NiallOK’s Blog

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Well!

Much time has passed since my last blog entry… *checks* … nearly 6 months in fact! Wow…

Loads has happened in that time.

I now enjoy minor celebrity in my new home town of Dundalk (well… I like to think so) - with my own weekly radio show “The Wall of Sound” going out for 3 hours every Friday night. I interview bands, I play the charts, I do live competitions (which embee does all too well in winning), I do a chart run-down, I go live to local footie matches, … I do it all!

It’s great fun having my own local radio show… It’s been running since July 15th and already I’ve given away Oregon and iRiver MP3 players, a Hewlett Packard scanner with a Compact Flash memory card, a Mercury digital camera, and some CD’s as prizes, and I’ve had live acts like “Down And Out”, Alan Anderson, “The Get Well Incentive”, “Cosure” and “Sunscarred” live in studio. New York singer/song-writer Rebecca Hart will be appearing on the show on Friday week (Sept. 23rd), and local band The Realm a week or two after that.

Apart from the “Wall of Sound” show, I’ve also been doing other shows, such as “The Rude Awakening” - which I did twice - on the May and June bank holiday Monday mornings, and the main magazine show on Dundalk FM 100, “Dundalk Daily” - where I filled in for their usual presenter Harry Lee twice recently. This Friday coming (Sept. 16th), in the place of the “Wall of Sound” show, I’ll be producing a live sports show in which we’ll be broadcasting coverage and commentary of the McConville Cup Final from Oriel Park here in Dundalk - as well as some music and topical chat. On top of all that, I’ve now got a second weekly radio show of my own which goes out on Wednesdays from 2 to 4pm. At the moment, this second show is called “Back Room Beats”, because I pre-record it in the back bedroom of my house. It tends to feature more laid back tracks and stuff you don’t normally hear on the radio (B-Sides, etc.). I’m going to have to record this weeks one late tonight after dropping my partner down to work (she’s got the incredibly nasty midnight to 8am shift this week…). Next week I’ll be filling in for Paddy Mac on the “Good Morning Dundalk” show twice - on Tuesday and Thursday. Then, of course, there’ll be my normal shows on Wednesday and Friday… Like I said … I do it all!… I kick broadcasting ass!
Now if only I got paid for it…

Apart from the radio, I’ve been keeping busy in my job in Harvey Norman. We’ve a new proprietor now in our (Computer) department and this Saturday coming we have a going-away party for our old proprietor who is heading to Cork to be the proprietor of the new Harvey Norman store down there. We’re all dressing up as different Australians for the going-away party… I get to be Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. Oh joy.

I have the shorts. I have the boots. I even have the hat. Now I’m just looking for a good khaki shirt.

Just tonight I made arrangements to start a new 2 day a week part-time job in a local pub. The extra dosh will come in handy from that … as will the extra dosh I’ll be getting from various DJ gigs I’m getting at the moment. I’ve one coming up in Drumconrath - a wedding party for a lovely - and very different couple. Rather than have the standard church wedding, they’re having it in a registry office and following it up with a piss-up of the highest order, with a fancy-dress party, live band and DJ (me) to follow. I’ll be starting at 11.30PM and not finishing up until the wee smalls. Next month I’ve a gig in Blanchardstown - which is a fair distance to travel - but hey - in this case, it is very fair to say … the money’s good!

Not that I’ll see much of it though. *Shakes fist at VISA card* … ah well!

Until next time, here’s a picture of me, looking “mean”.

Take care of yourself, kids. And each other.