Herb Benham: It's morning -- not mournin -- for DJs
BENHAM: Relationship more mother-and-son
| Saturday, Apr 10 2010 09:00 AM
Last Updated Saturday, Apr 10 2010 09:00 AM
His cell phone isn't working, his car has been repossessed and friends have been stabbing him in the back.
So you want to be a star? Welcome to show business, in the person of Dustin Legan who has a resume most rappers would envy and a life story that would make Child Protective Services shudder.
Dustin is part of "Rachel and Dustin in the Morning," the popular brother-and-sister show
on 101.5, KGFM. Yes, popular. During the course of a week, more than 26,500 people listen to the soft rock show, which runs between 5 and 9 a.m. weekdays.
Dustin is like many of us. Sometimes familiarity leaves him numb to the charms of his job. He plays Chicago but prefers 50 Cent. Rap music makes his blood pulse. Dustin probably wouldn't go across the street to meet Neil Diamond if Diamond were handing out autographed gold chains.
After interviewing Dustin, who at 32, is in the midst of a wild ride, one begins to appreciate his older sister, Rachel, who is neither second fiddle in this story nor in their radio partnership. She is his protector, interpreter and sometimes his defender.
"I feel like Dustin's mom," said Rachel, a West High graduate, even though only fours years separate them. "He's like my kid."
Amid the chit-chat and occasional skirmishes, listeners sense a bond. Rachel and Dustin have worked together for only two years but, growing up, they went through hell together and lived. Survival makes the present even sweeter.
"I'm thankful that I get to come in every day and do this," Rachel said.
Rachel is a worker bee (Dustin's attendance record is not quite as spotless), however she has an outrageous side to her personality as well. Unable to reach her recently, Rachel said in explanation, "I've just come from the gym and I normally store my phone in my sports bra because I don't have a Bluetooth and I don't want to be tempted."
That wouldn't mean much except she is gorgeous, fit and dressed to the nines. Rachel was in four-inch heels, an azure cowl neck silk top and a black pencil skirt on a recent Thursday morning while doing the show in their cramped room at the sprawling American General Media headquarters.
She wasn't dressed for radio but for an evening at an expensive restaurant with a handsome date (she's married).
Dustin (she wakes him up, rolls him into the car and pours a Red Bull in him in the morning) wore black sweats, a black hat that said De-Throne, black Nike Airs and a black Ed Hardy T-shirt.
Their show is peppered with conversation about cheating spouses: "Jesse James is a scumbag," said Dustin, who has a sense of honor and a surprisingly traditional approach to relationships, even though he's been through a few horror stories himself. The pair cover the weather, read news from the newspaper and chat about the world of entertainment.
What makes it interesting beyond the easy repartee and sometimes on-air arguments ("We have to pump up and exaggerate our relationship on-air," Dustin said), are Rachel and Dustin themselves. They are often brutally honest about their not infrequent train wrecks. This plays well with an audience that does not have airbrushed lives either.
Rachel has moved more than 40 times in her life. Her mother struggled with an abusive second marriage. Home life was chaotic and sometimes violent. As teenagers, Rachel and Dustin were raised by their grandparents, Irma and Ralph Peterson
Rachel, who was married to a rapist now serving time in prison for his crimes, received more than 400 e-mails in 2006 after writing about the experience in The Californian.
Two years ago, her present husband lost his job and the couple ended up surrendering their house in a short sale.
Growing up, Dustin sold drugs, threw a brick through the window of a store and stole two $500 bikes. He was in and out of jail. He ran away from his grandparents' home because of their structure and rules.
Still, both are oddly cheerful, grateful about having jobs and optimistic that their lives will improve. There is a craving for normal.
Present normal includes living together while Rachel's husband, Jake, (an ex-football star from Tehachapi) commutes to Los Angeles for a job with the state.
"Jake has good parents," Rachel said. "That's something all girls should look for. Are his parents still together and does he treat them well?"
Normal includes cooking every night. Working out in the gym. Making peace with their mother, who has turned her life around and become a successful CPA. Normal is work. Rachel started in radio at 19, a year out of high school.
"Rachel breaks all the rules," Dustin said. "She's been at one station too long, she chews gum and she doesn't wear her headset."
Rachel seems to have been around forever, so she seems older than 36.
"The first eight years, I didn't take one day off," she said. "I was scared of losing my job."
From his radio voice, one might expect a more boyish-looking Dustin, but he is looks like Eminem's sideman. Rachel's voice suggests motherly, or the mother some people always wanted. Serious when she needs to be, but ready to laugh and break into high-pitched song at the silliest of jokes.
Rachel will take her happiness where she can find it and she finds it most mornings between 5 and 9.
Neither is getting rich, but they've made a name for themselves with listeners that can sympathize with where they've been.
