A word with Delilah
Delilah, the most listened-to woman on radio in the United States, will join the '70s Rock & Romance Cruise as not just a host but as one of the most excited fans on the ship.
Delilah will be bringing her distinctive blend of storytelling and empathy - not to mention her devotion to a great love song - immersing herself into the entire '70s Rock & Romance Cruise experience, leading panel discussions with the soft rock stars of the ‘70s, hosting a women’s seminar and even inviting her own friends aboard with her to share in the luxury and the fun. Delilah will also record a very special podcast on the ship, giving guests the chance to participate in her famed Dedication and listener segments.
Heard on over 150 stations throughout the United States, Delilah’s soothing voice, love of music and genuine affection for her 8 million fans have made her radio show one of the most popular in the nation for 30 years. Last week, Delilah told us what she has in store for the cruise, what she is looking forward to most, and how she and her friends are already busy planning their ‘‘70s fashion and hairstyles for the vacation of a lifetime.
“On the radio at night, I’ve taken so many calls from listeners who have told stories and shared their dreams that match perfectly with the songs from these groups and performers,” says Delilah about the acts that will be sailing on The '70s Rock & Romance Cruise. “For me to have the opportunity to connect these incredible music artists and groups with their biggest fans on a cruise like this, that’s the ultimate Dedication! My girlfriends and I will have so much fun on this cruise!”
Talk about fun! The '70s Rock & Romance Cruise is the music of Delilah’s life; full of songs she is eager to hear over and over during the week-long voyage. When she first heard of the cruise, the memories kicked in immediately. “I remembered being my high school gymnasium, dancing with my shoes kicked off. As they were telling me the list of people who will perform on the cruise, I was saying ‘oh my gosh, oh my gosh!’ And it really is a kind of chapter and verse of my early years in radio, too. This is totally a ‘Delilah, this is your life,’ cruise. Totally. TOTALLY.”
Could this be the ultimate working vacation for the popular radio host? She wholeheartedly agrees that it was the fan in her that responded to the call of the cruise. “As a fan of Three Dog Night, who doesn’t want to hang out with them? Little River Band? They were the soundtrack to my love life as a young adult - who wouldn’t want to hang out with them? I’ve had a chance to meet most in person; America, Little River Band, Orleans, Stephen Bishop, but I didn’t get a chance to spend a lot of one-on-one time so that’s going to be fun.”
To make sure the cruise is more parts vacation than work, Delilah is bringing along a few of her closest friends to enjoy the party. “I’m telling everyone that even though it’s a '70s Rock and Romance cruise, I’m saying ‘bring your best friends.’ This really is kind of going to be a girl party, I gotta be honest with you, we’re going to have a lot of best friends there.”
“We’ll be laughing, laughing, laughing,” she says with joy. “One friend doesn’t know yet, it’s going to be a surprise and she will have a heart attack because we go back to when we were 9 and 10 years old listening to radio together. The others are still pretty much speechless. It’s not until March but we’re already planning out the outfits, we’ve already gone thrift store shopping to find the retro dress with the wide shoulders and the wide belt,” Delilah continues with excitement. “You gotta find the right hair spray to get those bangs back up like they were in the ‘70s. I had big hair. I’m not going to go with the perm that I had in the ‘70s but I will bring the hot rollers, oh yes I will. The only thing I’m trying to decide is am I going to pack the disco dress?”
Delilah’s circle of friends on the ship will extend far beyond the ones she’s invited to come aboard with her. “My listeners are the best people in the world. The level of love that they pour into me and share with me is pretty awesome so I’m looking forward to them.” From the podcast she’ll record onboard to leading a women’s seminar to singing along to her favorite bands during the concerts, Delilah will be right there alongside all of her fans on the cruise.
And about those concerts! Peter Frampton. America. Little River Band. The Orchestra Starring Former Members of ELO. Christopher Cross. Ambrosia. Orleans. Stephen Bishop. Firefall. Player. Chuck Negron formerly of Three Dog Night. And host Barry Williams, too. “It’s going to be concert after concert after concert. You don’t have to wait in line. You don’t have to fight traffic. It’s just going to be, bam, you’re there. Just walk down the hall,” she laughs.
Amidst sharing all the fun with her friends and her fans, Delilah will also be sharing an important cause that she has been the driving force behind for over 10 years. “I was working mostly with inner city people, homeless people, women and children primarily who, because of bad choices or life circumstances, were on the street and that’s how Point Hope (her non-profit organization) was birthed. We now have two platforms, two main areas that we pour our energies into. Number one is working with children here in America who are stuck in our foster care system. Our foster care system is deplorably broke, it is broke beyond anything you can imagine,” Delilah says with passion. “When you hear the statistics and what happens to kids once they get stuck in the system, it’s just heart wrenching. So I work to try to talk people into considering not just fostering but foster-to-adopt so that we get the kids out of the system and into a forever family. And we have something called Points of Hope. If you go to PointHope.org you can sign up to be a ‘point of hope’ and have a chapter in your community where you put on events to bless these kids that are stuck in foster care.
Then our second focus is on children that live in deplorable conditions in Ghana, West Africa. We’ve worked in Ghana with children who are malnourished, who are starving, who are orphans, children who have been taken as slaves, and we help to rescue them out of slavery and try to give them a permanent home. We’ve provided an education to thousands of children. And we feed about 370 orphans every single day.”
For her fans who want to help but worry they may not have enough time to devote to Points Hope, Delilah quickly assures that everyone can help and in many different ways. “We do something as simple as beanies for babies. For women who like to knit or crochet, we encourage them to make little baby hats much smaller than a typical newborn hat and then we distribute them to underserved hospitals here in the states and in Haiti and in Africa. Preemies lose most of their body heat out of their head and these underserved hospitals don’t have electricity or enough warmers so we make these beanies. We have doctors that encourage something called kangaroo care where they keep the baby on their chest as an incubator. And with their little beanies on and being held against your natural body heat, it keeps them alive. And so it’s something very simple, a woman can knit a beanie in less than an hour and yet it will save a life. All it takes is love.”
Delilah will make sure love will be on the '70s Rock & Romance Cruise in all forms, whether it be spreading her message about Point Hope or basking in the love songs that shaped her life. “This is going to be one of the most fun things I have ever imagined doing. I have hosted a million parties in my life but it’s usually for children who are 18 and younger. But this is going to be a Mama Bear party, where I get to be with my best friends, my girlfriends, people who love the kind of music that I love and we are going to have so much fun!”
