Home Page About Me My Blog Radio Work Photographs Links Link to Facebook Twitter Flickr Last.FM RSS Feeds



Sunday, January 31st, 2010

We’re up in Shetland for 8 days, and most of these days are spent doing very little. I’m quite enjoying the peace and relaxation however I think Emma is feeling a little guilty for doing nothing all day.

If you thought our days couldn’t have got any less busy, on Friday, completely out of the blue, came the snow meaning that any plans we did have were quashed.

Normally I’m not too fond of the snow. Working in radio means I provide a vital resource to many during periods of snow, and while it can make great radio it can also be a right pain. And being the closest member of the team to the studios, I have no excuse not to make it in on a snowy day.  So I quite enjoyed being 200 miles away from my radio show, with absolutely no way of being called in to work.

And  it did give us a good opportunity to build a snow man.

And for some (not me), an opportunity to make snow angels.

Let’s just all pray the snow disappears on our return to the mainland next week.


Monday, December 21st, 2009

Santa came for a visit to Original 106 today, to speak to kids across the North East on the wireless.

It was a perfect opportunity to do something interesting with the website. Tracking Santa was an idea that came up in the office during last week. Something similar to the NORAD Santa website that is run every Christmas Eve.

As he started his journey from Lapland this morning, we tracked him as he made his way to Aberdeen.

Track Santa

A few people asked me during the day on Twitter what was the technology behind it?  Simple answer, Google Maps and a tracking device on Santas sleigh. Simple eh?


Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

The Original 106 Fugitive was let lose on the North East of Scotland yesterday, and after only 2 days, the hunt to find him is taking the area by storm.

Each day there will be differnet bounty periods where the Fugitive will be in different locations. Each bounty period has a clue with it. Find him within the right time and ask the question “Are you the Original 106 Fugitive?” and you could walk away with a wod of cash.  Today each bounty was sitting at £1500.

My involvement with all this?  Well, as well as the Fugitive featuring on my radio shows, I was also given the task of creating the Original 106 Fugitive “minisite”.

One of my proudest pieces of web work to date, certainly considering I was a bit rusty when it came to designing websites.  Also my first attempt at a Web 2.0 esque site.  After we got radio web wizzard Matt Deegan involved,  the site was integrated into Wordpress to allow the Fugitive himself to update the site, post photos and comments from wherever he may be hiding in the North East.

What’s also fascinating is watching Twitter to see what people are saying about the Original 106 Fugitive, and watching as they desperately try to locate him and win some money.  The Fugitive himself is posting after hacking the Original 106 Twitter page @originalfm

Will be interesting to see how the site pans out over the next few weeks.


Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Off home to Shetland for a few days tomorrow.  Took the unusual step this year of booking the plane instead of the boat. I’m quite glad I have, the boat has had its fair share of cancellations in the last couple of weeks. The plane also has the added benefit of only taking an hour, versus 12 on the boat. I don’t mind the length of boat trip, I quite enjoy it at times, but when you are only home for 4 days it seems a waste of time.

I’m not sure Emma is too impressed that I’m disappearing for a few days, especially over Christmas.  We had our Christmas at the end of last week, spending a couple of days in Glenshee which is where the above photo was taken.  It snowed which was nice (but apparently it always snows in Glenshee at this time of year – it is a ski resort after all!)

Radio wise, Christmas is/was always my favorite time of year.  You get to hear your favorite presenters doing different shows at different times. With that in mind, here’s what I’m doing over the next couple of weeks.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of this week I’m on air my normal shifts 7-10pm.  (Despite being off to Shetland tomorrow, try and work that one out if you want).

Christmas Day/Boxing Day off.

Saturday December 27th normal shift of 2-6pm (including Aberdeen v Hearts live football).

Sunday December 28th, normal shift of Sunday Breakfast, 6-10am.

Monday 29th, Tuesday 30th, Wednesday 31st, Drivetime 2-7pm (looking forward to this one)

Thursday 1st January Breakfast, 6-10am. Working that early on New Years Day should be interesting.  Will sleep from 10am onwards!

Friday 2nd January, back to normal, on air 7-10pm.

106.3/106.8FM in the North East of Scotland and online at www.originalfm.com

David


Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Dr Karl

Everytime I meet a “celebrity” I end up having a little bit of a smile on my face for the rest of the day. I’m sure it is something that will soon wear off after a few years in the radio industry.

Today was the the turn of Dr Karl Kenney from Neighbours (his real name is Alan Fletcher, but he answers to Karl).  What a nice and friendly man.  More than happy to take part in anything you asked him, and more than happy to get your photo taken with him (take note Noel). I suppose he thrives on this sort of thing.

The work load has been increased recently. I’ve gone from 14 hours on air a week to 23 hours (if only it was in one go, I could host nearly a whole day of Original 106).

You can now hear me,

Monday – Friday, 7 till 10pm.
Saturday, 2-6pm, the Saturday afternoon sports show (hosting a sports show still amuses me slightly).
Sunday, 6 till 10am, Sunday Breakfast (strangely was a really good experience despite being up at ridiculous o’clock on a Sunday morning).

106.3/106.8FM in the North East of Scotland, or www.originalfm.com if you want to listen online.

David