PHIL & BAILEY
Born and raised in Hot Springs, Bailey says working with Phil O'Brien on the Star 96.7 morning show is a "dream come true." She follows that up with,"of course I only had the dream once." She has a quick wit and is the perfect on-air companion for the long time Hot Springs favorite morning man.
"I use only one name," says Bailey, "I'm like Madonna and Prince...only slighty less famous." Before radio, Bailey spent many years in cosmetics and skin care, followed by some time in Marketing, then a short stint in advertising sales. Those vast and varied experiences have perfectly groomed her to be the Star 96.7 Morning Show Know-it-all. (self proclaimed)
Bailey loves camping, kickball, Facebook, Italian cream cake and Wheel of Fortune. Her favorite daily activity is taking a nap. She's the mother of 3, wife of 1, and friend to all.
A Hitchhiking Guide in a Ford Galaxy
I slept a lot during honors english class at Little Rock Central High school. It was the last class of my day. You see, I had a night job right after school at the old Arkansas Gazette, writing sports for Orville Henry. That teacher would actually slap my hand with a ruler to wake me up. Flunked honors english. Had to make it up in summer school so I could go to Fayetteville, UofA. Looked life in the eyes at 21 and saw printers ink, sports arenas and locker rooms dead straight ahead.
But, during a summer semester at UALR, I began bartending for T.G.I. Friday's in Little Rock, the old singles bar (now a law office, I believe) on 3rd street down by the capitol building. That's when the smell of the road entered my nostrils. That's when I put my thumb out ... took my youth on the highway. Friday's Corp. hired me for their travelling team, sending me all over the United States to open new stores, from Tampa to Portland, Oregon; from Phoenix to New York; from Indianapolis to Nashville (Tenn.) to Dallas to Sacramento ... too many to remember, living in hotels and on borrowed couches. What seemed to be my last stop with Friday's was in Los Angeles.
However, in the City of Angst-els, breathing the smog and commuting with the other Angelino ants, my spirit shifted ... and my thumb pointed to the mountains. While on a backpacking trip into the Sierra Nevada, I was offered a job as a packer for the Diamond D Ranch, the only privately-owned ranch in America completely surrounded by thousands of miles of national forest. For two years, I packed hunters and fishermen into the wild, high elevations of the Sierra, trekking my horse, my two mules and Wally, my bloodhound, through nature rarely seen. Sequoias. Snow-melt, swollen rivers. Boulders bounding down the high mountains after an afternoon of earthquakes. Night skies so severely pristeen that a meteor flashing into the atmosphere would leave a tail from horizon to horizon. Then, the owner of the ranch, Karl, my boss, died. The ranch went into other hands. And I left. Went home to Little Rock, saddle, chaps, gear and all. Some of the most beautiful people I've ever met were horses in the Sierra Nevada.
It wasn't but a matter of days afterward that Friday's learned I was down from the mountains. They called. They were opening a new restaurant in Honolulu. I was on the plane the next day. Over time, I fell in love with the islands. Friday's tried to ship me off somewhere else, but, brah, the islands had me by the swim trunks. I quit the corporate life and drifted island to island, eventually landing in Hanalei on the north shore of Kauai for almost 10 years, where I drove my $750 Ford Galaxy convertible, my board leaning across the back seat, to isolated beaches "reserved" only for locals. I learned how to sleep off the good times aboard unattended yachts anchored in Hanalei Bay (where several movies have been filmed for its beauty), and shower on public beaches.
It was about then that youth and stupid began to separate ways a bit. I took on a parttime job with KQNG Fm ("The Mighty KONG") in Lihue, Kauai as a weekend jock. It was the island's only rock station. And my career choices then changed dramatically. I quit what I was doing, (fine-dining restaurant consulting, which is a fancy title for washing pots and pans when the dishwasher didn't show up), and became ... taaaa - daaaaaa ... A RADIO SHOW HOST !!! I was asked to host an all-Hawaiian music show on Sunday mornings for KONG. My distinct Southern accent, attempting rather poor phonetic renderings of Hawaiian song titles, somehow became popular. And I became known as the "Hillbilly Haole". (Haole is a local term for "white person".) I still miss the softball tournaments and hula events sponsored by that show. (Guys, if you've ever seen Tahitian-style hula, you'll know why I remained single for many a year!) Some of the most beautiful people I've ever met lived simple lives in the lushness of Kauai.
My brother, Craig O'Neill, was hosting mornings for B98.5 in Little Rock when I decided to move back to Little Rock in 1990 after too many years and too many miles absent from family and friends. I jocked parttime for B98 for a year or so. Worked in promotions, too. But I always dreamed of landing a morning show gig like my brother, who had become a legend in his field. So, when Foxy99 in Little Rock ran THE ad, I submitted the ol' hitchhiker resume and was surprised to be hired to do mornings. At the time, half the music was jazz, half classic R&B. I loved every minute of it. I even got to host an NAACP event. The governor and I were the only white guys invited. Some of the most beautiful people I've ever met were in that room, sharing their veal.
It was, oh, I'd say, about 5:15 on a foggy October morning in 1992 that I got a phone call from Eddie Tarpley, the GM of KLAZ in Hot Springs. His station was looking for a morning jock and he had heard of my show through a mutual friend. He offered 100,000 watts and a couple of t-shirts, so I left Foxy99 for Hot Springs. I stayed at that station for 15 years. Did over 200 remotes, somehow managed over 50 emcee jobs, attempted over 30,000 jokes, laughed like a wildchild with over 1,000 kids, and watched as every single one of them grew up ... went to college ... and began families of their own.
And they still listen to me now, with their kids leaning on the back seats of their cars like the little surfboards of their lives. They're on their way to school and work in their versions of a Ford Galaxy, music blasting through the mornings, music from Star96. That's when we all put our collective thumbs out and share the road for awhile. Together. Some of the most beautiful people I've ever met have shared their ears and thumbs with me in Hot Springs.
