Kenny Curtis had a farm, e-i-e-i-o. On this farm he had a radio show....

Athomedad.org speaks with Kenny Curtis, DJ for “The Animal Farm” on XM Radio. Animal Farm broadcasts daily from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern. It features music for kids and families, focusing on the ages of 4 to 9 (but plays music for all ages). Since 2001 Kenny has hosted his show which also incorporates skits featuring “animals” from the farm, including Lorenzo Llama; Dirk, the 4th and forgotten chipmunk; and Greg the tree sloth.

At Home Dad: So how does someone get into kids radio? It seems rather niche.

Well I first started with kids programming as the local host of the Fox Kids’ Club in Baltimore (WBFT) in 1989. I was the first local host of a Kids Club. I did that for about three to four years.

How did you make the transition to radio from TV?

After my four years at WBFT I knew that my three options were 1) weatherman, 2) news reporter or 3) fat, bald guy in a treehouse. None of those were appealing. So I heard about a kids radio station in Washington, DC, Radio AAHS. It was the first ever all kids radio channel. So I did a radio show there until 1997.

I started with XM Radio when it launched in 2001 hosting the Animal Farm.

How do you find the music for your show, and the XM Kids channel, in particular?

We try to be different than Radio Disney, which XM also features. Their audience is mainly 8-14 year olds. We target our audience at 4-9 year olds. Now this doesn’t mean we won’t play Hannah Montana or other music you’d find on Radio Disney.

We try to find stuff that is a little bit different. We think everyone should listen to all types of music the “try it, you might like it” idea.

You have such an eclectic mix on your show. How do you find the music and artists?

Since XM is subscription based and not advertising based we can be a little old school about finding music. We actually listed to every track on every CD that comes to us. We may not listen to the whole CD but we will listen to at least a part of every track. It can take me a month to listed to a CD but I will listen to it.

It’s also important to listen to all the tracks because a lot of independent kids’ music artists have songs that play really well live but may not hold up to radio play. By listening to each track we can find songs we think work. [These independent artists produce what Kenny called “kindy rock” a term coined by Dan Zanes.]

Why the explosion in kids music? Style, substance. It’s no longer 14 versions of “Wheels on the Bus.”

I think is the fact that most music is now PC-based. With multi-track editing available on home computers people can write, perform, edit, and produce their music in their basements – at a relatively high quality. From this we get inundated with submissions.

The bonus is that many people who turn on XM Kids for my show, or any of the shows, are often surprised that it’s not just the Wiggles and Wheels on the Bus. It becomes a shared listening experience with families.

Talking a bit about your show, Animal Farm. Throughout the show you have skits as well as call from kids or parents making requests, how does that work?

It’s a completely one man show. When you call, I pick up the phone. Since it’s all digital I run the whole booth.

So you do all the voices for the characters?

I do them all [There are at least 10 different regular animal characters in skits on the show including Forrest Skunk, Bear E. White, Vinnie Da Pooh.] except for Dentina the Tooth Fairy. We have a couple of thousand skits pre-recorded, ready to be plugged into the show. They are scheduled by the software. We will record new stuff nearly everday.

For phone calls, I tend to take those off the air, record them and play them back. I’m a little nervous about talking to kids live. Plus most kids want their requests played on the way to school which is about the same time for everyone across the US. So sometimes I have to record and play them back and know that kids may not hear the request.

My colleague, “Absolutely Mindy" [afternoon host, Mindy Thomas] will do live conversations with kids. She’s braver than I am.

Not to get too personal but your bio mentions your involvement with your local autism society. Do you have a child with autism?

No it’s fine. My wife and I have five kids, plus a foster child living with us now. Our 15 year-old son was diagnosed at age 2. My wife is a stay-at-home-mom (she was an actress prior to that). He’s undergone intensive therapy but is doing great. I like to say that he is autistic with a a capital “A.” He’s not self-injurious or aggressive but he is non-verbal. His three younger siblings (13, 10, 8) who love him very much as well as our oldest, who is 17.

You also are registered as foster parents in Baltimore County. How did that come about?

My wife and I have always seen ourselves as “kid people.” We enjoy children. So my decided to “turn pro.” Once we were able to live somewhere with the room we took in an infant for a year (his parents are in treatment).

Because of your hours you must be able to be home a decent amount. [At one point Kenny mentioned he worked from about 5:45 am – 2:00 pm]

Actually I work really long hours I go from 5:45 to 4 in reality. And I’ve actually being doing two jobs [DJing his show as well as serving as Senior Director for Specialty Programming.] I want to move forward in my career but that means I work more. I regret missing the time with my kids.

When you have a career you are really passionate about you don’t think of it as work.

Sorry to be intrusive about that.

No, not at all. I think every working dad thinks he doesn’t spend enough time at home. I know that stay-at-home-moms, and dads, have incredibly rewarding job but it’s hard. It’s like doing a live radio show, you are always on.

I think my wife is in off mode only 1-2 hours during naps. She just has to be on.

Interviewer’s note: In the interest of full disclosure, I am a subscriber to XM Radio. This is not meant as an advertisement for XM Radio, XM Kids, or satellite radio. Kenny Curtis’ show is entertaining and fun and his story is interesting. That is my entire reason for posting the interview. Feel free to email me at josheisenberg@hotmail.com with questions about XM. Thank you