Lisa Simeone wasn't exactly sitting by the phone when one of her old radio buddies called looking for help. She didn't even jump at the chance to get back on the air with a nationally syndicated classical music program. Her interests have changed.

But the offer did fit her life as a Baltimore free-lance announcer, even if taking the job meant getting up at 5: 30 a.m. to catch a 6: 30 train to National Public Radio's headquarters in Washington. That's rough duty for someone who is not a morning person. Thank heavens the gig only lasts until July.

"It's fun being on the air," she says during a taping of WETA's "Performance Today," where she is a substitute host. "This is not my dream job, or anything like that. It's a free-lance gig and I'm a free-lancer."

Simeone, 41, used to be one of Baltimore's premier radio voices. She and David Zinman traded humorous lines and bits of history for 13 seasons during WJHU's broadcasts of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Some listeners seemed to melt at her descriptions of a Mozart symphony or a Brahms trio. Her voice put them at ease. Three times Baltimore Magazine and City Paper voted her the city's most popular deejay.

"People react in all these funny ways," she says. "They project all these notions to people they hear on the radio because it's a very intimate thing."

When WJHU-88.1 changed its format from classical music to public affairs, Simeone turned to cultural affairs programming at the station. She left in 1996, having been at the station 10 years.

"At the time it was fun," she says of her WJHU days. "You got to listen to good music and I got to talk."

Simeone moved on to other interests: She delved into books on anthropology and sociology, enrolled in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. Along the way she started a free-lance career, doing voice-overs and narrations for Discovery Channel, public radio and public television. She also became host and a producer for "Soundprint," a public radio documentary program.

"It allows me to talk about more interesting subjects than just classical music," she says of her work at "Soundprint."

She still lives in Charles Village, home for the past 14 years. Her cats, Zsa Zsa and Pinot, are still around. Another cat, Squadjie, belongs to her husband, Tim Munn, who Simeone describes as having "the job of a computer man but the soul of an artist." Munn works for the University of Maryland. The couple does not plan on having children.

"Lisa Simeone adores children, but she doesn't want to deal with adolescence," says Simeone.

The WETA gig has put her back on the air. More than 230 stations carry her voice to 1.4 million listeners across the country each week. In the studio she is the consummate professional.

"She brings a combination that I think is really difficult to find in this business," says Don Lee, executive producer of "Performance Today." "She has a warmth and a knowledge of the music. She knows her stuff and still she sounds like someone you could be friends with."

Lee has known Simeone since their early NPR days in the 1980s. They crossed paths years ago at WETA, another NPR station. That's the way life goes in the small world of public radio. A few months ago, Lee needed someone to substitute for the vacationing Martin Goldsmith, host of "Performance Today." Simeone's name came up.

"I said, 'It's about time you called me. You've been doing the show for 10 years! What took you so long?' " says Simeone, who had two questions for Lee. "Is it a union gig and how much are you paying?"

When Goldsmith needed time off to write a book, Simeone seemed a natural choice. Spinning classical records is like a trip down memory lane for Simeone. Her radio career started with classical music.

A native of Pittsburgh, she grew up in an Italian-American family and moved to Maryland in 1975 to attend St. John's College in Annapolis. There, she was exposed to the music of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Chopin. After graduating in 1980, she asked officials at WACC, Anne Arundel Community College's student-run station, about having a show. They gave her a three-hour slot.

Baltimore's classical music community first heard her on WBJC in the early 1980s. She then moved to WJHU, the public radio station operated by Johns Hopkins University. Classical music was only part of her life. Another part came to light during protests against the actions of two Baltimore County judges in 1993 and 1994. One sentenced a theater manager to probation before judgment for raping an unconscious 18-year-old employee who had been drinking heavily. Another sentenced a man to 18 months for killing his wife hours after finding her in bed with another man.

Simeone formed a chapter of the Women's Action Coalition, discussed the cases on her weekly interview program, helped organize demonstrations at the Towson courthouse and at a judicial conference on domestic violence.

"The time was right for that because a lot of John and Jane Q. Publics were [angry], just like I was [angry]," she says, finding success in "the fact that the Judicial Disabilities Commission came out of hiding and for the first time in history actually reprimanded a judge."

When she discusses those issues and her politics, her voice takes on a passionate fire. The soothing radio voice that moments ago talked of Mendelssohn disappears as soon as the microphone shuts off and the subject turns to male privilege.

That topic provided the fodder for much of her research at Hopkins, where she concentrated on nonfiction journalism. Two radio documentaries grew out of her studies. The first documentary, "Bachelor Party," explored a tradition that can best be described as "the last bacchanal" before the groom is sacrificed on the altar of matrimony. "Soundprint" aired the show during fall 1997.

"To me it was an exploration of the world of male privilege and the determination of some men to hold onto that privilege," she says.

The response was huge.

"A lot of guys were basically: 'How dare I invade their world! Can't men have any fun anymore?' But then I also got from men: 'Thank you. I always thought this was an asinine ritual.' "

Her reporting on bachelor parties led to her second documentary, "Strippers: Thinly Veiled." She talked to dancers, visited clubs. The blue-collar strip clubs were more accommodating and open than the so-called gentlemen's clubs that try to bring an upscale polish and hint of respectability to the business, she says.

"I have much more respect for the strippers. They at least know what they're doing," she says. "But the men think they're above the women. They would have a [breakdown] if their daughter became a stripper, but it's OK for someone else's daughter. It's so hypocritical."

She doesn't advocate closing the clubs; she would just prefer that everyone drop any illusions about what is going on. The two documentaries showed her a world of sexual abuse and drug addiction. There weren't many young women working their way through college, she says.

"I met one woman in New York who went to college. But that is so rare," she says. Stripping "is not a ticket to anything."

She wants to do more documentaries for "Soundprint," but the program lives from grant to grant. Right now she'd like to explore whether or not the frenetic nature of contemporary society contributes to an increased number of children being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. Whatever happens, she'll most likely stay in public radio.

"The opportunity to do commercial radio is not going to come to me. I'd bet money on that," she says. "My goal in life is to never work full-time for any one employer again. So far, so good, knock on wood. I don't want to deal with office politics. All that bull that goes on everywhere. I just want to come in, do my job and get paid and get residuals. That's the best."

Listen in

Lisa Simeone can be heard Monday through Friday on "Performance Today" (7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on WETA-90.9 FM).

Pub Date: 4/16/99