22 June 27 - July 3, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Totcasting KNON’s Mary Ella Woodstock is now on the air with Kidz Star Radio. She’s 8. BY ANDREW SHERMAN R adio station KNON, “The Voice of the People,” has al- ways strived to be inclusive and diverse with its program- ing. One of its goals has been to provide unique programming that rep- resents all of Dallas. In that spirit, KNON’s online sister station, KNON NOW, re- cently added a show called Kidz Star Ra- dio, hosted by 8-year-old Mary Ella Woodstock. You can hear her every Sun- day from 2 to 4 p.m. and listen to archived shows at KNON NOW. The idea of having a literal kid’s show came from KNON’s station manager and captain David Chaos. “I had been wanting one for a while, but we did not have any candidates or resources for finding a kid for it,” he says. “We used to have a teen talk radio show, and it went well, so KNON has some history with putting kids on the air.” Mary Ella’s father, Johnny Woodstock, hosts his own show on KNON NOW, The Sounds of New Orleans, on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Woodstock would regularly have his daughter assist him on his show. “It was never a hang. She would co-host. ...I would play a song and Ella would read the tags. It was never set for her to play around. It was set for her to learn how things went. It was already an unofficial training,” Woodstock says. Helping out her dad at KNON intro- duced her to many other people at the sta- tion. “Mary Ella would sometimes sit in as co-host on her dad’s show, so the station was about as familiar with her as she was with us,” Jay Sustain, KNON’s program di- rector, says. This familiarity led to Mary Ella being in- vited on the Blues with Bonnie show as a guest to talk about her role in the musical Peter Pan Jr. at the Bruiting Theater in Gar- land. That’s when the idea to have Mary Ella as a DJ struck Chaos. “Ella was at the station with her father and visited the FM studio while he was on in our stream sta- tion studio,” Chaos says. “The DJ she was visiting with [Bonnie] let her on the mic, and I heard her on some of the breaks. She sounded pretty good, so I dis- cussed the idea with her father, and here we are.” Chaos asked Woodstock if she liked music and Mary Ella remembers, “Instead of the smart aleck answer my father would have given, he said, ‘Yes, Dave. The answer is yes.’” When Woodstock asked his daughter if she wanted to host a show she excitedly re- sponded, “Yes, Dad! Yes! I want my own ra- dio show! We could be radio show twinsies!” Chaos was impressed, but Mary Ella still had to go through the same hiring process as any adult on-air host. She filled out an application, which she completed by her- self, Woodstock says. She also made a mock playlist and did her first-ever job interview. She then went through training with Sus- tain. Her father tells us, “It was all her, not me. I brought her to the station. I was at her interview, but I didn’t say a word. She did this all on her own.” Mary Ella has the distinction of being the youngest non-podcast broadcaster in the United States. The show has been on for just over two months, and it’s going well. Kidz Star Radio is mainly Mary Ella being the DJ and “spinning” her favorite songs. (Taylor Swift and Katy Perry were among the artists played during this interview.) But Mary Ella says playing music is not what she likes best about her show. “It is kind of stressful, I gotta say, sure, but I also really like having guests. It’s one of my favorite things about it,” she says. Guests have included performers from the award-winning music camp Chicks Who Rock, members of her Girl Scout troop and her mother, Tiffany Vollmer, the voice of Dragon Ball Z’s Bulma. Mary Ella’s theme for picking songs is just the songs and artists she loves. “Really, just whatever,” she says. “It de- pends on if I have a guest on or not, like the circumstances of what my show is going to be like. ...There’s only one thing I won’t do, which is because you’re not allowed to do it: play songs with cuss words.” Behind the mic, she barely sits still, bounc- ing around the room as she does her intros and interviews. There is a lot of giggling and a lot of fun. Her father does help guide the show to some degree, but it’s not uncommon to have a producer keep things on track. Sustain de- scribes it this way: “Her show is actually quite fun, an innocent point of view, coupled with the musical choices of an 8-year-old.” Chaos says listeners’ response has been good, and Sustain agrees. “Between her love and knowledge for mu- sic and her great attitude, we knew it would be a good fit. She’s really a great kid with a dy- namic personality. ...In terms of diversity, I felt like she would be a perfect fit for our growing online station...KNON is proud to support her and her father’s show as it really embodies the family we strive to be.” Mary Ella has many other interests and talents as well. She is set to play the starring role in the musical Matilda at the Plaza The- ater in Garland on June 20 and has acted in many local stage productions. She is a recur- ring character on the YouTube kids show Kiki & Coco and had a feature extra role in the film The Stranger. Mary Ella also does dance and cheer camp, so mostly she’s just a normal kid. Mary Ella already has plenty of ambi- tion. Besides the career option of being a DJ, she is deciding between being an ac- tress, singer or teacher. Eight years old is probably a little young to make a definitive decision and she’s wise to keep her options open. There is no doubt that she’s an artist to watch for in the future, but for now her bright, refreshing personality can be en- joyed for a two-hour clip every Sunday. “YES, DAD! YES! I WANT MY OWN RADIO SHOW! WE COULD BE RADIO SHOW TWINSIES!” - KNON’S MARY ELLA WOODSTOCK Andrew Sherman Mary Ella Woodstock is the youngest non- podcast broadcaster in the Untited States. | B-SIDES | t Music
