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[11 Jan 2010|11:58am] |
You can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you never really take New Jersey out of the girl. Especially if the girl was Enid Maria Bougher.
Enid was the baby of the three children born to Leslie and Georgia Ann Bougher. They were pretty well known around Whitehouse Station, but that was virtue of the town. It was small and chatty, and their house was on the registry of historic places. Not to mention that the Bougher kids had a lot going on -- its just how they were. All three of them, busy as bees, but as different as night and day. Smart and athletic, driven and ambitious, but all in the own way. Jackson- the older brother anyone would've asked for. Smart and over protective, he was one of her best friends... even when he was threatening to string her up by her toes. Sarah, the middle child, quiet and studious, but no where meek. And Enid the youngest child in every sense of the word: she gets lost in her own head, trying to make sure that everyone around her is okay. And she tends to like the spotlight a little too much. She talks, a lot, because if she didn't, she'd get lost in the whirlwind that was her siblings. She alterately loves and hates the siblings she's bound to by virtue of birth.
High school went well for Enid. She played golf and lacrosse (despite her small stature, she was fast and hit hard, all training from being the baby of the family). She did well in school. She fell in love with Merrick, a boy who at the time was a bit too precious for words. And its where she found her passion for radio.
As long as she could remember, Enid been facinated with the radio. When she wasn't at school, she was listening to the radio- spending long nights just listening. It didn't help that her uncle Steve was a big name in radio in Chicago. Even before there were podcasts available, she had tapes - hours and hours of tape - all of her uncle so she could learn her craft from the best. At Hunterdon Central they had a tv/radio production class, which Enid took as soon as she was able. From the moment she set foot in that class Enid knew this was not only what she wanted to do, but what she was made for. She was a little girl with a big voice and she used it to her advantage.
All those years listening to Uncle Steve and working on her show at HCRHS worked. She got in to Rutgers (far enough to not live at home, close enough to do your laundry in Mom's machines) and majored in Journalism/Media Studies. She did well at Rutgers, not only making friends like Jamie Langston, but working on the radio. All four years at Rutgers, Enid was either behind the mic or running the board three or four days a week. She was good at what she did and she knew it.
After college, Enid knew it was time for her to spread her wings. She moved to Chicago to work with her Uncle Steve at WCKG. At the time the format was FM talk, something she loved. While she was in Chicago, she was mostly behind the scenes, working predomantly with her cousin Matt on his radio show.
She thought she was fine, that she had the situation under control... until the station changed format. Just as she was making close friends, starting to date, really settling in- it was gone. Everyone at the station was let go (except for her Uncle Steve, who with 30 years under his belt in Chicago broadcasting, moved to another station owned by CBS radio and then saying fuck it all and podcasting exclusively) and it was hard. Should she turn tail and go home? Should she try and fight to get another job, if one should come open, knowing that there were people with more experience gunning right along with her? So she talked to her uncle and her cousin Matt.
Uncle Steve thought the best idea would be for her to find another market- not necessarily small, but not Chicago, because there was nothing for her there. Matt thought it would be funny to just throw a dart at the map and pick that way... the dart hit Lake Huron- because, as Matt likes to remind her, she throws like a girl. So Enid did what she felt most comfortable with- she went home.
Well... kinda. She went to Dobbs Ferry to move in with Jackson. He'd left his job at the NYPD and finished law school. He worked hard and it showed. Through her connections working with her Uncle Steve, she found a job at Z100. Working in the promotions office- which oddly did her just fine. Did she miss being behind the mic? ABSOLUTELY. But, this would tide her over until she could squeeze her way in.
And it worked... while she worked there. April 15, Enid was let go at Z100- siting budget cuts, especially in promotions. She's been bumming around, living off her nest egg since then, but life is starting to get back on track.
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