If you mix an electric and charming personality with a flair for 1940’s and 50’s music and you dab a little bright red lipstick, you have Peggy Sue. She serves as the host of WPMD’s Wednesday’s 1 p.m. slot, Swingin’ With The World, a Cerritos College radio show dedicated to music stemming from the 40s and 50s.
Cerritos College’s own, was nominated for ‘Best Specialty Music Show’ by the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System after being on air for three years.
Among the music you can hear in Swingin’ With The World is big band, which was popular in the war era.
Peggy Sue strays from her strict two-decade spanning format to play music from modern bands inspired by the 40’s and 50’s such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
Genuinely animated, she talks about working alongside her co-host Johnny Ray, whose commentary on films of the 40’s and 50’s and fun facts about how these movies were made appear in his “Spotlight Corner” segment.
“Frank Sinatra!” She muses when talking about her inspirations.
Peggy Sue speaks of her three other inspirations Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey with nostalgia fit for an old soul, declaring that “they bring back an era where music was simpler, you didn’t even need words to communicate what you were feeling.”
This is the first time that Peggy Sue has been nominated for the IBS award and hopes that her unique brand of vintage programming will set her apart and earn her more nominations in the future.
“I feel very grateful that I have been nominated, they [IBS] said that there are four times more entries than last time,” the Cerritos graduate and Cal Tech biology major modestly stated.
“I just don’t know why it didn’t happen sooner,” said Dauvee Simon, a WPMD radio personality. “You don’t see someone her age, in her twenties doing big band.”
The WPMD personality’s former co-host & Radio Vice President Jade Sterling Simon shares that “Peggy Sue is thorough, I was her co-host for a while on her show and we would always have a plan on how the show was laid out. She always had an outline on how we would do things.”
“When she first got started she wasn’t sure if she could handle it, like myself, like pretty much everybody here. She wasn’t sure if she should pursue it or keep doing this, but she is a very good worker and she shines, she always shines,” Dauvee Simon added.
Peggy Sue encourages students who are interested in radio to “Take the jump, if you’re going to do it, take it, there’s no regrets! If you don’t know anybody, if you don’t know anything, just take it!”
