Internet radio show is a big hit with youngsters

WASHINGTON -- Rick Adams is playing "The Hamster Dance," a song he hates, a song that makes him cringe, a song that makes him shriek. However, it is also a song that lots of children want played on his daily AOL radio show -- and so he plays it and announces the names of the children who have requested it.

DJ Rick last September created an Internet radio show for children ages 8 to 14, and he hosts it live Mondays through Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m. It is replayed at all other times. Only AOL members can tune in.

It's something he has wanted to do since he was a child growing up in the south of England.

"I have a picture of myself when I was 3 or 4 in front of a microphone," he says with a laugh. He is British, which you know immediately when you hear his accent.

He loves to make children laugh, and he does that a lot. "Madeline," he tells one caller who offers to sing, "let's call you 'Tonsils.'" Rick calls parents "wrinklies" and school "the office," and children call him regularly with characters they have created such as "Somebody" (who just wants to banter with Rick) or "Puppy Girl" (who pretends to be a dog).

But what you hear on the radio doesn't begin to show you the action behind a live show.

Children can go to the Radio KOL homepage and send a song request or a "shout-out" to friends or family.

In the studio, Rick is looking at these requests. There are so many of them that in a nearby office a couple of AOL summer interns sort through them, too. They send Rick a list of the most-requested songs with the names of the children who have requested them. Included are songs by Britney Spears, Hilary Duff and Raven. All this takes place in a tiny studio at AOL headquarters in Dulles, Va., near Washington, that Rick helped build. It's no bigger than a closet and only slightly warmer than a refrigerator. Rick likes it that way.

Rick shouts and laughs, plays requested songs, answers e-mails and instant messages (he calls them "instant massages," and beats his chest when he says it) and jokes with his listeners all around the country. Later this month, AOL members will be able to watch Rick when a Web cam is installed in the studio.

AOL says more than 1 million children listen to the show every week.

Rick has regular guests. The Game Guru is on every Monday, talking about new electronic games. Dr. Bill, a vet, answers questions about pets on Thursdays. On Fridays, Stuart Claxton, from Guinness World Records, plays Stump Stuart, where children quiz him.

But live radio can be a dangerous thing: "Sometimes kids will forget what they called about," says Rick. "We have moms getting on the phone, interrupting." Whatever happens, happens. He shouts into his microphone, "We are live and on the air and there is nothing you can do about it!"