Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
How Pepper Fell in Love With Radio: Freedom, Music, and the Clues We Collect
People ask me all the time how I got into radio.
My story is a little unusual because I was born into it. Radio was always part of my world.
But while writing Pepper's story, I started thinking about a different question:
When does someone first begin to recognize the thing they're meant to do?
For Pepper, it wasn't a job application or a radio station.
It was the summer of 1975.
Roller skating rinks.
Cruising Van Nuys Boulevard.
Beach days with her cousin Ginger.
KHJ playing through the speakers.
The Real Don Steele making Los Angeles feel connected by a single song.
What she didn't know yet was that she was collecting clues.
In this week's Courtyard conversation, I talk about the summer radio found Pepper, why music has such a powerful connection to memory, and how a song from my own past helped inspire what I now call the Badass Soundtrack.
Sometimes the things that shape our future don't arrive as life-changing moments.
Sometimes they arrive as songs on the radio.
⏱ Chapters
00:00 Born Into Radio
00:26 Pepper Finds Freedom
00:34 Summer 1975 Soundtrack
01:24 Grief and a Song
02:26 The Badass Soundtrack
03:39 Why Nostalgia Works
04:17 Clues to Becoming
04:32 Final Thoughts
☕ The Courtyard (Substack)
kellyorchard.substack.com
📚 Books, videos, speaking, and projects
kellyorchard.com
🎧 What song immediately takes you back to another time in your life? Let me know in the comments.
How Pepper Fell in Love With Radio: Freedom, Music, and the Clues We Collect
People ask me all the time how I got into radio.
My story is a little unusual because I was born into it. Radio was always part of my world.
But while writing Pepper's story, I started thinking about a different question:
When does someone first begin to recognize the thing they're meant to do?
For Pepper, it wasn't a job application or a radio station.
It was the summer of 1975.
Roller skating rinks.
Cruising Van Nuys Boulevard.
Beach days with her cousin Ginger.
KHJ playing through the speakers.
The Real Don Steele making Los Angeles feel connected by a single song.
What she didn't know yet was that she was collecting clues.
In this week's Courtyard conversation, I talk about the summer radio found Pepper, why music has such a powerful connection to memory, and how a song from my own past helped inspire what I now call the Badass Soundtrack.
Sometimes the things that shape our future don't arrive as life-changing moments.
Sometimes they arrive as songs on the radio.
⏱ Chapters
00:00 Born Into Radio
00:26 Pepper Finds Freedom
00:34 Summer 1975 Soundtrack
01:24 Grief and a Song
02:26 The Badass Soundtrack
03:39 Why Nostalgia Works
04:17 Clues to Becoming
04:32 Final Thoughts
☕ The Courtyard (Substack)
kellyorchard.substack.com
📚 Books, videos, speaking, and projects
kellyorchard.com
🎧 What song immediately takes you back to another time in your life? Let me know in the comments.
