Susan Freeman's love affair with radio began in 1962 at the Los Angeles Pacifica station, KPFK-FM, starting as all-purpose gofer and ending up in the late '60s as a production assistant with the fledgling Firesign Theater. She also had her own college program of music and poetry on KUCR in Riverside, CA. In the 1970s, Susan taught in public and alternative schools, worked as an offset printer,and pursued writing and visual art, traveling and teaching in various places around the U.S and Canada. Moving to Santa Cruz in 1975, she became a regular listener to KUSP, and one day, while listening to a Saturday morning folk music show, heard that the programmer, Dan was leaving town and looking for a replacement. Susan jumped at the chance, and in May, 1977, transformed the old-timey emphasis of "The Continental Drift" into a 7-year voyage between Celtic Europe and North America. Focusing on Irish poetry, literature, folktales, history and politics, as well as traditional and contemporary music with Celtic roots, the program was the first "Celtic show" in the Monterey Bay area. 

From 1977 to 1983, while teaching part-time at Cabrillo College, Susan produced local concerts with KUSP "Global Village" programmer, Gypsy Flores, establishing Santa Cruz as a magnet for the best traditional Irish and British musicians. She left KUSP and Santa Cruz for several years in the '80s to raise a family, go to graduate school, and then teach in Watsonville. Susan's connection to "Castle Cottage" goes back to the "Drift" days when Marilyn Patton, and then JoAnn King, presented programing for young people on "Saturday's Child." In the summer of 1995, JoAnn King became seriously ill and asked Susan to take on "Castle Cottage" to keep the 20 year old legacy of children's programming alive at KUSP. She's been doing that ever since, and sees "Castle Cottage" as both entertainment and education: an activist community voice for young people, families and educators. Currently the co-director of the Central California Writing Project at UC Santa Cruz, Susan continues to write and publish poetry, and to participate in the Irish cultural community.