A Show to Call Their Own : Cancer’s not easy to talk about. But a new radio show offers facts--and group support.

It is less than a month until air time, and a much-needed rehearsal for a new radio program for people with cancer has just been canceled at the last minute.

And even though it’s her show on the line, Selma Schimmel, arguably one of Los Angeles’ most well-known cancer patient advocates, is calm.

Schimmel has rock-solid faith that her program, “The Group Room”--believed to be the first radio talk show centered around an on-air support group--will be a hit.

You can hardly blame Schimmel for her confidence in “The Group Room,” which will premiere within the next few weeks via Premiere Radio Networks, an independent radio program producer and distributor in Sherman Oaks. After all, the effusive 41-year-old had to crawl out of a very deep hole to continue her longtime dream of helping people overcome cancer.

Three years ago, Schimmel was entering her 10th year directing Vital Options, a nonprofit organization in Studio City dedicated to helping people, ages 17 to 40, with cancer. She started Vital Options after she was found to have breast cancer at 28.

The organization closed its doors in 1993 because of funding troubles--a situation familiar to many nonprofit consumer health groups in the ‘90s. But Schimmel says she was determined to find another avenue to deliver services to people with cancer.

“I wanted to find a way to reach a greater number of people and still offer support services for free,” she says. “But I needed a way to outsmart the fund-raising system. Radio will reach people for free and reach people who are ambulatory. It’s a new way to empower patients.”

“The Group Room” has been picked up by the mammoth WOR network in New York, which has 400 affiliates nationwide, but is still negotiating for a Southern California affiliate to air the show. Once an affiliate is in place, “The Group Room” will air locally on Sundays at 11 a.m.

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So large is the cast of “The Group Room” that the program originates from Premiere’s conference room instead of one of its studios. The show features Schimmel as host, a physician, a therapist, two or three cancer patients and, of course, callers from around the nation.

Tim Kelly, Premiere’s executive vice president and director of programming who came up with the idea of a support group format, says the setup is “bigger than ‘Gone With the Wind.’ ” He calls it “cyber-broadcasting.”

“I didn’t want it to be a cliche medical show with doctors,” he says. With the support group format, “relationships can develop and people can root for each other and live through their cancer. My hope is that the show can bring people out of the closet to talk about cancer.”

With cancer ranking as the second-leading cause of death and 1.25 million cases diagnosed annually in the United States, Kelly believes the show will be popular. “That’s a huge audience dealing with a life-threatening disease.”

Dr. Michael B. Van Scoy-Mosher, an oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, says his greatest hope for the show is that it improves doctor-patient communication. Van Scoy-Mosher, who will serve as an on-air medical expert, says many doctors feel inhibited about speaking to their patients frankly.

“On this show, you’re going to be free to speak your mind,” he says of the guest doctors who are lined up to appear. “I want to make this show provocative, not just sugary stuff.”

The on-air support group will have some advantages that traditional support groups lack, Schimmel adds.

“ ‘The Group Room’ is less threatening than sitting in a room,” she says. “There is no visual distraction. All you have to have is your heart and your ears.”

Both Schimmel and Kelly dispute the suggestion that a radio support group will lack the intimacy of the face-to-face version.

“The world of communications has changed so much that people are sharing their intimacies online,” Schimmel notes.

The producers, however, should take care that the emotional content of the show isn’t harmful, cautions Celeste Mills, a clinical hypnotherapist in Sherman Oaks and an American Cancer Society volunteer. Mills, who runs ACS support groups, says she thinks “The Group Room” is a good idea but worries about the “control factor.”

“Cancer, no matter what it is or where it’s located, has to be looked at as a very individual thing. The thing that is kind of scary is that people hear things, whether through the newspaper or on TV or radio, and tend to personalize it. This can, for example, give someone with a very bright outlook the wrong outlook. That can be taken care of by [“The Group Room’s” experts] continuing to remind listeners to look at cancer as completely individual and that they have to rely on their own doctor’s or therapist’s opinions.”

The show’s professionals will need to be cautious and learn from mistakes, adds Van Scoy-Mosher.

The two-hour show opens with the latest news on cancer and may feature a guest celebrity or cancer expert. Phone lines will then open to callers to discuss a designated topic.

Callers will be screened by a social worker. But, Schimmel says, every caller will be addressed in some manner. A toll-free phone line, (800) GRP-ROOM, has been set up by Schimmel’s new nonprofit corporation (Vital Options TeleSupport Cancer Network) to later assist callers who don’t make it on the air. Literature on cancer will also be available by mail.

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Everyone involved with the project acknowledges the risks involved, but Schimmel is convinced that radio--along with online services--is the way consumers today best exchange information and emotional support. But that was not what was on her mind in August 1993, when Vital Options folded.

“I felt such grief,” she recalls.

“I had to stop and reevaluate my life, deal with my anger. It was as though I had been stripped of my credentials. People would say to me, ‘Now you have an opportunity to get on with your life.’ But this was 10 years of my life!”

Soon after Vital Options’ closing, Schimmel recalls reading the entertainment section of a newspaper when her eye hit the word “radio.”

“I said, ‘That’s it! Radio.’ The fire was back under my feet,” she says.

While some people rejected the idea, others approved, including several of Schimmel’s confidants from the Vital Options support group.

“I felt strongly about her idea right away,” says Miranda Craig, a Los Angeles marketing expert who will serve as “The Group Room’s” creative-content producer. “I’m a big talk-radio listener. The more the subject is on feelings, the more successful talk radio is. This is going to be a very emotional show.”

The turning point in Schimmel’s quest to establish the show, however, was meeting Premiere’s Kelly.

Kelly had been dealing with his father’s Alzheimer’s disease, and his time had been filled with doctors, insurance companies, nursing homes and comforting his father. The experience, he says, made him realize how hard it is for people to cope with serious, chronic illnesses. Schimmel’s idea struck him as important.

“I said, ‘Yes, we have to do something.’ And radio is great at moving people.”

The network’s commitment was so strong that Kelly recently agreed to launch the show even though Schimmel, whose organization is still nonprofit, is searching for program sponsors.

That will come, says Schimmel, confidently. Obtaining the 800 number was the final omen that told her the show would work, she says, with a grin. She had wanted the custom 800 number GRP-ROOM but found that a Florida promotions firm already possessed it.

With her legendary tenacity, Schimmel called the Florida firm’s co-owner and politely explained who she was and why she wanted his 800 number.

“He listened and said, ‘Ya, that sounds good. You can have it.’ ”