In his youth, Locher grew up watching As the World Turns and Guiding Light because his mother and grandmother learned how to speak English as a result of watching both of those shows. Fast forward many years later, he joined the PR Department of both shows in 1997 and remained there for 13 years until the shows went off the air. “I miss the people the most. I worked with great people, and I loved the fact that each day, I had the chance to do something different. They were telling different stories each day and I had to keep up with those stories. I represented 60 different people,” he said.
As he was stuck at home, he realized that he was missing his Springfield family so he invited some of his friends to join him in The Locher Room. “The shows have been great. I have been having a blast,” he exclaimed. “While in quarantine, I have been working hard on these shows.”
“Somebody had suggested that I should brand. As I started to do it, my initial idea was to do this as an Instagram Live, but you can only interview one person at a time. Michael Park from As The World Turns had suggested that I try this streaming platform. As The World Turns was my first show with Michael Park, Maura West, Don Hastings, and Martha Byrne. I decided to brand it as The Locher Room, and that was it. Everybody who has seen the name, heard the name, or knows my last name, seems to enjoy the little pun on that.”
Most recently, Locher hosted a virtual reunion for stars in the digital series Misguided, many of which were alums of Guiding Light. “That was really fun,” he admitted. “I had just watched the digital series.”
On being a personality in the digital age, he noted that it wasn’t something that he has anticipated. “I was laid off from my current job at the start of the pandemic so that’s where I got the idea. I have been trying to give people something to look forward to by producing these shows,” he said.
He also opened up about one of his proudest professional moments in the soap world. “With As The World Turns and Guiding Light, I was able to do a lot of fun things. With As The World Turns, we traveled to 10 different college campuses for a college tour, where we hired local college students to perform on As The World Turns. The casting director and I literally went out in an RV and we traveled to those 10 campuses, hiring students, and then we went back with the cast and crew a week later to start filming on those college campuses. Then, I created an extension of that, where we did a five-part series on the CBS morning where some of those college students that we hired came to New York to do a live screen test with actors from As The World Turns, and people voted to pick their favorite, and their favorite won a part on that show,” he said.
His plans for the future, for the time being, are the continue to produce online shows for The Locher Room. “I am having a fun time and there are a lot of fun shows coming down the pike,” he said.
Today, at 3 p.m. EST, Locher will have actors William deVry and Rebecca Staab as his special guests on The Locher Room. Fans can tune in to hear that episode in the YouTube clip below.
For young and aspiring PR professionals, Locher encouraged them to “study.” “It wasn’t something I studied, but I fell into it,” he said. “I thought outside the box and I made something happen. If it’s something you like to do, study it.”
On the title of the current chapter of his life, he responded, “Happiness.”
He offered the following inspiring words for people during this pandemic: “Find something to distract yourself from the news. That is what has helped me cope with this. I can rely on facts and let’s do our part and take care of our neighbors.”
Locher defined the word success as “being able to do what you love to do for a living.”
To learn more about The Locher Room, check out its official Facebook page, Instagram page, and his YouTube channel.
