DJ for a Day

One of the things on my bucket list was to try my hand at being a DJ. I’ve always been interested in radio since I was a young thing. My uncle had lots of different radios all over his house, all tuned to different stations and bands, and all playing at the same time! He couldn’t fall asleep without a radio playing.

When I was a teenager I got a CB radio and I remember hanging the aerial (on an old biscuit tin) out of the window to get a signal. I remember the excitement when people could actually hear me and I could have conversations with random people. The days before Facebook.

Anyway I was on Twitter (as I usually am) and noticed Ballina Community Radio Station followed me so I tweeted about my bucket list and they invited me over! Edel met me and told me all about the radio station, it was a dream of Ray, her husband, to have a radio station and back in 2013 this became a reality. The station is by the community, for the community. It’s a not for profit and there really is something for everyone in the shows. Everyone who takes part is a volunteer too. I never thought you could volunteer as a DJ! The station broadcasts every weekend on FM and there are podcasts of the shows online.

Edel was brilliant, she was very patient and showed me the ropes and I got to record my very own show!

There’s quite a lot to think about and although I started off OK the nerves got to me after the first song. I was talking too fast and I could hear my voice wavering. I gave myself a bit of a talking to and managed to calm down.

I was surprised how hard it is to fill an hour – and I thought I talked a lot! I also rambled about everything and anything with no structure. Anyway I’m not going to give myself a hard time because I loved doing it….and guess what? I think I’ll do it again – with more structure next time!

You can listen to the show here.  I loved every minute of it and now can’t sleep because I’m planning the next show! Thank you so much Edel for making a dream come true.