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A Day in the Life

Dawn Pemberton, Host of Get on the Good Foot

When we listen to the radio, it’s easy to imagine the host chatting into the microphone and doing … something … on a computer to keep it all moving. However, it takes a whole crowd (working from home, of course; crowds are dangerous!) of knowledgeable, creative people (and some pretty fancy technology) to create each second you hear.

During the month of May we want to reveal all the human effort that goes into an hour of CKUA programming. Your donations throughout our Spring Fundraiser help support so many different things you may not even know about!

Let’s check out a day in the life of Dawn Pemberton, Host of Get on the Good Foot:

Hi, I’m Dawn Pemberton, host of CKUA’s Get on the Good Foot. I’m a Vancouver-based musician working as a vocalist, pianist, teacher, adjudicator, choir director and “go-to girl” for live performances and studio sessions. I live in a lovely East Vancouver neighbourhood with towering maple trees, lots of green space, and fantastic neighbours! Here’s a peek at a day in my life.

8am: Eyes open. Shuffle to the kitchen, drink some water, five minute stretch, Qi-gong, and make coffee. Pour coffee into one of my favourite handmade mugs from my mug collection and sip deeply.

8:30am: Sit at my piano, open laptop and log into Zoom for a “witnessed practice” session with two good musician friends. We say hello, share what we’re going to practice, press mute, and then get to work for 30 to 60 minutes. I usually spend time on vocal technique, piano, transcribing tunes, or focusing on music that I need to learn.

9:30am: Simple breakfast, shower and get dressed. Only one rule: NO hard pants! Ha ha!

10:30am: I check my email and social media accounts. I spend the next hour or so corresponding with clients, other artists, my agent, planning events and arranging or attending meetings.

12pm: Lunch outside in the yard with a book. Right now I’m reading “You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey” by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar.

1pm: I start teaching voice lessons and/or start tracking background vocals and doing session work from home.

6 pm: Time to start thinking about tunes for Get on The Good Foot! I start digging through my music and build a “shortlist” of tunes. After that, make dinner and head back in the yard to eat at the picnic table and chat with neighbours.

7:30pm: Time for choir! I started Roots ‘N’ Wings choir about 8 years ago. The pandemic has definitely put a wrench in our plans, but thankfully we have adjusted to gathering and singing online. We also toured New Orleans in January 2020! Little did we know that the world would be drastically different six weeks later!

9 pm: Realize that I didn’t go for a stroll today. Oops! There’s always tomorrow. Now it’s time to think about show order, do some research, and get ready to record the show the next day.

10:30pm: Reward myself and watch an episode or two of something funny or some sort of murder mystery. I love true crime!

Midnight: Make plans for the next day, clean something, and get ready for bed.

1 am: Slide into bed and let out a sigh and promptly fall asleep.