Phil Collins, Elton John, and Gloria Estefan dominated Adult Contemporary radio back in the 1980s and '90s, yet have disappeared from modern radio. Seemingly, the only time you ever hear them is at the grocery store or your local CVS. This blog remembers the music, the stories and the quirky characters from my days working in Adult Contemporary radio.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Mulberry Lane "Harmless"
Perhaps my boss felt like I was Milton from Office Space. At the time, I was a new hire as Evening Producer at a Chicago radio station and I had no where to sit. Since my position was brand new, there was no existing office or desk which led to the powers-that-be to create a makeshift office within a room that housed computer servers. The once always-locked room-turned-office needed some major TLC--not to mention a paint job. One morning, my boss burst in carrying a handful of posters in hopes that I would hang them over the areas that cried for new paint. One particular poster featured four attractive blonde sisters that comprised the group Mulberry Lane. I had never heard of the band, but hung up the poster anyway.
This particular poster became a conversation piece among visitors of the station as well as fellow colleagues. Since I didn't know anything about the group, I used to tell people the poster was a personality test to identify what type of girl a guy was most attracted to -- similar to those early BuzzFeed articles ("What your favorite female Friends character says about you!"). To me, Mulberry Lane resembled a more tame version of the Spice Girls with each member possessing personality types such as flirty, girl-next-door, sweet, and wild.
Two years later, I changed positions within the radio station and I don't know what I did with the poster (let's assume I threw it away), but the inside joke continued. To this date, my former boss still forwards me all the emails she still receives from Mulberry Lane wishing their fans a Merry Christmas.
