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Show Holy Toledo! Ohioan Deborah Gassidy is a classic on Park City's radio station I '"s.' , V-.' ''!: - Y- ... i -' . jtw" "' ,ld- : , j ? by JIM SMEDLEY Record staff writer Deborah Cassidy is having fun. KPCW's classical and rock disc jockey, bookkeeper, programmer, interviewer extrordinaire, public service announcement editor and mother of two is in love with this little lit-tle ski resort town she discovered four years ago. And it shows. However, it must be rembered that her name is Deborah. That's D-E-B-O-R-A-H. It's neither Debbie nor Deb. It is Deborah. The biblical Deborah. Deborah "Don't Call Me Debbie" Cassidy arrived in Park City in 1981 mainly to ski. She worked at Deer Valley in the personnel office and with the mountain operation office. Then, in 1981, a girlfriend with ' whom she had come to Utah took over Judy McMahon's spot as DJ for the classical music show on Park City's commmunity radio station. However, her friend was only staying stay-ing through the ski season. "Just before she left, she suggested sug-gested that I take over the show," Cassidy said, "So I called the station and told them I wanted to do the classical show. I ended up doing alternating shows with (KPCW classical music announcer) Charles Latterner." Cassidy also changed jobs at the . end of the ski season, leaving Deer Valley for a teller position at Summit Sum-mit Savings & Loan. She soon tired of being a teller and went back to Deer Valley to work as a computer processor. Although her main job shifted about, she maintained a steady relationship rela-tionship with KCPW, doing the classical show and some typing. The KPCW door opened for Cassidy in February 1983, when full-time business manager George Ricker left. "The station needed to have five full-time employees to qualify for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting funding," Cassidy said. "So Blair (Feulner, station manager) asked me if I wanted to take his place. So I : Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon. Debbie, er, Deborah took a roun-dabout.route roun-dabout.route to Utah. She was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, where she was married and had two . . children. She worked for the same department store for nine years in Toledo Although she is not a sports enthusiast, she followed the Toledo Mud Hens, a minor league baseball . team! for nine years. And then, Holy Toledo! She grew tired of Toledo. "From Ohio, I went to Winter Park, Colorado, to ski. I was a ski bum. I worked at a ticket counter . and then as a waitress," she said. "After that, I went to Ohio State. Then I said to myself, 'I don't want to do this either.' So then it was off to Santa Barbara, where I worked for Delco Electronics for awhile." She finally reached Park City, : and, as far as she is concerned, this is home. Her daughters, Andrea, 16, and Danielle, 13, are still very much ' part of her life and Cassidy awaits the end of the school year because her daughters come to Park City for the summer. But, when she began doing radio here, ,she had a little problem to clear s up her name. Her married name was Vogelpohl. "Wheq I first read the news and had to say 'Vogelpohl,' I couldn't say it.It ' just didn't sound right," Cassidy. said. "So after the show, I was sitting in the Claimjumper having hav-ing ; a : glass of wine with Susan (Finegan) and Blair (Feulner) and we were trying to decide what a good name would be. v"WehI had fallen in love with Robert! Bedford and my favorite movie was 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'," she added. "My name couldn't be Deborah Butch, or Redford, or Newman or Sundance. When I finally hit on Deborah Cassidy, all our eyes lit up and I knew I had it then. I legally became Deborah Cassidy on Dec. 3 (this year)." And remember that's D-E-B-O-R-A-H, not Debbie. Right, Sundance? " i)!! ii 1 jlmSmedley On the air: Disc jockey Deborah Cassidy borrowed her last name from a famous Western outlaw. ,,(;..: ... :nil became responsible for the classical ' programing, bookkeeping and updating up-dating public service, an-: nouncements. f r ' "Also, if a DJ didn't show up, they p, " would come and get me to fill in. And that happened a lot those days,"shej: added. , ' ! ; She still has basically the same a jobs now as in 1983. However, the classical program was expand- : ed albeit a bit controversially in , 1984, when the 9 p.m.-to-midnjght t rock show was canceled and the 7: p.m.-tc9 p.m. classical show was , expanded to 7 to midnight. . "I've been trying to get more interesting in-teresting programming. We now feature the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Or-chestra concert series and have 'i;niusic from Interlaken," Cassidy said. "We also have the monthly feature 'The Children's Hour' and the bimonthly 'Curtain up on Broad- r way;' featuring selections from Broadway shows. vJ"Mike ' Phillips is also doing a ' series of interviews with Park City ' people," she added. "My goal is to ' make the classical program more interesting by providing special ' shows and incorporate other people, not just play classical music for five 'hours." She said she likes classical music, . but loves rock and roll. She does a rock show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday and is part of KPCW's "Morning After" crew on |