Veronica Simmonds braids hair, on-air on her CKDU program, Braidio
It’s hard to find a deep connection on the radio. Radio personalities will so often rely on kitschy canned sound effects and shock-pieces that it detracts from what you are hearing: somebody, somewhere, is speaking to you, committing it to waveform and transmitting it through the air. It’s an elegant and delicate dance.
Veronica Simmonds is an independent radio producer who knows the secret to real radio; the stuff that really opens up and exposes its beating heart.
“My mandate is to encourage more intimacy on-air, or more intimacy in media in general,” says Simmonds. “There’s nothing more intimate than human touch.”
Her bi-weekly CKDU program, Braidio, is an experiment in live intimacy. Simmonds, a graduate of the Transom Radio School in Cape Cod, brings in her guests and braids their hair while conducting her interview. The result is unlike anything else on-air.
“Musicians and artists go through lots of interviews,” she says, “and I find that they end up going through the same route story over and over again. Coming on Braidio is very disarming, in a way, and it gets them to say things that they themselves weren’t planning to talk about.”
Over the past year, Simmonds has hosted all manner of thinkers, planners, artists and musicians. There are no limits to who will be brought in to talk and have their hair braided: “I’m interested in talking with people who are interested, period. People are interesting when they’re interested.”
For such a visual experience – how does one convey the act of braiding through the radio – Simmonds finds that the translation yields some very unique and individual conversation.
“Every person has a very close connection with their hair and their head,” says Simmonds. “It’s a huge identifying factor, and when people start talking about it, all kinds of issues come up – there’s a lot of weight in our hair. I find that it leads to a very natural, relaxed conversation.”
Braidio’s typical programming involves a series of interviews and some accompanying music. The whole program is put together simultaneously by Simmonds, who juggles conversation, braiding, working the soundboards and managing the show’s music, all live and on-air.
Simmonds also makes sure to experiment with different formulae as per her guest: “I’ve actually braided quite a few short-haired people. I’ve even braided a few beards,” Simmonds explains. “It’s not just hair, I’m interested in braiding any three-stranded object. I’ve braided bread, grass; I’m interested in braiding meat some time.
“I’m very instinctual in my braiding. I don’t read up on it; I’m not like a braid scholar,” laughs Simmonds. “But recently somebody sent me a link about a woman in the states who has taught herself the ancient Greek practice of braiding. This woman has spent years learning to do this, but what she does is really what I do naturally, without any training. So, my theory is that I am the reincarnation of a Greek braiding priestess.”
Braidio is not confined to the CKDU headquarters, however. In past years, Simmonds has set up booths at Halifax Pop Explosion and Sappyfest, sitting down with festival-goers and offering them a quick braid and a conversation.
This fall, Simmonds will be taking Braidio on the road, down to the Third Coast Radio Festival in Chicago.
“My hope is to braid all of the radio producers of the world,” she says, “so look out, Ira Glass.”
“I’m just going to get some bobby pins and microphones and get my hands on some heads.”
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