The Fifty Shades Of Grey Show

Just when you thought it was safe to listen to the radio.....

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've heard me talk about "Radio Spanko", my nickname for a station here in Minnesota, MyTalk 107.1 FM.  It was here that I first heard mention of the E. L. James book, Fifty Shades Of Grey.  Somebody at the station was really on the ball, passing on word of the book to just about everybody at the station a good two weeks before it blew up into the phenomenon that it curretntly is.  Last week, the book showed up as a Top Trending item in 5 states, such as New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.  Coming in at number 5?  Minnesota.  Maybe the state isn't as Vanilla as I thought.

Anyway, because of the popularity of the books, the radio station two weeks ago began a limited on-air program--The Fifty Shades Of Grey Show.  It's four or five women from the station--on-air personalities, mostly, but there's an intern, someone from the office side of things who actually was the one who introduced others to the book.  For two hours (Fridays, 7 to 9 p.m. CST) they talk all things Grey==tje bppl. tje stproes. tje cjaracters amd jpw tjeu deve;p[/  Not all of them are big fans of the book, so you get a variety of opinions and viewpoints on the subject.  The ladies are all intelligent, witty, funny and sometimes downright goofy, and that makes the show fun listening.  They take phone calls from listeners, as well as keep up with comments on their Twitter and FAcebook page.

It's not all serious conversation, as you might expect.  Because they are on the public airwaves, they do their best to keep it clean and not too graphic.  If they think anyone is cutting it close, or going into areas they may be uncomfortable with, they do have a safeword.  (The first week, the safeword was "Elmo"--which is just wrong in so many ways.)

They have a spot called "50 seconds of Grey", which is an excerpt from the book read out loud but with normal, everyday words substituted for the naughty ones, resulting in quite a few chuckles.  The second week, they played  something they called "The Spanking Game".  Before you let your imagination run wild, let me assure you this was very tame.  It was based on the observation that Christian Grey often gave Anastasia gifts, so people were asked, "Would you take a spanking for a lottery ticket?  An ipad?  An Audi?"  One lady who called into the show played the game and it went like this:

"Okay.  Would you take a spanking for a lottery ticket?"

"No."

"How about for an ipad?"

"Maybe one."  (I believe she meant one swat.)

"For an Audi?"

"You could make me red."

The only problem with the show (if you want to call it a "problem") is that I don't think any of the women are really into spanking, or really understand it.  The lone exception to this may be an intern named Marley who, when the "Spanking Game" was being explained ("Would you take a spanking for a lottery ticket", etc), asked, "Why can't it be just for fun?"  Good question, Marley!  It sounds like she gets it.     As for the rest, the appeal to them is very much what I expect is the appeal to many of the book's readers--it's a peek into a whole new world that they have only heard about, but have never dared explore.

The wonder of the book is that it is causing many women to share the books with their husbands, and some of them are trying out things like spanking.  For many, it's revitalized their sex lives.  One caller to the station said she had shared the books with her husband and was now, "Deliciously exhausted."

Welcome to the world of spanking, Minnesota!  :-)

The show airs on Fridays for two more weeks (it started on May 11 and the last show will be June 1).  You can very likely listen to it live streaming from their website.  It's also available on podcast, and I should think the first two weeks of the show are in the MyTalk 107.1 FM archives,  If you're interested, here's the link to the radio station:

http://www.mytalk1071.com/

Listen to it with someone you'd love to spank!