Adventures in Radio

Tell you what –  Ireland has been extremely good to me.  I have been very fortunate and honoured to tell my story on Irish radio the past few months.  And…  all up, I have managed to speak about #AroundIreandOnAPushie 25 times via radio and podcasts across three countries.  What’s even cooler is, I have been able to go to outside broadcasts or an “OB” as they’re called in the business with both BBC Ulster in Belfast and South East Radio in Wexford!  So what happens when you go to a live broadcast that isn’t in a studio?  A lot of really cool stuff and THIS is what happens:

The producer or radio show host will get in contact with you a few days before the broadcast.   They’ll discuss what they’re covering on the show and  where you’ll fit into the show.  Also, they’ll confirm a meeting point – what’s cool with both the BBC Ulster and South East Radio is, they were cool enough to let me go road tripping with them to the location! Both times when we arrived to the OB location the engineers were already hard at work setting up the important transmitting stuff.  Microphones were tested and people were all organised… and then, just like a pro, we were LIVE!

Whilst at BBC Ulster, John Toal, interviewed like a champion.  It was seamless.  Sure, we were in someone else’s house which always makes it harder… but Producer Maryjane kept to the rundown like a professional!  All the rooms in the house were occupied.  There was cooking going on, singing, piano playing and interviews just everywhere.  The staff was taking photos and social mediaing like wizards!  It was all happening and it was totally awesome.  Then, just like that – the broadcast was over and we road tripped back to Belfast. Now, things were slightly different when I went to South East Radio’s OB with Tony Scott.  Firstly, I became the offical window waver in the OB truck and I LOVED it!  I also got to hand out an award to a lucky listener, too! The reason why we were in Enniscorthy was for the Christmas lighting ceremony.  Tony had probably one of the coolest ideas I’ve ever heard and I was lucky enough to see it all unfold in person.  Tony walked down the road to Santa’s Enchanted Castle (which is an actual castle by the way) and broadcasted LIVE from inside!  What an epic way to showcase the town!  Tony was interviewing the elves whilst inside the castle!

We even got a picture with Santa!  Overall, I was extremely impressed how the day panned out.  

After a few more interviews with distinguished guests and Santa, that was a wrap!

Thanks goes out to all the radio stations in Ireland who I got to chat with over the past few months!  It was pretty amazing having your support along the way!  x