Reinvention After Success: Kate McGwire’s Next Chapter

This week on Nobody Knowz, we’re talking with longtime Boise radio personality Kate McGwire. After nearly two decades on the air, she took a leap of faith into the unknown — and it led her to entrepreneurship, motherhood, and her podcast Secrets with Kate McGwire. It’s a conversation about reinvention, life after the dream job, and why sometimes the best chapters come when you least expect them.

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Welcome to the Nobody Knows podcast with Callie Zamzow. Join us for conversations with local changemakers and hear the stories that don't always get told. It'll be honest, messy and beautiful. Touching and humorous. Slow down for a glass and pull up a chair. This is the Nobody Knows podcast. Welcome to Nobody Knows. I'm your host, Callie Zamzow and I have a tip of the week to start off with right out of the gates. Partially because this is one of my favorite times of the year. As we get close to Mother's Day. So the tip of the week is that if you are thinking of getting a flowering basket, maybe for your mother or your grandmother, or dare I say yourself, now's the time to do it. The selection is fantastic. Right now, everything has arrived in the greenhouses, and this is one. Selection is best. So people who are in the know are shopping right now for their flower baskets. Not waiting until the day before Mother's Day because it's been somewhat picked through by then. So that's the big tip. I also wanted to give you a couple little tips as far as just generally hanging baskets are concerned. So all of all of our stores currently have, hanging baskets. Chinden is the one that has the most of them and select the largest selection, probably, but each store has plenty of them. And there's a variety of different sizes. So think about like where you're going to hang this hanging basket and so that you can decide what size you would like to have. Bigger is not always better. Sometimes the little small ones are just perfect for grandma's front porch, for instance. And then, once you get your hanging basket, here's a couple tips for you. So first of all, we recommend that you give them a good drink. So they've been hanging they've been getting a drink a little bit drinks here and there. But if you can actually soak them before you hang them that's fantastic. Soak them. Then let them dry a little bit so that they're not quite so heavy, and then get them up onto their hooks. And that will be helpful to kind of get that soil plumped up. We also recommend that you feed them. So these are have been grown at a greenhouse and they're about to come to life here. And we want them to stay alive. Have them be happy. So we recommend that you feed them with thrive, which is a SSMs those product. And you apply that to the soil. So that'll help because the soil that is used in growing these baskets isn't always the best. So we recommend that you add a little bit of thrive and do that throughout the season because as you're watering it will, you know, leech out the bottom and all that fun stuff. So that's one of the things you would like you to we think you should do. We also suggest that you spritz your leaves. Now do it in the morning when it's cool, but for the for the sun starts beaming on them, on the leaves. But you're going to spritz the leaves with a product that we call thrive bloom, and that is a product that will keep it basically tells the flower basket to put off blooms like create the buds and have a lot of flowers. So it's a wonderful product. It works very, very well. If you missed your, you know, do this, you know, once a week or once every couple of weeks, you're going to have blooms all through the summer and then the final. And this is a really I mean, this is kind of a no brainer, but be sure to water your flower for flower baskets. That is the number one reason why they die is that they dry up that again, that soil's not awesome and so they need it. Most of the time a hanging basket needs to be watered every single day. And so do yourself a favor right now when you go to get your, your flowering basket, get one of those long ones that you can hook to your hose, that you can just easily lift up and water your, your plant with. You'll be so glad you did it. It's so much easier to water if you don't have automatic watering for your for your, hang hanging baskets, which many people do not. So, but anyway, there you go. There's your there's your tip of the week. I love flowering baskets. I give my mother one and my Aunt Katy one, every year. And I think my brother does too. So like they get lots of them. But it's a, it's a great gift and it's a fun thing to have all season long. And I just yeah, that's great thing. Speaking of great things, today I am talking with Kate McGwire. And she is somebody that many people in the Treasure Valley know and feel like they know, like me. I just met her, but I feel like I've known her for a very long time. She's a Boise personality and a previous morning show, radio. Radio show host? Yes, I'm saying that right. She's now an entrepreneur and a realtor and, and a podcast host. So we have so many fun things to talk about. Kate, welcome to the studio. I am so honored to be here. Thank you for having me. This is I am honored to have you here. When Jodi suggested you, I was like, what? Just because I and I, you probably get this a lot, but because you were on the radio for so long, so many of us just feel like we're already friends with you. I love that it's been ten years. I'm not sure if people realize that, but it's been ten years since I left and so to hear that now, it's such a compliment. Like just to even be remembered of. I remember one person said to me, oh, you're going to fade off. And in two weeks no one will remember who you are. Oh no. And I laughed and it was fine if that was the way it was going to go. But to still have people remember and tell me stories like it's such a compliment. Well, I first of all, your voice like, I you just have this very unique voice and I love it. And I think it's part of your voice is part of why I feel like we're friends. Like, I just feel like, you know, you just have to be very friendly, and, And then the stories and the things that you would say on the morning show were so. And for me, I think, I think it empowered me a little bit. I'm like, she can be a little mouthy sometimes. I loved that about you. I just thought, well, this is how a woman ought to feel. Like they can talk like it's great. So I love that. Thank you. Job done then. Like I wanted that. I wanted to make people laugh every single morning, and I did. I wanted to share my story so that it connected in some way. So it empowered you. Job done that. It did for sure. So before we jump into all of this, will you just take a minute to just quickly kind of tell people who you are? Oh, wow. I felt you did such a good job of that. Let's see, I am Kate McGuire. And yes, I say my first and last name all the time. It's one word to me. And, I say I'm a Colorado girl living in an Idaho world. But now I've lived here longer than I lived in Colorado. So, Yeah, my 25th year here in Idaho and radio brought me here. My true love of radio. I'm a Colorado State alum and yeah, go Rams. And, yeah. So I spent 20 years hosting morning radio and, did radio in Colorado before I moved up here and then was here in town for 16 years. So, and then one day blew it all up, and, and then I didn't know what I was going to do and found my way into entrepreneurship and in that and but, you know, first and foremost, I like to say I'm a mother, I'm a wife. And, yeah, that is that is my world now. So cool. Yet you're telling us a story beforehand about some pictures that you're. Oh, drew and I just I love that, I love, I love hearing that I, I there's something about being a mom that it's kind of trumps everything, doesn't it? It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. And there's no way to prepare for it. And so ain't that the truth? Yes there is. I just find my way through it every day. So yeah, it it's interesting to me also the different phases. And you almost don't even know you're in a phase until after the phase is passed and you look back, you're like, oh, that was a phase. So true. And it's like you're worried that you're going to miss a phase or that you didn't appreciate it enough, but then the next phase is even better. Yeah. And I mean, it was great. That phase was great. But then you're like, it just keeps getting better and better. Yeah. I mean, there's small moments in there where he wants to strangle me and I want to strangle him, but, you know, we but still like I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, yeah. And I always dreamed of being a mother. So yeah. Yeah. It was something that and that I thought would happen earlier. It didn't that wasn't my plan. And I wouldn't change it for anything now. Not I have nothing to compare it to, but I just I'd always wanted to be a mother. Yeah. I think I hurt my daughter's feelings the other day by telling her that I didn't want to be a mom I didn't like up until I and I. So I became a mom at 31, and, I just up until that point, I just had no interest. I didn't like when people were like, do you want to hold baby? No, I do not want to hold. That's just not that person. And then when I wanted to, my goodness, did it. Like it took over everything. I'm like, I, I want to have a baby. And and now that I know why, I'm like, oh, I get it. Like I needed to have Rafi in my life. I could like, yeah, my life is much more complete with my kiddo in it now. It's like. And went and you're it's so true. I remember I can remember being like, oh, that clock is a real thing, like that desire. Because that hit me at like 38 and I was like, oh, and you can't turn it off. There's no like, oh, it's just not going to happen for me. I'm approaching 40 and single. Like it wasn't something I could turn off. So yeah, it's a real thing. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we've already gone down a tangent here. We can I, I will follow. Take me where you want to go. I especially the mom tangent I could go on and on I just it's the greatest really truly the greatest thing ever. Okay, so let's, let's talk about your radio career. So it was almost two decades. Yeah. Yes. Correct. Yeah. So from when I started, I started at Colorado State. Okay. Yeah. And then like as, like the like doing the college. Yeah. It was a campus run student run radio station. Wksu still there today. And that's where I got my start. And so and I oh gosh I was on from like midnight to three. I think when I started they were like, this girl is horrible. We need to fill this time slot, but you got to pick your own music. Like, that's so awesome. I love hearing that. So, I went to Santa Clara and my friend Julie VA mirage. She's a lovely, lovely name. Anyway, she was, she was right next door to me and Sweet Hall and she did the same thing. Same. She wanted to do it she had no experience for. So, like, I just I'm interested in doing this. And so. But she had that same slot. Yeah. And so for us to listen to her, we had what we thought like stay up really, really late. But she played really great music. Really great music. I did not I let me just clarify this right now, my love of radio, yes, I like music, but like, my husband was so shocked when we met that he was like, you must love radio and know every track for every hour. No, I got into radio to tell stories like I realized I could tell stories and connect with people that way. The music was just what we played in between the story is interesting, so I like music, but if you're like, what was on this album in 95, track two, I well, I don't know, like I love that, I don't know that, I love that, yeah, I kind of always assume that, yeah, radio people are just like they know all their music. And I think that's how it used to be. And then, yeah, it wasn't that wasn't my love. It wasn't the music like, oh, I get to get on here. And I mean, when I started in radio, I can tell you this when I think of radio at WKSU, it's Matchbox 20. Like that was one of the biggest things that we were playing. And so I hear it and I'm back in college and back driving around campus or playing it. So those are like, I mean, that's not like, oh, when you played the stones, like those guys were musical deejays. I was not with Matchbox 20. No offense. I love them still to this day. I'm just going to say I now I'm going to have push in my head. Yeah. The rest of the day. So so then so you were in Colorado and and did you actually did was your major in. Yes. Okay. Yep. I have a degree in broadcast journalism. Yeah. From the College of Liberal Arts. And I had, I started when I went to college, I wanted to write The Great American Story, and my counselor was like, okay, we've got to figure out how to make you money because you're not going to graduate and then write the great American novel. So I started working in the campus newspaper. I did not like that. I have zero passion for news in the in that way. And so, I worked for the campus, newspaper, and then I moved to campus television, and they were like, oh. And I did not want to be on camera. I did not like the on camera reporting. But then I got into editing and writing the news stories, and I really liked that. But, it still didn't, like, fully click. And then our campus flooded one summer and completely wiped out a lot of the buildings. So when we came back in the fall, they had combined the campus television and campus radio station in this trailer, and I was editing some stories for the TV station, and this guy came over and was like, hey, my co-host is sick. Can you sit in on the radio with me? And I did, and the rest is history. I mean, it clicked in that moment. I was like, oh. And so, well, that's unique. That doesn't happen every day. No, like divine intervention. So and I remember sitting in there and I was like, oh, I don't have to write my stories. I can tell my stories. And so and then I was game on for I pursued it. And all of my professors, I mean, they were supportive, but they were like, there's no money in radio. Like there's no room for women in radio. Like you need to go into television, television, television. And I was just like, I don't want to, and I'm going to follow this. And so I did. I followed it to Steamboat Springs. It was where I got my first job in radio. I spent a couple of years there and then on to Boise. That was my next step, and I was only going to be here for two years because I was going to be the first female Howard Stern. And so this was just a stop in my path to becoming the first female for Howard Stern. And then I met Jodi, and I was like, why can't move now? But now. He'll do that to you. Yeah. I what we call Mary married my market. I loved it here I Boise, if you don't know anything about Colorado is what Colorado is. It's just 20 years behind it still to this day. And so I'm like, this is it. Fort Collins reminds me a lot of Boise and so I just loved everything about it. And I love to I worked with. And so I'm like, I'm here. Very cool. So did you like did you kind of work your way up within within the Boise ranks, or did you kind of like find your spot right away? So I had been told in college I would go in like sit in with like major market. You know, Denver is a major market station or, city for radio. So I would go in, I had an internship at a station down there one summer, and I would talk to the guys and, they would be like, if you want mornings don't do anything but mornings, but you have to be willing to move all over the country to do it. And so I was like, okay. Like I was offered weekend jobs in Denver, but I wanted mornings. They were like, do not ever have anything on your resume other than mornings. They won't take you serious and they'll constantly be trying to move you to an afternoon show or a weekend show. And so I moved to Steamboat Springs, which is like the radio station was in Craig, Colorado. If anyone's ever heard that know, unless you're into hunting. But like, my job interview was at the Village in Pancake House. Like, that's how small the radio station was. It was in the only mall in northwest Colorado, and I. But I was like, I want mornings. And I had applied all over the country. And then just felt like, okay, I should probably stay closer to home, you know, get my feet under me. And then, yeah. So I would only apply for morning show jobs. What what was it about? Morning. What what? I liked having someone to banter with. Yeah, I liked being able to talk and, and, you know, get the conversation going. And so I yes, I can have a conversation with myself. I do it daily still. But I love the banter and communication that way. Well, and I think that's what made me fall in love with you. It's just that banter because it was always, yeah, you always had funny comebacks and or like lead ins. That would just I'd be like, oh, she set that up perfectly. Yeah. So you, you do have a natural talent for that for sure. Thank you. Yeah. So so you came came to Boise and you remained in Boise. Remained in the in the morning? Yep. Mornings. Yeah. We, I came to, it was 93.1 at the time, and Jodi and Mike were on the station and they were looking for a female co-host. And so, I got that position. And then a year later, Mix 106 hired us. Okay. And so yeah. And then we crossed the street, as they say. Yes. Blacklisted ourself was one company to go work for another. So that's that had to have been a little bit. Was that was it challenging. Was that or worrisome. Was there any part of that that was like okay, here we go. We're making a leap. And well there was worry some of leaving some people behind. I have to say that. So but, you know, I was naive enough that I wasn't nervous. I had just moved to a state. I didn't know anyone. And so, I mean, I packed up my car and moved up here a year before. I didn't know a single person. And, one of the things that still motivates me today is that I never want to say I had the opportunity, and I didn't take it. Even if that opportunity terrifies me, I'm like, it's here. It's like in this moment, like that thought process is like, what got me to jump out of an airplane? Like I was like, well, they offered it to me. I probably should do this because I'll probably turn it down later. And so I literally like figuratively and literally jump. I'm like, okay, let's do this. And so, yeah. And also, you know, I, I really liked my co-host. And so he had been in the business for 15 years longer than I had. And he was like, this is a good move for us. And then the person hiring us over at mix, I'm still friends with today. I just talked to him the other day, like I knew this person would look out for me and help me grow. Yeah, and so I knew I was on the right path. Can we go back to the jumping? Yeah. Because I, I feel that I actually have a story from when I was a little girl, and I, I grew up with all boys and I was in the neighborhood, just had one brother, but all boys in the neighborhood, and they were all older than me. So I was the youngest and the only female. And, we had a tree fort in our backyard that my father built. So it was my tree fort to want to make that perfectly clear. And we were off there playing one day, and that was you could get out in one of two ways. There was a ladder, and then there was a rope swing. Well, I must have been daydreaming or something up there, and I wasn't paying attention what was going on. And the boys removed the ladder and pulled the rope swing so I couldn't get out of the tree. And so here I am, stuck in my tree, for it has remember and and I and they had they ran away. So I'm stuck. And I was probably seven. And I began screaming and screaming and nobody was coming. And so I had this moment was like, I'm going to have to jump out of here now. Now, as an adult, I thought back on this saying, I now I know I could have gotten on my belly. I could have probably pulled down and like, hung from my arms and only dropped a few feet. But no, I was standing up at the top and I decided I needed to just jump flat footed out of this thing. And here comes my dad yelling, don't jump! Don't jump! And something about that made me say, I'm jumping, and I did. I jumped flat footed, I, I rolled my ankle on it, you know, causes, halts. But I still think about that because I jump too. And literally I did when I was seven. But it's kind of been a thing I've done my whole life. I hit, I get to a point where it's like, do or die. And I just forced myself into it, and it's one of the ways that I get things done. Sometimes it's not great, sometimes it doesn't doesn't work out. But most of the time it works out. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I can totally relate to that. I just never want to get down the road and be like, I had the opportunity and I didn't take it like it took the easy way out, or I took the safe way out. And yes, you could have climbed down and, you know, figured out a different way. But jumping might have been the quickest way down in that moment. So. Well and and for me, it was about controlling my own destiny, I think like I, they had trapped me up there. I'm like, you are not trapping me up here. I will get myself down. Even if it hurts me. I'm going to get myself out of this. And I'm kind of going to be that way now, too, I think. I think we should go hang out more. I really like you. I feel like we've. I feel a connection. We could get into trouble if we're doing too much jumping. So we're inside of you. Do you have something when you're about to do it? Or where you kind of just, my mom might say, put the blinders on, and you're like, I'm just going to do it. Yeah, I'm going to move forward. And I'm. I'm dirty. Die here. Yes. There's not that I, there's a thousand what ifs of what could go wrong. But what if it works out. Yeah I don't yeah I do I get into a moment where I just tune out the noise and I'm like, I got to do this, I think I will, I don't, I always picture like older Kate like literally like 85 sitting on a porch drinking Lynchburg lemonade and and I'm like, I had that moment. I didn't take it like I don't want to regret that. Even if I fail, even if I jump out of the tree house and break my ankle or it doesn't work, I'll be like, okay, now I know. Yeah, like, I that wondering. And maybe that's just the way my brain is wired. I don't want that wandering chatter always to be there. Yeah, I'm like, let's find out and silence it and or keep going, you know. And so it it has motivated me for a very long time. That's inspirational. I didn't like the way that you say it. It's it's it's yeah. Yeah. Wonderful. Okay. So you did this thing. You did it for quite some time. Well known in the valley. You're fantastic at it. Oh. Thank you. One might say you're calling. I would. So there's all of that. And you decided not not blew it all up. So. Yeah. Tell me about that. Oh, gosh. Well, the chatter started probably maybe four years prior based on a contract. I knew my contract. I had a contract date that would come up for renewal. And I, I just had a spark of a thought. Then it was like someone would say, like the pulling of the thread, like it starts to unravel just a bit, but maybe you don't pay enough attention to it. So I had this thought where I was like, what if I didn't sign my next contract in four years so I can remember that moment? But then about two years out, the chatter was getting louder and louder and, it honestly was. I was 38, I was single, I wanted to find love. I wanted to be a mother, and I started to come to the realization that I didn't think it would happen, being in the public eye. And so, and that voice just didn't stop talking to me. And so it was like, oh my gosh, what would this look like? And it's so hard to put into words quitting a career that I absolutely loved. Like I moved to small town America to get the start. I, you know, I mean, my first job in radio like that didn't pay me anything. I waited tables at night at a barbecue place like that. I did all of this. I loved radio that much. And and so like. And I still love radio that much. It's really weird. People ask me like, did you miss? Do you miss it? I'm every day, every day there is something that happens to me that I'm like, I wish I had someone to share this story with because my husband doesn't know Radio Kate at all. And so, he listened to a different radio station while I was to know how he did. It was like his buddies were like, you don't know what that is. But anyways, so the voice just kept getting louder and I'm like, but this is my thing. Like, I went to college for this, and but the voice didn't calm down and I realized that and I created it. I'm not blaming anyone like I've no blame for anyone, but the radio persona of Kate McGuire is fun and she's crazy and she parties all the time. And there's always weird, crazy things happening to her. And no one wanted to date that girl like it. Or the guys that did were not good guys, let's say that. And so. But I also realized being on the radio, especially in an amazing city like Boise, is that you? You do get recognized a lot. And I did not ever learn how to turn it off. So when I was so the person on the radio always had fun stories to share and something that happened like I could take and and I hope this doesn't sound like I'm gloating, but I think one of my superpowers is I can take a minuscule moment at a grocery store and share it in a way that makes everyone laugh. Yes. And so I was constantly like, oh, that was funny. Like, I got to go write this. I kept notepads everywhere of, like, things to bring back to the station. Unfortunately, that's also how I dated. So like the genuine behind the scenes Kate Maguire, no one ever got to know her because I was constantly working in my head of how to make the show funny the next day, and just so I can set the record straight, I never talked about the guy went out with on Friday night. On Monday, I talked about that guy six months later on a Monday. But I did give it some time so that we had enough separation, that he didn't listen anymore and he wasn't worried I was going to embarrass him. And I never used names, but the stuff he did was funny enough. I had to share it eventually, so that's why I kept notebooks. But I realized, oh my gosh, I, I don't know how to be off. And people think that means, like, I was faking it on the radio. I wasn't I was just always working. Yeah, I was always working in my brain. So around 38 I was like, I don't know how to I don't know how to not be on. I didn't I'd been doing radio since I was 18. Like, I was just like, how do I do this? And so then the little thread started of what if you walked away from radio? What if you weren't on the radio anymore? What if you got more in touch with the quiet side of Kate? And that quiet side got real loud? And then and then I, I did, I shared it, I shared it with my co-host first and he was great. We cried, and then because we were, I was with the same co-host for all 16 years and so and then I shared it with management in a very vulnerable way of this is what I'm feeling. And I wasn't supported in that moment like I had hoped, and I was asked to kind of bottle that and it'll go away. It's probably hormones. That's how women feel like this room of men telling me how women feel. So I, I oblige. I have trouble saying no. So then the feeling didn't go away. It just kept getting stronger. And then it was two months out from when I had to sign my contract, and then I just submitted my letter of resignation and they really thought I was nuts because we were number one. I was the number one rated female DJ in the state, and we winning all these awards. And I was like, I gotta go. And they just thought I was insane. So I stand in awe, truly. Thank you. I, I think that that voice and that thing that gets louder and louder, I think we women are really good. And maybe it's just humans in general. I just know as a female, definitely. It's very we're really good at to sing. You know, I don't think I hear that, I don't that's a mirage. That's, because I've got this, this and this and it's I know I'm I'm going to just ignore that. I think we're really good at that. And it's so true. And I not to cut you off. I, I realized I couldn't tell a lot of people and I went through that on my own making that decision. I didn't want anyone else's opinion because the few people I did share it with when I'm like, I think in order to find love, because at 38, and especially as I approach 40, I realized I might not get to be a mom. Like there was physical limitations on that story in my life, and I was heartbroken about it. But I was like, I do not believe I'm going to be alone the rest of my life. Like as humans were meant to share this with someone else and I truly believe that. But I also. So when I would share this story with, you know, with people like, hey, I think I'm going to like blow up my radio career. And they would tell me, like, I'm looking for love and, well, the right guy doesn't care what you do for a living. And I'm like, wrong. When you were on a mic five days a week talking about your personal life like and then now knowing my husband, he, he told me he's like I never would have approached you in your radio life. He is such an introverted, quiet man that the whole scene I like, I laugh picturing him at Boise Music Festival. Never like we wouldn't have met and we are meant to be together. Like I get why God made me wait to meet him, but it wouldn't have happened. And so I realized when people are like, oh, the right guy doesn't care what you do for a living. And I was like, stop talking to people. Make this decision on your own. There's too much noise. Again, phenomenal. Oh thank you, I hope I hope there are lots and lots of people that will listen to this podcast because, because of that, there's a that's we're constantly shutting that down. And I love the fact that it's I think it's a tendency to to ask people and throw it. Yeah. And when you're not getting the right answer sometimes like, oh, well, they may be no better than I do even though it's your life. Yeah. So it's very strange that we do that on occasion, but, Bravo. Oh well thank you. I think if I can share a lesson of that is like one of the biggest things I wanted out of sharing, like with the people I worked with, was to be heard. I remember sharing, I was like, my candle is burning out, I'm fried. I worked day and night. I remember changing into a bridesmaid stress in a gas station in Ontario to make a wedding after handing out Boise Music Festival tickets. I'm like, this is ridiculous. Like they're I need help, like. And I remember asking and I wasn't heard. And so it was like, you want to be heard, but not everyone is going to hear you. And here's the thing is that and looking back now, those people didn't want to hear what I had to say because they liked the they were comfortable with me in my role. Help to them. Yeah. And so you have to realize that you have to protect who you share things with because people might give you advice based on them. They want to be comfortable. They don't want to rock the boat, they don't want to disrupt anything. And they might not even realize they're doing it. I mean, it could be your mom or your sister, but they're like, what? I mean, I remember my sister thought I was going to go broke. She's like, you can't do this. I'm like, why watch me? Watch me jump out of the tree house? Like, game on. Yeah. So yeah. So, so can you tell us about meeting your husband? Do you feel comfortable doing that? Okay. Oh, yeah. There's no. I'm like, I need to know the story. I got it, I know, so I left radio and I was so excited to get quiet and just be a normal person. And I immediately went into professional counseling, which is probably great. I was probably very helpful. It was. But I think the thing I thought radio made me like on and going 100 miles an hour, I can't tell you the heartbreak. It was the moment I realized I was wired that way. It wasn't radio that made me that way. And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm like this all the time. Like I'm constantly doing things and I can't sit still. And I thought the radio made me tired. I make myself tired like I always am doing something so in after way. After I left radio, I was like, I'm just going to get quiet and do like simple thing. I couldn't, I couldn't sit still. So I did go to counseling and, I'm a huge advocate of counseling, but I just really wanted to get comfortable. I was physically uncomfortable trying to figure out who I was outside of radio. Radio was a huge piece of my identity, and so I was just trying to figure that out. Navigate what? That look like. I took a job with the county. They know this. I took it because it sounded so painfully boring that I thought having a boring work life might get me a personal life. And kudos to them. It did. So I took the job at the county, which, by the way, I. I joke about the county, I think I was I loved my time at the county because, I learned so much about our county government and what amazing work those people do and how different it is from city government. And I don't think the people get enough credit for what they do. It's just amazing of all the things that the county. So I went to the county and I did. I had a boring job. I made other people. I was the public information officer, so I was behind the scenes helping others in the spotlight. Wow. So yeah, it was a whole new change for me and it was a great place to catch my breath. And so and in that time then, it was like a year and a half after I'd been off the radio and I finally decided at I was approaching. Was it? No, I'd already turned 40, so I turned 40. That year. And then I decided to do online dating. Finally, after being single for I say 25 years because I did start dating at 15. I'm sorry if you're like, cringing at the thought of your daughter's dating at 15, but, and so yeah, I got online and I was on there. It was my first week on Match.com, and it was my husband's last week of his three month trial or whatever he had done. Wow. And we connected. I remember seeing his picture, but I'd learned if you clicked on the picture, it would tell them you clicked. And I had this thing of I'm not making the first move, not even the first click. But I remember like I was like, oh, that guy is so hot. And then he, well, I should back up because if anyone's listening that is online dating, let me just tell you this. Like I had written a thousand profiles and I had also bent myself into a million pretzels dating in the years prior to that. And finally, in this with the profile I posted, I was just honest. I was like, yes, I do want to be married. Yes, I hope to have kids because in dating people they would be like, why do you want to get married? Because most of the men I dated had been married and divorced and did not have a good taste about it. And so they were like, you want to get married? Like, why? And oh, I already have three kids. And so I would tune that down. You know, I had China and then I started in my, like, I call my dark days of dating. They'd be like, do you want to get married? I'm like, well, I don't know. Yes, I did, I did want to be married. So in my online profile, I was just honest about it. I was like, this is who I am. Like, I want to be married, I want to have kids. And I laid it out there, obviously not in some aggressive, man hating way. And my husband, he did message me like right at the end of that first week. And he was like, your profile is completely intimidating. I'm game. And I was like, oh my God, because I had heard forever, you're too intimidating. You're too intimidating. Like, God bless him, Larry Gebhardt I will never I laugh still to this day. We were standing in the radio station kitchen one day and he was like, Kate, you're too funny. Men don't like funny women. Stop being funny. He was like, no one's going to marry you. You're too funny, you're too intimidating. And I love Larry. And so but I heard it all the time. So then my husband sensing this message, and I was like, oh, yes. And then we did, like, two weeks of love letters. You will like we messaged on match and we wrote like we he would only be able to write me like at the end of his workday. And then you'd write me this really long letter or email, whatever you call it. And then I would write back and then it would take another day to get one. It wasn't this quick texting, it was like, so we truly, in those first couple of weeks, really got to know each other. And then we decided to meet. And, it was like, I, I remember watching him walk in and I was like, I'll cry saying this. I was like, thank you, God, I get it. Like, I get why you made me wait. And then on the second day, he accidentally texted the wrong girl that because he he was still dating others, which I was too. But it's funny, like if your online dating you have to assume that other people are dating. But he did. He sent me this message about like where to go at the restaurant. And I remember just being devastated. I was like, oh my gosh, like, he's going out again tonight. And I was so sad. But then he reached out again and we went out and finally we had a conversation. I was like, aren't you dating other people? He's like, no, I know, I messaged you that I, I, we never acknowledged it until that moment. He yeah, it was funny. So. And you you said earlier that he's very different personality wise. So different. And that's how my wonderful client is, where we are polar opposites in our personalities. And I laugh about when I was younger and him too. We never would have dated each other because we never would have appreciated each other, would have been like, you're too weird. Yeah, both of us are rough. He said that about each other, and now that we're more mature, we did find each other later in life. And I can't even imagine, like, life is so much easier with a yin yang situation, with him filling in all the places that I'm bad at and me filling in the things that he's not good at. And so tell me about your situation. Does it feel like that is what it does? Yeah, we we are so different and and you know what? Like playing off of what you said like I think and there are people that and God bless you that met when you were 18. You've never not been with your person. And it works and it clicks and they've seen you through all phases of life like, but I have. I look back and I'm like, thank goodness he didn't meet me in my 20s like you do. Trainwreck detail. And I needed to be a train wreck to get it out of my system. Like, I don't need a girls night now. I mean, yes, I need it every once in a while. I'd rather be at home playing Yahtzee with my seven year old or my husband. Like I. I'm not missing anything, but he definitely would have a different version of me at that point. And so I'm like, I love that we met when we did. I call it our connection point. Like our connection point was at the right time. Like, I don't ever have to wonder, like, oh, what would have happened with my career? Oh, could I have been number one on the radio like all of that? Check check check. And so but we are so different. And he's very quiet. He's introverted. He he's very he thinks like an engineer. He's not. He's a contractor. But he is just so black and white and things so literal and my husband too. Yeah. Like and the, the adjustment of like, I make a joke about absolutely everything. I have self-deprecating sense of humor. Like, to him, he's so literal that he's like, wait, what? Like so but yeah, we I mean, it's it's different. It's I remember I had a thing for a really big thing. I didn't purposely go out and attract it, but apparently my soul was looking for non commitment men and like men who couldn't communicate properly. And I'll never forget the first time my husband, like we had just moved in with each other and he grabbed my hand. He's like, I don't feel like we're communicating enough and like your eye contact isn't. You're not looking at me. I was like, this is physically uncomfortable. What is this healthy human that I just moved in with? Like, he was so, like, everything I'd ever wanted. And then you get it, and I'm like, what do I do with it? Like what I contact, like intimacy. Like, what am I? We we definitely do need to hang out because we've got some stories to tell. I totally agree with that. I yeah, I don't know how how I lucked out and I don't know how something changed inside me that I ever even saw him. Do you know what I mean? Yes, because shopped at the same grocery. We live five minutes apart. Really shopped at the same grocery store. We went to the same neighborhood bar. He used to work at Brundage Mountain, where he took my university ski trips, and he was like, were you the girl with the big busload of people? Like, how did we not like it's so crazy, so cool. I love thinking back on and sometimes comes on. I'll be like, well, we'll realize we were in the same place at the same time in prior years. I'm like, oh, we may have like, what if we walk past each other? What if we like? We just, you know, we'll never know. But but we did the same thing because he's a, you know, he's a native and we grew up around here. So we feel like we probably did come across each other. But and I don't you think like I say this because people still like ask me about like dating and meeting someone later in life. And I'm like, your person isn't ready for you yet. Because now knowing my husband's story and seeing mine like we were two parallel trains going and doing our own things, it wasn't that God or the universe had forgotten about me. He just wasn't ready for me to have this person because this person wasn't ready for me yet. Like, it's sometimes you feel forgotten or like I'm never going to meet the right guy or I'm never going to find them. They're just not ready yet. Yeah, your story hasn't hit that chapter. That's why I said yeah. And because once I met him, I was like, oh, that's what you were doing these last 15 years that I was dreaming of you like thou. That's it. And I think this is a great segue to talk about, because you're now an entrepreneur, you're doing various things. Can we talk about your podcast? Yes. Because it it deals in talking about men that you dated prior. Yes, yes, yes. Delightfully funny. And it just takes me back to the days that I would tune in in the morning time, because your stories are so wonderful. What made you think about doing this? And then tell us about the journey. So I had when I was in the throes of being single and sucking my thumb and crying, that I was never going to meet someone. I was like, I was looking for. I always want like a roadmap of, like someone who went before me and did something. And so I read so many dating self-help books, and I really wanted the story of the woman, as I got older, of the woman who was older and found love finally, and I could not find it. I mean, there are books out there, but she, like, still lives with her parents. She's never kissed a man like I was a sexually active 30 year old woman. And I'm like, where's that girl story? Like, I want something to relate to. And so, I just swore to myself, I'm like, if this ever does happen for me, I'm going to share my story so someone else doesn't feel as alone as I do. And then because my passion, I love to write, but then I also I miss radio. And so I was like, oh, I'll do a podcast. And my husband built me a podcast studio in our garage. And, and then Jody helped with the, everything else the, the technical side of it. And so and then I did I just wanted to tell my story. And one of the things about our show was that I never I, I had a, I had all these rules. I was like, okay, if we're dating, I want, we have to be dating six months and then I have to give you a nickname and then I'll tell a story about you. But the perception was I talked about the guys. It wasn't really the guys I was dating. It was just they happened to be with me when something crazy and funny happened that I wanted to share on the radio, so I had to give them a nickname to be like, okay, so I was with Jody and so and so and then this happened and their name would come up. But the perception always was the story was about them. It wasn't. It was something that happened to me. But. So they had to have a nickname. We had we've been dating six months and then, there weren't that many guys that got nicknames, honestly. Like, I did not have a lot of long term relationships, but anyways. But then when we broke up, I would come in the next morning and I would say to Mike and Jodi, we were never speaking of his name again, ever. Don't ever don't. And they knew what happened. I mean, they knew all the nitty gritty, but I'm like, we're not sharing this. We're not talking about him. Don't ever bring his name up again. And I was like, and we move on and we would. And the poor 12 listeners were like, wait, what happened? Like you, I thought you were in love, were cheering for you. And I would cut them off at the knees and I'd be like, nope. And they'd asked me on the street and I would just be like, I don't know. Like, I think he moved. Like I did not want to talk about it. And it was honestly because I was upset and I didn't want to, like, show that weepy, sad side. I also have a lot of pride. I did not want that guy to know that he did hurt me, and so I would never talk about it again. So in my podcast, like I talked about this with my husband because like I said, he didn't know Radio Kate and I was like, I feel like in order to do justice for this podcast, I have to share these stories. Like because it it helps people realize, oh, I'm not the only one that makes bad decisions when it comes to dating. And so I just dedicated a whole season to it. And I everyone had a nickname, and so there was no identifying factors. And here's always my thing to if you want to go tell your friends what your nickname is, that's up to you. But like, I'm not there's no like grid at the bottom of the podcast. It's like, here's who this is and here's who this is. So but it was, again, not about the guy so much, but about my decisions and dating. And I finally, if you haven't listened to it like it fills in all the gaps of like who it was that broke my heart and along the way and the heart and how hard it was to be in the public eye and, you know, have something not work out. Yeah, I don't think I knew it at the time, but I'm realizing now, as you're saying it, when you would tell stories, I realized that you did that without shame. And I think for me, as a woman dating, there's a lot of shame. Oh, what a shame I had. You had a bad one night stand situation and all the shame and all that. I don't deserve to date anybody. And I love all. I mean, all the things that I would pull on myself. And I think that's part of the reason why we became such fast friends. I named my shame. Her name is Beverly. She accompanies me so just know. Yeah, I get the shame thing, but. But you made it not feel shameful. You made it like this was an. It was. This is a story. It is something that took place period. And a paragraph. There's no I'm not going to throw. Shame on it. You're not going to create something that's not here. It just is just how it is. Oh my gosh, you're gonna make me cry. Because that was my whole motivation. It is like that. I just I always wanted to tell my story. And like I said, it started as a wish for a book. And then now it's a podcast. And it was just you're not alone. Like, this is hard. Yeah, dating is hard. I think social media and texting and all the things have changed the way, not just dating with the way we communicate as humans, and it's made it so much harder to get to that vulnerability of people where I think that is the level we connect. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it absolutely is. And it's different and it's hard. And I mean, I always joke, I started dating when there was a phone on the wall in my kitchen, and then I had to navigate online dating like it's I went through it all. Yeah. Again, what a shift. I mean, I think about that in my what? My daughter is so different than me than what I went through. And so a lot of the advice that I give is, is irrelevant at this point for honest, it's it's hard. It is hard. And I think that was also what I was looking for. I didn't I felt so alone because most of everyone I hung around with was married with kids. And they and I'll never forget, I know this woman. If she's listening, I feel awful if she feels bad. But I got a call one day on the show and they were like, oh my gosh, Kate on our Saturday night poker game, we were all sitting around. We just can't figure out what's wrong with you. Like, why are you still single? And she meant it as a compliment. Like, we think you're so great, but it's stuck with me forever. Like these people that I actually physically don't meet, know are sitting at their own home wondering like if there's like, I have a third nipple, like it was like. So it stuck with me for so long. And so I always think about that, like, I want to share stories with people. So, like, I'm not alone. I'm not odd. I'm not strange. I'm. There's nothing wrong with you. You're just you're at a different chapter. Yeah. And so you're a gift. Oh. Thank you. I just yeah. I'm having so much fun. Me too. Okay. I need to, acknowledge our sponsor, but before I do, I, I want to I don't want to leave anything out because I know that there are other things you're doing. We do want to give a just a quick and quick round out of some of the things that you're working on right now. Yes. Thank you for that. So, I am a realtor. I went and got my real estate license when I was like 8 or 9 months pregnant. Let me tell you how fun that is. Wow. So, yeah. So I had a baby at 41, got my real estate license, got married at 44, if anyone's doing the math. And, Yeah. So, yeah, I've been doing that, and I, I love it because it's a way I can connect with people. I realized that was one of my superpowers with radio was connecting with people. I just connect on a different level of what it is. It's houses. And, but I'm still in a place of service. And it also, it puts me in, you know, my definition of success these days is standing at the bus stop in the morning and standing at the bus stop in the afternoon and being able to have dinner with my family. And so I'm like, I'm a huge success. Yes, in real estate allows me to do that. So, I love that. So great. Yeah. So great. You are you're such a powerful woman. As I'm watching and hearing the story unfold in that you have made such deliberate choices in your life. And that's hard. It's hard. It's a very hard. But pivot. Don't be afraid to pivot no matter what age you are. Do it like pivot. We're talking to you. Yes. Pivot okay. Now I'm going to acknowledge our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Zamzows, your local source for garden Pet and Planet Friendly products as a thank you to our Nobody Knows listeners, use Code Kate at checkout at Zamzows.com and you can receive 10% off your online order. The discount applies automatically and is valid online only, and does exclude lawn programs. And it will run through June 30th, 2026. You can also buy online and pick up in-store if you like. You can pick up at any of our 12 Treasure Valley locations. So this at Zamzows dot com. And let's grow something good. Nobody knows like Zamzows. We're going to shift gears. Let's do it. We're shifting to sharing is caring okay a little more rapid fire okay. But you know you have to tell me that because I will just talk, talk, talk so you can corral me. I forgot to preface that at the start. Put a boundary on it, corral it. Yeah. Hi. I am so glad there was no corralling at the beginning of this. This has been such a great conversation. And and you all what you've done is just solidified the fact that we have been friends all these decades. We have. You just didn't know it. That's it. That's we are physical friends now. Yes, yes, this is great. I love it. Okay. How about a leader or a mentor that you look up to? Oh, Let's see. I, I don't know if she's known here in the Treasure Valley. Her name is Susie Warden. Colorado State alum. Went into radio. She does mid days in Denver. She is a realtor, and she's also the sideline reporter for the Denver Broncos. And she has a podcast and it's called cut, traded, retired or Fired. She interviews professional athletes and coaches. And I really love it because again, I don't I don't it sounds weird. Like I'm attracted to failure. I'm not. But like in a world where the only thing we see on social media is people's best. I love hearing the struggle and how they overcame it, and it's just and I'm, I'm from Colorado. I'm a huge Denver sports fan. So she interviews these people that I grew up loving and hearing, oh my gosh, that guy was devastated. When he got cut, he picked himself up. He figured it out. He continued playing like, I, I love that comeback story. So but Susie Warren is her name, and she's just been a great mentor in how to be like, the radio life, the realtor life, the mom life, the wife life. She's just been a huge advocate and cheerleader and mentor. For me, that's great. Yeah. Good answer. How about a piece of advice that we give someone navigating dating in their 30s or 40s? Listen to your gut. When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. Do not get hooked on the woo! I called the woohoo the first six weeks, but wherever your timeline is, when someone shows you who they are, that's their true self. Walk away. There's no magic trick that's going to change them back into the the person you first met. Like keep walking. Like it's better to be alone than to put up with the person that doesn't treat you right or doesn't ring your bells or whatever it is. But listen to your gut like I just fully believe that I wish I had. That is like you don't have regret because all my stories got me to where I am and all my experiences. But there are some people that I allowed to stay in my life for way too long, and they should have been cut off much sooner. Yeah, that was a goofy look on my face while you were saying that way. So I literally was like thinking back on like, Yeah. If they don't like your dog they're not a good human. Let's just say that. Oh yeah I think that's true. Yes. Like the animals very often know. Oh they know. But yeah if they're like just don't let people take up so much space for too long if they're not worthy. Yeah that's good. That's good advice. How about a favorite book a podcast. Oh you did say podcast. But how about a favorite book or a quote that has influenced you? Oh gosh, there's so many books that I will say, I think we were talking about this before we started. The Let Them theory has been a great guide. I have a huge girl crush on Mel Robbins. I read that book last year, I love it. One of the quotes that I heard recently is that, relationships are not defined, or the value of a relationship is not defined by our availability. And I think that one has really stood out to me recently, especially as like a wife, a mother. I recently moved my own mother here from Colorado. I run my own business, and I just have felt pulled in a thousand directions and someone was like, it's not defined by the amount of your availability. It's. You can define your relationship in other ways, you know? And so I loved that, that that's been something that's been on my mind for like the last month. Yeah. That that's good. Yeah. Because I and also like you can have a relationship with someone but not make yourself fully available to the like if in relationships that we need to have maybe not so much we want to have, we can make ourselves available to that person, but we don't have to do it in such a all encompassing way that it it gets in there and messes us up, if that makes sense, because there's just some people we have to interact with that we might not enjoy. A fully right. I might be related to us. Oh yes. Okay, that'll be the next part. Yeah. All right. It is now the part of the show that we ask the same question of all of our guests to kind of tie the both. Okay. So the question is this what is something that nobody knows. This was tough because I listened to your podcast. So I figured this question was coming. And so, I was like, what? I feel like I'm an open book. I feel like I've shared it all. But then I was like, well, there's ten years of my life that I haven't shared at all. But it was so funny. What came to mind is, and this might be shocking to some, I do not sit in silence. Ever. I do not like to be left alone with my thoughts. So I always have background TV on. I always am listening to a podcast or a book or dateline. Like I always have something playing in my car, in the shower, while I'm making lunches in the morning, while I'm working in my office. There's a background TV show that I've seen a thousand times that won't distract me. It drives my husband insane. He's like, what about music? I'm like, no, no, no, I could tune that out and get in my thoughts real good. He's like, what? I'm like. I spent 20 years in radio. I never heard any of the music like music is not. It has to be like a TV show or a story. I love stories, but I don't like being alone with my thoughts. That is interesting because I can go to some crazy places. It makes me. I say this sometimes it'd be kind of fun to be in somebody's brain. Not all for a long period of time, but just for a moment or two. It would be kind of fun to be in your brain, I feel like, do you know what just came into my head when you said that Chevy Chase squirrel like that is what my brain is like. Haha. What a fabulous way to kind of wrap up this conversation. I think I I this has been so I think very soul satisfying for me on many levels. Number one, confirming that you really are my best friend. I love you. You just didn't know it. And then learning that a human can be like you because you are this very unique person who is able to do things that I think a lot of people are not able to do in being able to just decide that you want something and, and tune out everybody else and make it happen and then have it actually happen. I that's, that's money. Like, that's, that is magic. And and you're just living it. Thank you. It's awesome. I believe it can happen to everyone. It's just that fear that gets us. Yeah. Yeah. Well be more afraid of the unknown of if it didn't happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I had I had another quote I heard just a wrap up was that, we always think of, like, the worst case scenario and what's the worst thing that could happen? But what if we switched it? What if it the best thing happened? Oh, that's that's brilliant. You're right. Yeah. Our brains naturally. Just go to the the worst. The dark side again. Why? I have background noise in everything I do. Okay. Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking time out of your day to do this and to share I, I truly this is one of those the podcast I hope that are many, many women listening to. But men to get a chance to listen to this and hear the story because it's wonderful. Oh thank you. It's very uplifting and it's inspiring. Thank you. It's such an honor to be here. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. If you enjoyed today's conversation, follow the podcast and leave a review. Next week we'll hear from another incredible voice shaping the treasure Valley. And until then, thanks for listening.