Wake Up With Whoopi

Call it Radio Free Whoopi.

Whoopi Goldberg announced Monday she'll be joining the growing ranks of radio voices this summer when she launches a live, syndicated program, "Wake Up With Whoopi."

"I'm going to talk to people. People are going to talk to me. I'm going to be singing and dancing in my chair. I'm going to wake people up," Goldberg told The Associated Press by phone. "I want to have a good time in the morning and I want everyone who wakes up with me to have a good time."

The show will air weekday mornings from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., said John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio. He didn't indicate which markets it would be in when it debuts July 31.

Besides taking calls and doing comedy bits, Goldberg said she'll be playing music, adding she hopes she'll be allowed to select some of her own.

"I've got all kinds of great wonderful things on my iPod," she said. "Everything from Shaggy to Pavarotti to Tony Bennett to Warren Zevon."

Hogan said Goldberg will bring a much-needed female voice to morning radio, although the actress warned that she won't yell at people. Her radio idol, after all, is veteran oldies rock DJ Cousin Brucie.

She hosted a TV talk show in the 1990s, but Goldberg, who won an Academy Award for her role in the film "Ghost," has never done radio.

"It's something I always wanted to do. I just really didn't have the opportunity before this presented itself," she said. "It came along just at the right time, and I think it will be a great deal of fun."

Clear Channel Radio is the programming arm of San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications, the nation's largest owner of radio stations.

John Rogers