“Huck on air” at WYBC.
Popular radio deejay Darryl Huckaby didn’t miss a beat on the air when Covid-19 came to his door — thanks to years of healthy living.
He’s hoping his story can persuade other people to develop the healthy habits, too.
If you listen to New Haven radio, you’ve come to know Darryl Huckaby. The local native, who’s in his 50s, moved back to New Haven a few years ago to assist his mom after his dad died from Alzheimer’s. Since then, he’s been the voice of WYBC FM’s early morning show. Before that he was the host of “The Workforce,” the station’s mid-morning show. He transitioned to the early morning slot in February, something he’d done for years at other stations in the D.C. Metro area earlier in his broadcast career.
The change in time slot at WYBC took a little getting used to. Most days he went home after work to grab a nap before hanging out with his mom, who lives with him near the beach in West Haven.
The Long Wait
Four weeks ago, Huck, as his family, friends, and fans know him, went home, talked to his mom for awhile and then went to take his daily nap. This time the nap turned into a full on snoozefest. He slept for six hours. The same thing happened the next day.
As one of the 40 million Americans living with an older parent, he started taking his temperature every day when COVID-19 reports showed that seniors were at higher risk for the virus. He wanted to do what he could to ensure that he and his mom did not catch the virus because she also has underlying conditions. He took his temp on the second day of prolonged napping and it had skyrocketed to 101.8,
“I never get sick and can’t remember the last time I had a fever. I called the doctor to see if I should get tested,” he said.
His doctor said yes and gave him information for the testing site in New London. That was on March 18, 2020. He drove to the testing site and took the test.
Over the next day he was feeling better. The fever broke. The chills and body aches were gone. “The test was uncomfortable but not bad. It was fast. Not even five minutes.”
Now he had to wait.
At the testing site he was told he should have results in seven days. That turned out to be, “the longest week ever” for him. “I did a lot of praying and hoping the symptoms I had did not come back and that I did not develop any more.” He did not have a cough or any other of the symptoms COVID-19 patients report. Then, as now, he said, “We weren’t really hearing about people who didn’t get sick if they tested positive. We only heard about people going to the hospital. It was scary. I was concerned about my mom.”
That week he and his mother started isolating in the house. They came up with a routine. He wore a mask all the time. He stopped cooking meals and she started. They never spent time in the same room at the same time. They cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned some more — sanitizing every place he went in the house every day. Washing his clothes became a daily activity. Video chatting became their primary form of communication. He stayed in the basement and his office while his mom kept to the other parts of the house.
If you know him, you know that he and his mom are close. They do a lot together. So “that was difficult, separating inside. We usually cook and eat dinner together and we couldn’t do that. Yes, that was difficult.”
He also had to alert the radio station about his status. Even before he got his results back, he let the station’s general manager know that he was presumptive positive and that they should up the precautions in the studio. They’d already been practicing isolation in the studio with each on-air personality and other staff sanitizing the shared areas after each use.
Huck felt responsible to and for his co-workers, “Juan Castillo, the station manager, was great. We talked about it. I told him I did not have symptoms but wanted to make sure everyone could all they could to stay safe and healthy.”
The station made a decision to move all operations off site. “They set us all up with the equipment to broadcast from home. So far, no one else is showing symptoms. I’m thankful for that.”
As he was navigating life at home and making the transition to at-home broadcasting, Huck was still waiting on his results, “That was the longest seven days ever.”
The results finally came back on March 26.
He said he’s been relatively healthy especially after making some lifestyle changes a few years ago. The results came via his heath providers Electronic Medical Records System. When he read them, his heart dropped. “I still did not have symptoms, so now my mind is reeling.” A conversation with his doctor a few minutes later helped calm his nerves. He learned that while he was not having symptoms, his positive test results meant that he could potentially still pass the virus to others, so he had to continue to self-isolate.
He was seven days in; he had another seven to go. He needed to continue to not have a cough, run a fever, or have other symptoms. His mom kept cooking his meals and would leave a plate for him in the kitchen. He kept doing his morning show from his office with the set-up the station sent him. He took his temperature everyday. He continued talking to his mom on video chats to make sure she was not developing any symptoms.
A week later his doctor called again to check in. “We talked about how I was doing, how my mom was feeling and what I should do now. I wanted to know if they would retest me to see if it was really gone.” His doctor told him that no retesting would happen and let him know that he should continue to do the things he was doing but that it appeared the virus had run its course.
“I wake up every day just glad to be here,” Huckaby said. “I take my temperature and check for symptoms, and so far, so good.” When asked about contacting people he encountered before he knew he had COVID-19, he responded, “I did reach out to people I had come in contact with, but it was a short list and none of them had or have any symptoms. I can’t figure out how or where I picked it up.”
From A “Number” To A Person
During all of this, Huckaby was grappling with going public.
“I struggled with that, telling others. While I am public on social media and at the station, I don’t share about my private life. I am a private person,” he said. “My cousins and I do a Zoom call every Sunday, and I thought about telling them on a call but held it.”
He had concerns about the stigmatizing impacts of telling even his family, whom he trusted.
Could he really tell everyone?
It’s like he had cognitive dissonance: “I was giving stats every morning. Telling people about the numbers, how many people had it, how many people had been hospitalized, or died. Now I was one of those numbers.
“I was giving this information and at first had a hard time seeing myself in them. Then I realized that all we hear about are the numbers. We don’t hear about the people behind them, especially not who made it through, the ones who got the virus and survived. I wanted to tell that story. I wanted to give people some inspiration, show them that they can survive.”
If you follow Huck on Facebook or Instagram, you’ve seen his video posts. He posts about events for the station, his business as a 5 Linx leader and distributor, or life with his mom, who is a prolific line dancer. He shares video of her dancing with her crew. But seldom if ever do you see him talking about his personal life.
“I told one cousin before going public. He’s like my brother. Everyone else found out when I hit record on my iPad that afternoon.”
On April 2, he posted a 14-minute video from his home office-turned-broadcast studio telling his Facebook friends and the followers on his Huck on Air page for the radio station, “I tested positive for COVID-19.” He shared his story with dignity and strength.
He felt it was necessary to share his journey.
“We needed to hear a story of survival. We all know or soon will know someone with COVID. We will all feel, if are not already feeling, the impacts all around us. Too many of those are about people not making it.
“Honestly, it was a relief. Telling what happened, talking about it to give others hope. That was my goal.”
During that 14 minutes, Huckaby talked about why he thinks his case was less severe. “I was already living a relatively healthy lifestyle. I was already exercising and eating right. I was on a path to being healthy. That helped me get through this. I wanted to tell people about that. Share with them some things they could do to boost their immune systems.”
He said the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Thousands of people have reached out to share their stories with Covid-19. Lots of people are sharing the video too. (Click here to read an article about Huckaby’s cousin Diamond Powell’s more severe case of Covid-19.)
Last week Huckaby went back online to give an update (above) and tell what’s going on with him. That too is receiving a positive response. “It’s a conversation we need to have. Yes, Black people are dying, but we’re also surviving, we are making it through this and that’s what I wanted to do. Give people some hope.”
I met the Huck Man in the 90's.When I heard on the radio.He sound like a young Frankie Crocker when he would open up his show.
Frankie Crocker rap
https://youtu.be/_XiOueYVOK4
And he would even end his show like Frankie Crocker
Frankie Crocker Show Close
https://youtu.be/Rq8-Qt82piY
I would see the huck man driving his black ford mustang on whalley avenue on his way to the studio.
Good luck Huck Man