MW Radio icon Delilah shares why she hates spending money on 'everything' - and will never own a restaurant again

By Charles Passy

The 'queen of sappy love songs,' who has 8 million listeners, tells MarketWatch she'd rather put her money to use for charitable purposes

Who says traditional radio is dead? Certainly not Delilah and her 8 million-plus listeners.

Yes, Delilah, the 64-year-old radio icon who describes herself as the "queen of sappy love songs" and who offers her faithful audience a little hope and cheer alongside those tunes each night. Her career on the air has spanned roughly five decades, starting at a small Oregon station while she was still in her teens, before she eventually found her way to larger outlets.

By the mid '90s, Delilah - like Cher or Madonna, she goes by her first name only - became syndicated and today she is heard on more than 200 radio stations in the U.S., in addition to her overseas presence on the Armed Forces Network. Plus, she has her own channel on iHeartRadio $(IHRT)$ and a podcast, "Love Someone with Delilah."

But Delilah's approach, combining comfort-minded music and talk and allowing listeners to call in and share their love stories, was decidedly unconventional, which often landed her in trouble. As a New York Times story reported, "she once overheard [a radio] executive say, 'Can somebody just tell that broad to sit down, shut up and play the damn music!'"

Delilah has certainly reaped the benefits of her success. She calls home a sprawling farmhouse in Washington state and has a large family, including several adopted children. (She recently served Thanksgiving to more than 40 people.)

Delilah has been in New York City for the past week - she is taking part in an annual event Saturday at Central Park's Wollman Rink hosted by 106.7 LITE FM, which carries her program - and she stopped by the MarketWatch offices to chat with us. She shared details about her life and career, her views on money and her advice on how to navigate those potentially quarrelsome family holiday meals. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

MarketWatch: You've celebrated the holiday season on your radio program for years. Tell us what's so important to you about this time of year.

Delilah: Traditions. And keeping those bonds of love strong through the things you do, the memories you create. There are some traditions in my family that if I miss or screw up in the slightest the kids are like, "What happened here?" It keeps those threads of our family history going strong.

MarketWatch: What kind of threads?

Delilah: My gosh, we always have the same breakfast every Christmas morning. I have to make monkey bread. I have to make bacon. We have stockings. The kids get to open the stockings first before we wait for the rest of the family to arrive. And the stockings have to have certain things in them. There has to be an orange or a tangerine. These traditions are important to my kids.

MarketWatch: Let's talk a little about the about the business you're in. People have talked about the death of traditional radio for years and years.

Delilah: And yet 87% of Americans listen to radio. It's like: Why perpetuate this lie? It's the most consumed media on a daily basis. Hands down above any other form of media, every single day.

MarketWatch: Why do you think that is?

Delilah: People are used to it. I have generational listeners, I have grandparents, parents, children and now, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that listen to me, that come to my events, that seek out the radio show every single night. It's a part of their family routine.

MarketWatch: Who are your most requested artists and what are your most requested songs currently?

Delilah: Right now, during the holidays, Mariah [Carey] and Michael Bublé. Oh my gosh, he gets requested like 100 times a night every night. Overall, it's the strong love songs that tell a story. And as we go through different seasons those will vary a little bit, but a strong love song that tells a sweet story is going to win hands down.

MarketWatch: We're headed into the time of year when families will be gathering for holiday dinners. But we're also at a time when our country is deeply divided politically and socially. As someone who shares lots of advice, what's your suggestion for keeping the peace during the holiday meal?

Delilah: Shut your mouth! If what's coming out of your face isn't motivated by love, don't say it. You're not going to win an argument with somebody - if you are divided politically, if you are divided spiritually, whatever - by arguing that you are right, and they are wrong. The only way you will ever convince somebody to look at things your way is if you live a life that is filled with love, if you live a life of Integrity, if you live a life that glorifies something bigger than you, then you will lead them by example.

MarketWatch: What's the best piece of financial advice you've ever received?

Delilah: Probably from my dad. As a teenager, I worked all summer long to save up to buy a car. My dad would go to auctions and get cars for $200 or $300 and sell them to us kids. I wanted to buy a fancier car, and so I was talking about going and getting a loan. And my dad said "Honey, don't ever go in debt over something foolish. If you do, you are going to have to keep your job. And that means you're going to have to do what other people tell you to do. The minute you go into debt, you have to pay the man, you have to pay the bills and you will never be happy." And he was so right.

MarketWatch: What's the biggest financial mistake you've ever made? And what did you learn from it?

Delilah: Buying a restaurant when all I had ever done is wash dishes at a restaurant. I learned that when you own a little business, you have to be there 24/7. You cannot leave to go do a radio show.

MarketWatch: What do you hate spending money on?

Delilah: Everything. I am a spendthrift. I don't believe in designer anything. I drove my car for 20 years and put over 200,000 miles on it. I hate spending money, except on art supplies and anything at thrift stores and my grandkids. And boots. You can never own too many pairs of boots.

MarketWatch: I'm guessing with your income you can afford to shop at places other than thrift stores, though.

Delilah: You want the truth? Probably 90% of the goods in my house come from thrift stores. If I am spending $500 on a designer bag to make myself feel better than I don't have that $500 to spend on children in developing nations who will die from starvation within the next few weeks. It's a choice. Do I want to puff myself up for five minutes or whatever the dopamine hit lasts before I come down off that high, or do I want to do something that will save a life or change a life? So I'm going to thrift store and spending five dollars on a pocketbook makes a whole lot more sense to me.

MarketWatch: Do you think you'll ever retire?

Delilah: Well, my youngest son is 8, so that means to get him through college, I have to be on the air for at least probably 15, 16 more years. So once he's done with school and on his way in life, then I can think about that.

-Charles Passy

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December 07, 2024 08:05 ET (13:05 GMT)

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