what we needed. I've had so many calls since you were on yesterday. The listeners love the new music. What was it yesterday? 'NSYNC and Dido?" I grinned back at him, saying, "Yeah. I just went over to The Point. Dori found 'Thank You' for me." "So what else is on the agenda?" "Well, definitely O-Town." "They're that TV band, right?" "Exactly. Um, I was also thinking of raiding KALF for Diamond Rio's new one." "'One More Day'?" Scott asked skeptically. "Well, yeah," I answered. "I mean, you guys play Lee Ann Wolmak, Leann Rimes, Faith Hill, Lonestar, and I think I even heard Martina McBride once." "Okay." "Oh," I flung the Scott the O-Town CD in my arms. "You might wanna listen to them. It's number seven. 'All or Nothing'." Andy then poked his head out of a room and yelled at me. "Yo, Becca, you coming?" I looked up at the older man and said, "Sorry Scott. King Andy awaits." I then ran off to the booth just as Andy was going on the air. "And her she is with her official Star 967 coffee mug, Backstreet Becca," Andy said into the microphone. "Good morning King Andy," I said, sitting down in the other chair. "So what is it this morning? Coffee, tea, Kaluha?" I smiled. "It's mocha." "I noticed you had your hands full of stuff this morning," the young man said. "It's my mail," I said into the mic with very little emotion. "Oh, and thanks for helping." "Hey, I got the door." "Yeah, well, you could've taken the CDs or my coffee..." my voice trailed off for a moment. "Oh wait," I continued, "then I would have had to kill you." "So violent this morning." "Just play some music, Andy." I took a sip of coffee. Andy grinned and set things up to play a couple of songs and then a set of commercials. I sat back and started sorting my mail into three piles: stuff for my roommate, junk mail and stuff for me. The pile for me consisted mainly of bills. I really didn't care. Around 6:40 that morning, Queen Dori came in and I had finally reached the bottom of my stack of mail. I was down to the letters from my friends, which I always saved for last. Just as the three of us went o the air, I opened an envelope post- marked from Florida. As I read the letter, tears formed in my eyes. Of course at that moment, Andy decided to talk to me. "Backstreet Becca, why are you crying?" "I'm not crying," I squeaked out. "Yeah right," Dori said. "So you know," Andy said, "Backstreet Becca has been sitting her with us reading her mail." "I think she just opened her PG&E bill," Dori commented. "Nope," I said. "The Backstreet Boys are breaking up?" Andy asked. "No. Quite the opposite," I sniffed. "I just got a letter from AJ McLean." "What?!" both Queen Dori and King Andy exclaimed. "That was my reaction," I told them. "You're kidding," Andy said as Dori pulled the letter out of my hand. I watched as Dori read over the handwritten words. "Does it look like I'm kidding?" I said to him. Dori stared at me. "It sure does look real," she said. "And the envelope is post-marked from Florida." "You haven't been to Florida any time recently?" Andy inquired. "I've been here. Working for King Andy and Queen Dori." They all laughed. ~*SIX MONTHS LATER*~ I stood on the set of the Today Show watching. There were all five Backstreet Boys sitting across from Matt Laurer. It was January and the Boys had finished their world tour. I stood behind them so they couldn't see me. Matt asked AJ about his rehab, and how the fans reacted. "The fans were absolutely wonderful," AJ said. "They sent letters, cards, pictures, stories, everything." "They even sent stuff to us," Howie commented. "The fans are great." "There was one fan," AJ said. Inwardly, I groaned. Here it was. He was going to talk about me. "She was a blessing. Wrote to me at least once a week." "Did you ever write her back?" Matt asked, noticing me standing behind the men. "Yeah, whenever I got the chance. We exchanged stories, talked about different things. She was actually the one to break the news in her area. That tore her up. I was constantly reassuring her that everything was fine." "Have you ever met her? Talked to her on the phone?" "No. I'm afraid to call her. I used to call fans but they'd either scream and hang up or spend the entire time doubting me." I smiled at Matt and walked up behind AJ covering his eyes with my hands. "Guess who?" I asked in his ear. He grabbed my wrists and pulled my hands away from his eyes. Turning around in his chair he stared at me for a moment. He continued to stare at me while I pretended to faint across all their laps. While I was lying there, my right arm on my forehead, my left arm flung lazily above me onto Howie's lap, the guys laughed. Matt then piped up. "This is Becca. The one you've been corresponding with," he informed AJ. I sat up in Alex's lap and flung my arms around the very shocked and very confused Backstreet Boy. "I'm so very proud of you Alex," I said in his ear. He wrapped his arms around me for a moment and then pushed me away from him, staring. "So Becca, turn on around her and let's talk," Matt said. I half climbed off of Alex and squeezed my way in between him and Nick. I lounged back and placed my arm around Nick's shoulder being wary of his arm. "Yes, let's do." "So AJ here tells me that you were the one who got to break the news in your area." "Unfortunately," I replied. "Why?" I grinned. "Well, I started bothering a local radio morning DJ, George Matthews of the Star Morning Show. He knows me as Backstreet Becca. But anyway, he called the Tuesday after the story broke on MTV and was asking me about Nick's hand, but I told him about AJ." "And unlike most of us who told the story," Matt said, "you didn't have a script or any time to prepare." "No," I said. "I was awake all of two minutes before I was put on the air live. Granted I had read the press release on the website so I knew what was going on, but I had really no time to prepare." When I said this, AJ perked up and turned to look at me. He stared for a while before saying, "So it really is you." "You were expecting maybe the Easter Bunny?" I teased. "Well thank you all for getting up so early," Matt said. "You have no idea," I replied dryly. "I've already had three cups of coffee." Brian turned his head and stared at me. I just grinned. When we finished the interview with Matt, I corned the guys and asked if they would do me a favor. Upon hearing their resounding "Sure" I launched into my plan. About an hour and a half later I called up George and told him he'd better get someone to tape the "Today Show." He asked why and I told him. I then asked if he wanted to Backstreet Boys to call in. He was so excited I think he forgot to say yes. Well, I then spent the next half- hour waking up people in Chico, telling them that I would be on the radio with a surprise guest. At 10:36 New York time, 7:36 Pacific time, myself and the five Backstreet Boys were gathered around a phone with a speaker on it so everyone could hear George. I dialed up the familiar number and waited. "You do know he's probably gonna want a plug," I told them. "I mean, you guys are the biggest name he's ever gotten to call." "How does this sound?" Kevin asked, sliding a piece of paper my way. I glanced over it quickly and nodded just as George answered the phone. "Good morning, Star 967." "Morning George, it's Becca." "Aw morning Becca, what's up?" "Going on my fifth cup of coffee." "Five?" "Well, I've been up since two your time. Hang on a sec, I'm gonna put you on speakerphone so the guys can hear." I pushed buttons and managed to get everything to work correctly. "Can you hear me, George?" "Loud and clear. Hang on the line while I set you up." While we waited, I corrected the piece of paper Kevin had handed me, making sure the radio station was announced correctly. "I like it," I told them. Just then we all heard George say, "On the line with me now is Backstreet Becca. Morning Becca." "Morning George," I said into the speaker. "Now you're not actually here in town are you?" "Nope, I'm in New York." "New York? What are you doing there?" I smiled. "Oh, hanging with some friends of mine. Wanna meet them?" "Sure." The Boys gathered around the phone and all said, "Good morning." George, for his part, acted shocked. "Becca, that sounds like..." "The Backstreet Boys?" I finished. "Yeah." "That's because it is!" "Becca how did you manage this?" I grinned again. "Is Andy there?" "Yeah." "Ask Andy." George laughed. "Morning Becca," the intern said. I couldn't believe he was still interning at the station. He technically had finished his degree in December. "Morning King Andy," I replied. "So are all five Backstreet Boys present and accounted for?" George inquired. "Yep. Kevin, Howie, Nick, Brian and AJ," I told the DJ. "Sorry Andy," I added. "Your job as replacement Backstreet Boy is over." "Darn," I heard him say. I then backed off and let George have his crack at asking the Fab Five his questions. At the end of the conversation, they recorded their little promo plug of "Hi, we're the Backstreet Boys. And when we're in Chico we wake up with Backstreet Becca and George Matthews on the Star Morning Show only on Star 967." I picked up the phone after that and George thanked me profusely, telling me that Scott and Dale wanted to see me when I got back. Needless to say, when I got back home, I went in and saw Scott and Dale. They offered me Andy's internship, which I gladly accepted. I did all that for an internship.