She's a different kind of a shock jock. She uses the three-letter word many radio station managers wish she wouldn't say: God.

        “My bosses would prefer that I talk about anything but God — but I'm making them very much money,” says Delilah , the Seattle-based soft rock disc jockey heard 7 p.m.-midnight on WRRM-FM (98.5).

        Delilah is a shocking change in a radio industry filled with Howard Stern, Bob & Tom and their crass imitators. She talks about her faith in God during her national love songs request show. She talks about her six children (ages 2-16), three of whom were adopted.

Radio personality Delilah was in Cincinnati promoting her book. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        And she always urges her 7 million listeners to Love Somebody Today, which is the title of her book (Fireside Hardcover; $20).

        “The airwaves are filled with profanity, and alcohol advertising, and songs that glorify violence and rape,” says Delilah, 41, who was at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Norwood on Monday.

        “So I try to reclaim for God what he created to do good.”

        In her 25-year radio career, the Oregon native has been a country, jazz, hard and soft rock DJ. She's worked overnight and weekends, done airborne traffic and commercials. She's also been fired 11 times.

        Seventeen years ago, Delilah decided to open the phone lines and talk to listeners before playing their requests. She began syndicating the show from Rochester, N.Y., to three stations in 1996. It has grown to 212 “in all 50 states, and three provinces in Canada,” since moving back to Seattle in late 1996.

        Station managers love her ratings, even if they aren't crazy about her conversation topics.

        “I've often been told to shut up about my kids and about God, because it doesn't work (in the ratings),” she says. “But here's the thing I tell them: If your way worked, you wouldn't need me. Just shutting up and playing the songs doesn't work. It's boring, boring, boring.”

        She talks to about 150 callers a night, but only a small percentage gets on the air. While working in Boston, she played a request for a man named Doug, who had been injured on the lobster docks. They later met and married. He gave up his career to raisetheir two biological children, three adopted children, and her teen-age son from a previous marriage.

        Delilah estimates that between 60,000 and 120,000 people try to call her show nightly. She also receives thousands of e-mails and letters every day.

        “Anytime I air any call, I think: Will this touch somebody's heart in a bigger way?” she says.

        Among those at the bookstore to meet Delilah was Michelle Jackson of Delhi Township, who has listened since WRRM-FM debuted the show in April 1999. “She's great to listen to. She's a great inspiration,” Ms. Jackson says.

        “She can make bad days good,” says Mary Lou Donoghue of Norwood, another loyal listener.

        Tristate fans were fortunate to be able to meet Delilah in person. She's visiting only a few cities, not wanting to be away from her family, especially her little ones.

        “I told them I didn't want to be gone more than two nights at a time,” she says.

        While in Cincinnati, Delilah met with a bus load of fans who drove here from Evansville, Ind. Several stations flew groups to Atlanta on Sunday to see her.

        “It's the first time I've been away since my baby was born,” she says of Zach, 2. “It's been tough.”

        Her assistant says Delilah was in tears leaving her Seattle home, knowing she would miss her daughter's last day of kindergarten.

        “As much as I love my listeners,” Delilah says, “I don't want to be away from my babies.”

        Contact John Kiesewetter by phone: 768-8519; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jkiesewetter@enquirer.com.
       

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