I’m a longtime resident of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and of course a longtime listener of WCHL. Here’s a sweet story about both.
In the late seventies, I was a single mom with two energetic elementary school sons. As you could imagine, they were quite a handful. Just before Mother’s Day weekend was coming up, a dear friend told me she would take the boys for the weekend so I could have some me-time.
True to her word, she did. I had a blissfully lazy Sunday morning, snoozing in bed, listening to WCHL. Suddenly, my ears pricked up upon hearing about a Mother’s Day competition for a steak dinner for two for the lucky winner.
The first person to correctly answer the question would win. The question was, “What is the largest number of children a woman had given birth to, in the world?”
I was half-asleep, but I knew I knew the answer. So, I fumbled around for the phone and called the station. The announcer took my call and by golly I was the first person to give the correct answer. So, I won the prize!
Later that week, I and my friend who had looked after the boys, had a delicious steak dinner in a Chapel Hill restaurant. I can tell you where it was, but I don’t remember the name.
So, what was the answer to the question and how on Earth did I know it? Well, thanks to the boys having lots of books, a few days before that weekend, we were reading from the Guinness Book of Records. I happened to see the article. The lady was from South America and I believe she had 24 live-births.
Thank you WCHL for a fun Mother’s Day 38 years ago.
— Jane Salemson
