Celebrating Two Years!
On April 1, 2020, I was sitting at home having lost my job two weeks prior when I had this idea. I was watching too much news and in between the news I noticed people doing interviews with celebrities and friends on Instagram Live. I knew As the World Turns had an anniversary the next day and thought about calling some friends to see if they wanted to have a chat with me on IG Live to cheer some of our Oakdale fans up. I dialed Michael Park and the rest as they say is history. He suggested I use a streaming platform so that I could include more than one person during the interview. I started to make some other calls to Martha Byrne, Don Hasting, Kelley Menighan and Maura West — they all said YES! It took 24 hours to get all the ducks in a row.
At 3 p.m. on April 3, 2020 we went live with the very first Locher Room episode featuring As the World Turns. I had never hosted a live show on YouTube before nor used a streaming platform like StreamYard before. I was learning as I go. I started to plan additional shows with my Guiding Light friends and more ATWT friends. All of us (actors, friends, fans) were locked down at home with a pandemic all around us and all we wanted was to connect with those we love. I anticipated the fans would really love to see their favorite actors from the two shows I worked on — two shows that had been off the air 9 /10 years at that point. What I didn’t expect was how much all of the cast would enjoy this and our colleagues we worked with who were tuning in to see familiar faces.
As I continued to plan shows with ATWT & GL cast members, you the fans started asking me to do shows with actors I never worked with or never met. I started listening and started reaching out for others to join me for an hour of conversation in The Locher Room. As you know, the actors, producers and writers started saying yes and we were off to the races. We have had conversations with cast members from every network and almost every decade soaps have been on the television airwaves.
As the audience started to grow, I started asking for celebrities outside of the daytime community like my dream guest, Jaclyn Smith. As I said during that introduction, if my parents were alive to see this very moment. As a kid who grew up watching Charlie’s Angels I could not believe I was sitting down to interview my very favorite angel. As you all continued to tune-in, I wanted to branch out and bring you interesting as well as socially relevant conversations.
On December 2, 2020, I launched Conversations with Alan to honor my parents who were born in Amsterdam and both Holocuast survivors. I wanted to have open and honest discussions about the rise of hate, the rise of racism and the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States with high hopes that it leads to conversations that make us all think about our own place in history and what we can do together to change our country’s course. I ask if you’re reading this and have never watched one of these shows that you take the time and pick one.
I can’t believe it, but this Friday, April 1, 2022, I will air my 268th show. There are so many people I need to thank. To every actor, producer, writer, publicist, manager and agent who have helped me get to this place I thank you. To Jill Lorie Hurst, your friendship, your phone calls, your ideas — I don’t know where I would be without it all. To my husband, family and friends you have supported this journey from day one I treasure each one of you. And to each of you who have watched, downloaded, suggested guests, sent me beautiful messages — I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Together we have raised almost 100K for a variety of charities. Stay tuned for more!
