Twelve-year-old Mary McCoy huddled over her radio outside the tent she lived in, hands trembling as she turned the dial. Tuning into radio stations helped tune out her poverty, but this time was different, radio offered a real escape.
She stopped the dial at 900kHz, 1p.m., exactly as the KMCO radio manager said her pre-recorded audition would play. When her voice sang from the speakers, McCoy burst into tears…