Grace Curley is living proof you can not only meet your childhood hero, you can work for them too. Curley started a job as an assistant to Howie Carr’s wife, Kathy.
“He thought I was his Uber driver,” Curley said.
That’s certainly a conversation starter.
“My first day as Kathy’s assistant I showed up and parked in the driveway of the house,” Curley said. “Howie was waiting for an Uber. When I’d gotten out of the car I walked toward the front door. That’s when Howie told me I could wait in the car, assuming I was his driver.”
Kathy came out of the house and asked Curley why she was waiting in the car. She said Howie assumed she was the Uber driver and Curley didn’t want to cause any ripples on her first day.
“Kathy told me not to get the wrong idea about what I’d be doing,” Curley said. “She told me I’d be busy packaging books, helping out in the garage. When I got home the first day I told my mom what I was doing. She was undaunted and said one day I was going to be on the radio with Howie Carr. My mom is very inspirational and always looked at the best case scenario.”
Curley, who attended Providence College, is well-grounded in New England.
“For a long time we had Tom Brady, so that was definitely a high point for all of us,” Curley said. “The changing of the seasons is glorious. We have Cape Cod in the summer. It’s where I grew up. Both my parents are from South Boston.”
As a theater major at Providence, Curley had once considered a career on the stage, and some friends of her are making a go of it. In the end, Curley just didn’t think the chances of success were that great.
She was a regular in plays in school but didn’t sing much.
“My sister has all the singing talent in the family,” Curley said. “I was a decent singer but better at drama. One of my favorite plays to be part of was These Shining Lives. It’s based on the true story of four women who worked for the Radium Dial Company – a watch factory in Illinois. The play showed how radium affected them throughout the years.” Curley also enjoyed performing in Lend Me A Tenor. “That was a crazy play. Fun to be a part of.”
She doesn’t have much time for theater any longer. “When you’re in that world, you’re in it. It’s hard to dabble. I’ve been away from it for so long. At one point, I thought about being a professional, but I like the idea of having a steady job, a clear goal. What I’m doing now is a wonderful blend of creativity and devotion.”
Curley got her feet wet as a disc jockey on her college station, WDOM.
“We focused on pop culture for two hours. That’s when I first became interested in celebrity news. The Kardashians were pretty big at the time.”
Good things continued to happen for the New England native. The Grace Curley Show airs Monday through Friday 12 pm to 3 pm on nine stations throughout New England. She’s also the executive producer of The Howie Carr Show. She hosts a daily news segment on the program. She knew she and Howie were a good pair from the start.
“The first time I was on the air with Howie, he was talking about how Budweiser was going to do away with Clydesdale horses in their advertising,” Curley explained. “I told him I’d never even tried ‘heavy Budweiser,’ that I was a Bud Light girl. I think that kind of sums up our working relationship. Two generations of talkers and listeners.”
The banter on the air between them is authentic. “We poke fun, but it always comes from a nice place. I think the age dynamic works well. We seek out each other’s opinion.”
Curley was well aware of Carr’s career while she was growing up. “My parents always listened to Howie. I’d always been a huge fan. When I started working for him, I knew I had a good grasp of politics, and I was semi street smart.”
She is a columnist with the Boston Herald. She gives her take on mainstream media and politics. Former editor of the Boston Herald, Tom Shattuck, reached out to Curley at one point.
“He’d seen some of my writing for Howie’s website. He asked me to put something together as a sample,” Curley said. “I loved to write in college and high school. It hasn’t been a crazy jump and it has been a great experience. When I write I’m able to present my thoughts clearly. I’m still perfecting the craft.”
She likes to write about politics and conservative news.
“I’ll often focus on the hypocrisy of the mainstream media. I think a lot of Republican candidates are covered differently by liberal personalities. It’s refreshing to hear someone who isn’t in that tank. People seem to appreciate my approach.”
Curley also writes for The Spectator. She said her editor is a little more centered, and it has been good for her.
“I get to come up with ideas, sharpen my arguments. Make sense out of things. With the Herald, I have free reign to write what I want.”
She said The Spectator requires more due diligence, a lot of fact-checking. “The Herald pieces are a bit more tabloid, but I love both angles.”
Curley spent time producing a podcast titled Dirty Rats. It was focused on the notorious and deadly gangster, Whitey Bulger. At one point, Bulger had put a hit on Howie Carr.
“Howie had such a large part in that world,” Curley said. She explained how true crime podcasts are particularly enjoyable for her. “Howie would write about the Bulgers when nobody else did. He was clearly an enemy of Bulger. The show also brought in a lot of people from Boston, including the victim’s family members.”
Curley said when she listened to podcasts, she appreciated the use of music in telling the story. It added suspense and a fuller story. “I’d find myself listening to a podcast in the car, just riveted. It’s a funny concept to just listen to this strange world. You’d hear a car door slam, feet walking on dried leaves. It immerses you into the story.”
She said people are still streaming the nine episode series.
“I know it’s very appealing, but I can’t say why people gravitate toward true crime,” Curley explained. “It’s a little morbid. I don’t want to generalize, but I think a lot of women particularly enjoy listening.”
As part of her job, Curley has met her fair share of celebrities. During a visit at Mar-a-Lago, she came across then President Trump.
“I asked him if he’d take a photo with me and he said he would,” Curley said. “I couldn’t get the phone to take a picture, I was in a panic. But he was very patient. I’d come close to meeting him a couple of times before, but this was exciting.”
She said Trump is good at remembering people’s names and her husband met him. When Curley asked Trump to take a picture, he was sitting next to a man she didn’t recognize.
“The man was wearing a big jean jacket with a bejeweled lion etched into the fabric. Later when I talked with my dad on the phone, I told him about the Trump photo. In the photo was the guy with the jean jacket and I asked my dad if he knew who it was.”
Her father shot back, ‘That’s Don King!’
“I didn’t know who Don King was, but my dad sure did.”
Jim Cryns writes features for Barrett News Media. He has spent time in radio as a reporter for WTMJ, and has served as an author and former writer for the Milwaukee Brewers. To touch base or pick up a copy of his new book: Talk To Me – Profiles on News Talkers and Media Leaders From Top 50 Markets, log on to Amazon or shoot Jim an email at jimcryns3_zhd@indeedemail.com.
