Deli Unique
25290 GREENFIELD North of 10 Mile Rd.
I 967-39991
ENTERTAINMENT
CATERING FOR ALL OCCASIONS
NEW LOCATION
OPENING SOON
WEST BLOOMFIELD C—it.
PLAZA
%S%
Communicating Couple
Continued from preceding page
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THREE
GREAT
LOCATIONS
15600 W. 10 Mile Rd.
Southfield • 552 - 1100
28505 Northwestern • Southfield • 357-2q09
29556 Orchard Lake • Farmington Hills • 626.0804
WAFFLE
WAFFLE
OMELETTE
OMELETTE
Buy one plain waffle or omelette
with toast and jelly ... get one
FREE I
Limit 1 coupon per 2 persons
Valid Monday through Friday only
No substitutions 'Exp. 8-31-87
• ••
.• l'OMERSET
• • "* " . " .DIIMER THEFITRE" ."'"• •
detroit's Original dinner theatre
• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
JIMMY LAUNCE PROductions, Inc.
•
presents
•
•
•
•
A Romantic Comedy
•
By: Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor
•
Lower Level, Somerset Mall, Troy
• Friday and Saturday Performances
•
Reservations: 649-6629
•
•••••••• ••••••••••• ••••••••••••
41
"IT HAD TO BE YOU"
• •
• • •
• • •
• •
The Pike Street Restaurant
CHEF
BRIAN POLCYN
invites you to enjoy his innovative cuisine
Fine Dining
Private Banquet Facilities up to 150
Outside Catering
Reservations:
334-7878
18 West Pike. Street'off Wide Track (Woodward) • Pontiac
HITCH'S H
BANQUET ROOMS
AVAILABLE FOR
ANY OCCASION
From 100 to 400
We Can Assist Your Party Needs With
Everything From Hors d'Oeuvres and
Cocktails To A Sitdown Black Tie Affair
For More information, Please Call
666-4440
Your Host: Bill Mitchell
Your HoStess: Juanita
6665 HIGHLAND ROAD (M-59)
Across from Oakland-Pontiac Airport, Pontiac, Mich.
64
Friday, June 12, 1987
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
the night that he asked me to
marry him, because he also had
the same questions about
careers and abOut religion and
about that type of thing. And I
answered the questions right —
we're married." (Both laugh.)
Small said Kramer's will-
ingness to convert was impor-
tant, "although I don't know
that I can say we wouldn't have
gotten married otherwise. But
as I felt more and more that I
wanted to marry her, it became
more and more a paramount
thing hanging over the
possibility. There were just,
basically, two things . . .
(religion) was one of them, and
career, moving and stuff like
that, was the other one?'
Small received his answers
while the two were watching
One Day at a Time on TV.
"They asked a couple of ques-
tions in the TV show;' said
Small, "that were like the same
questions I'd been wrestling
with for her . . . so just in con-
versation I said, 'do you ever
think about what we would do
if we were married, what we do,
career-wise, etc.?' " The career
problem, with both in radio,
dealt with the fact that ad-
vancement in the radio
business inevitably meant
traveling to new cities. Since
there are more limited oppor-
tunities iri the sportscasting
field, Kramer felt that, if they
married, they should move to
the city where Russ found
work, then she would try to find
herself a job in that area. Small
continued, "and I said, 'oh,
O.K., and what about religion
and stuff?' And again, as she
said before, she gave the right
answers. She said, 'well, I sup-
pose if we wanted to get mar-
ried I'd like to convert: "
The decisions Small and
Kramer made about marriage,
family and religion were taken
in the midst of progressing
radio careers which involved a
great deal of travel.
Small attended the Universi-
ty of Massachusetts, intending
to study print journalism, but
soon went to work for the school
radio station as a sportscaster,
and by the time he was
graduated in 1976, he had
decided to pursue a broad-
casting career. Armed with a
five-year plan, he quickly land-
ed a job in New Bedford, Mass-
achusetts, doing news and a lit-
tle sports for WNBH. A year
later, he took a job at WMNB
in Adams, as sports director,
beating his five-year timetable
by four years.
Kramer was graduated from
college around the same time
as Small, earning a bachelor of
science degree in elementary
education from East
Stroudsburg State in Penn-
sylvania. She spent some time
as a substitute teacher before
applying for a sales job at
WAHT, a radio station in
Lebanon, Pa. Instead she was
offered a position writing and
announcing commercials, and
accepted it. She eventually did
some D.J. work there, then mov-
ed on to WKBO in Harrisburg
in 1978, as a morning D.J. After
two years, the station hired a
sports director named Russ
Small.
"The joke part is," said
Kramer, "the guy that was my
boss, when he hired Russell he
says, got the perfect guy for
you, and he said, 'let me show
you his picture; and I said, no,
I don't want to see his picture,
I don't want to — no. And then
sure enough, it turned out
O.K."
From there., their professional
history gets more complicated.
As Small moved up in the
business, and moved from city
- to city, Kramer followed, always
finding part-time or full-time
jobs after arriving in their new
town. In 1982, they moved to
Baltimore, where they were
married. A month later, Small
took a job as sports director at
KSTP in Minneapolis, where
he also did color commentary
for the North Stars' hockey
games. Kramer got a late-night
D.J. shift at WLOL, but left
after six months because she
didn't like the hours. She then
landed a news job at KQ,R,S, and
stayed for two years.
In 1985, the family, which
now included five-month. old
Jason, moved to Louisville,
where Russ joined the state-
wide Kentucky Radio Network.
Kramer .soon found a new job
there, but they did not like Ken-
tucky, and consider the move
their major career mistake.
"No sooner did we get down
there;' said Kramer, "we both
realized that we weren't very
happy there. It wasn't the place
that we wanted to stay. It just
didn't work out. And so we got
to work trying to find another
job right away. And it was kin-
da like — this was actually the
first time since we'd been mar-
ried, whoever gets the first job,
that's where we're going (they
both laugh). And Russell got it
here in Detroit?'
The two narrowed their job
search to, "six or seven cities:'
including Detroit, where Karen
has family. Small's parents live
in Boston.
Since two of Detroit's pas-
sions are sports and rock music,
the two had picked a good town
for their respective radio
talents. Kramer landed a part-
time job at WDTX, which
became full-time late last year.
"Professionally, I liked
(Detroit)," said Small, "because
in sports, there's just so much
going on. One of the things I
disliked most about Kentucky
was that there was nothing but
college basketball going on.
And here there's so much of
everything?'
Kramer said she feels, "this
is a great radio town. I mean,
there's tons of stations, there's
always activity going on, there's
always stuff happening?' She
added, "and this is it. We're not
moving again:' The couple now
lives in a house in Canton.
While they enjoy living here,
their first impressions of the
area were not totally positive
ones, as Small relates. "No mat-
ter where you are in this coun-
try, you've heard of Detroit, and
its problems, but the
magnitude of them surprised
me .. . I think it's the children
killing the children that is the
biggest surprise to me.
Somehow, 40 year-olds killing
each other seems to happen
everywhere. I don't know
anyplace that I've ever been, or
heard of, where there's so many
12 year-olds with guns shooting
other 12 year-olds?'
As far as their religious life,
Small says they are, "good Jews
who practice poorly?'
They have discussed the need
to be more observant. "We're
more compelled now where the
baby is almost two years old;'
says Kramer. "It's certainly
time to start paying even more
attention to the holidays,
because I want him to be on it
from the very beginning. I don't
want it to be like it was for me,
where you kind of- floated
through?'
Adds Small, "We've talked
about finding 'The' temple-that
we want to join, for months, and
haven't yet gone out and look-
ed for it. That's probably first?'
Their professional futures in
Detroit also look good, says
Small. "I think for both of us,
there are places to move up,
right here. I don't think we've
gone as far as we can go in
Detroit, by any stretch. I think
the future is bright and long, in
that, there's a lot that we can
do tomorrow, or a year from
tomorrow, or in ten years, and
still be moving in the right
direction?' ❑
Dance Offered
Dance classes in tap, ballet,
acrobatic and "kinderdance"
will be offered by the Oak Park
Recreation Department of
Dance, beginning June 22.
There is a charge. For infor-
mation, call the recreation
department, 545-6400.
Swimathon Set
The March of Dimes and CMI
Health and Tennis Club will
sponsor a day-long swimathon
to help fight birth defects, 8
a.m. June 14 at the club, 30333
Southfield, Southfield. To
register, call the March of
Dimes, 423-3200.
Grand Prix Ball
The Grand Prix Ball will be
held June 17 at the Westin
Hotel. Proceeds will benefit the
Music Hall for the Performing
Arts. There is a charge. For
reservations, call Music Hall,
963-7622.