One Mom’s Magic
How a mid-life career offers the best of both worlds for Leza Lachapelle Dandos

 By Susan Hampton

 It started as one broadcast in the afternoons, just five stories a day on the air at Magic 99.1. The job was just what Leza Lachapelle Dandos went looking for after a seven-year break from the working world, when her youngest daughter started school.

 “It was the last day of summer, and I thought, ‘I’m going to be so bored with the girls gone.’ I was looking through the paper and there was an ad for a part-time broadcaster at a radio station,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Hey! Maybe I could get a part-time job, just a little something extra to keep me busy.’”

One month later, Leza’s little part time job flourished into a full-time career, when a sudden promotion dubbed her the station’s news director and, less than a year later, the co-host and producer of a new morning show, “Magic in the Morning with Ron and Leza.”

She hasn’t had a moment to be bored ever since. Cheered on by her husband, Scott, and daughters Dempsey, 10, and Delaney, 8, this 39-year-old full-time working mom has the “magic” touch for re-entering the workforce in a new mid-life career.

 “At first it was a little hard, but the fact the girls could hear me on the radio helped a lot. They were so proud. They thought that it was really cool, that their mom was on the radio,” Leza said. “They are very strong independent little people. If they weren’t, I don’t think I could do this as easily as I do.”

If you call living on less than six hours sleep a night and getting up at 2:30 a.m. every morning easy – Leza’s upbeat attitude has everything to do with the fact that “the magic” that makes this work for her is her family.         

The decision to return to full-time didn’t take much soul-searching for Leza. Undaunted by the schedule, She saw the early-morning hours as a rare opportunity to do something she loved without the typical sacrifice of family time. “I never considered myself a morning person at all, but now I love this schedule. I love getting in before anyone else.”

  Leza, the daughter of a career football coach, graduated from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism with a major in Broadcast Journalism. She originally set out to be a sportscaster and ultimately became a television broadcaster when she moved to Prescott sixteen years ago. Leza worked at KUSK-TV (now AZTV) as a production manager and anchored a 5-minute newscast called Take Five. After Leza became a mother, she decided to reduce her position at the station to part-time, only producing and delivering the news, until her second daughter was born when she eventually left the job altogether to be a stay at home mom.

  A job in radio broadcasting wasn’t a big stretch from television broadcasting, but it was new territory for Leza. “Radio is more theater of the mind, it’s all about the spoken word,” she said, which was very different from the visual focus of television where video, graphics, makeup, hair and wardrobe were as important as the show content.

At Magic 99.1, Leza is responsible for researching state and local news, as well as preparing the morning show content and tidbits, like “Leza’s Impossible Trivia” and “The Top 5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day” every morning. Her target audience is a cross-section of adults ages 25-64, a large part of which are women. The family friendly content of the soft-rock station is right on target with where she is as a mom and a career woman. She digs being “in the know” and especially being the source of information for her community and interacting with listeners.

“Leza really connects with our listeners,” said coworker Suzanne Butler. ”She is a fun and approachable entertainer.”

In fact, she likes just about everything about her job, even the hours that most of us would consider less than desirable.

“Surprisingly, what I like most about my job is the hours,” she said. “I am able to have a career that I love without missing out on being a mom. It is wonderful to be able to work full time and still be home when my kids get out of school. A little sleep is a small sacrifice for getting the best of both worlds.”

By the time people tune in to hear Leza and her co-host, Ron Reigns, she has been up and going for four hours. Her day starts at 2:30 a.m., when she arrives at the station she begins researching and writing up the day’s newscasts, which start at 5:30 a.m.

“It’s amazing,” said Reigns. “By the time I get here she’s busy working. Her attitude is almost always positive, and that helps my attitude.”

Back at home, Scott, who has owned and operated Prescott Glass and Mirror for twelve years, gets the girls up and ready for school. The whole family listens to Mom on the radio, occasionally calling in to join the morning banter. Eldest daughter Dempsey introduces the morning trivia quiz. The girls frequently help Mom by lending their voices to commercials. It’s all part of the fun of having a mom in radio for Dempsey and Delaney. Neither are interested in a career in broadcasting though, Dempsey eyes a career in teaching, and Delaney is considering becoming a veterinarian.

Leza enjoys the spontaneous interaction with others that radio offers and the chance to peek into their thoughts. She frequently calls on other family members to contribute on the air. Brother Bill in Phoenix calls in with “reasons to be thankful you are in Prescott and not Phoenix.” Even Leza’s parents listen to the show, via live webcast, every day from their home in Carefree and send daily comments by e-mail.  Leza’s Dad, by the way, commutes to Prescott from Carefree several times a week during football season to volunteer as a coach at Prescott High School. (The Dandos family hasn’t missed a PHS game in 10 years!)

As most working women admit, “The biggest challenge I have is being tired in the evening,” Leza said, and reluctantly shares her secret: a nap before her girls get home from school. “When they get home, I have to be fresh and be ready for dinner, and homework, and bed time. It does catch up with you by the end of the day.”

And at the end of that day, Leza never forgets that she gets to do what she loves because of the people who love her.

“The only way it is possible is because my husband is so supportive, he gets the girls up and gets them going in the morning. I don’t think every husband would do that. I think I have a really special guy who realizes this is what it takes for us to do what we love to do. I feel really fortunate because I am doing what I love to do.”

When asked what she hopes to be doing in ten years from now she replied,

“This is it, I love this career! I love radio. It’s wonderful!”

 Published in Prescott Woman, June 2007, Cover Story p. 34