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Tonight is the night that the Christmas FM crew finally get a chance to have a get-together and enjoy themselves after “bringing the magic of Christmas” to Dublin and Cork for a month. I’ll be there, as I featured on the station, reading Christmas Stories on Keith Shanley’s Breakfast Show (along with my college classmate and friend Suzanne Scollard) and presenting a show on Christmas morning itself.

The station, which broadcast from the D4 Hotel in Ballsbridge, managed to raise a whopping €70,000 for their most Christmassy of chosen charities, the Simon Communities of Dublin and Cork – an incredible achievement – while helping bring a bit of Christmas spirit and joy to it’s many listeners.

Here’s a brief documentary video (by Jen) about the station, that even features me…

So Christmas is upon us!

In the spirit of the recession, I’m going to recycle this image from a previous post from last year (but the feeling is still there in full!)…

By the way, as you may know if you know me (or if you follow me on twitter!), I’ve been on Christmas FM presenting “Christmas Stories” as part of the Breakfast Show for the past few weeks. Tomorrow, Christmas Day itself, I’m on for a very special show – which I’m presenting myself – from 9 to 10am. I may even go in dressed as Santa Claus! (- like I did in work… see pic below!)

So, if you’re in Dublin or Cork – unwrap your presents with me on your radio! The station is on 100.3FM in Dublin and 106.7FM in Cork. If you’re anywhere else in the world, you can tune in via the web site. You can also read the news team blog there and check out some of the stories we’ve been reading out in the mornings!

A very happy and safe Christmas to you all!

Here’s a great song, – a song of the moment, if you will …- and it’s by that great Dublin band, Bell X1 (known for the hits Flame, Rocky Took A Lover, and the beautiful Eve, the Apple of my Eye – among others).

Yes, they sound very much like Talking Heads here, but yes, I LIKE Talking Heads, so since when is that a bad thing?

This song, which is getting great airplay (on Phantom anyway) is the live version of The Great Defector, recorded in Dublin:

I gotta admit… I’m a little bit addicted to twitter… although WHAT a useful site it’s turned out to be after all…

Yesterday I headed into town with a short list of things I had to do and buy. Top of the list was getting a new eye test and glasses, getting copies of the key to the office in work cut and printing up business cards. I went in without a plan, not having an idea of where was best to do what… but twittered once there, asking for recommendations on where to go – and my twitter buddies didn’t fail me. I’m only going back into town today (on the next train) because I didn’t get a chance to go to the place that I was recommended to get business cards from (oh, and I realised I need to get new speaker cable and a couple of other little things for my DJ gear).

In the last week or so…

• My car gave up. Just decided that it can’t be arsed going any faster than 30-odd km/h. Luckily, this happened after I’d gotten off the motorway and was only a couple of miles from home. A mechanic friend of mine is having a look at it tomorrow. Personally, I think the clutch is knackered, but I know less about how cars work than I know about how womens’ brains work (i.e.: very little at all)!
• I DJ’d for a 21’st birthday party here in Donabate and, for the first time, used a big screen for music videos and messages to the party goers… was great craic altogether and the punters had a feckin’ brilliant time… one bad thing though was that the pub I was gigging in (and leaving my gear in over-night) was broken into later in the night (a while after closing)… by someone who was there at the party that evening but, luckily for me, nothing of mine was touched.
• I got a bunch of new PS3 games … loving the Simpsons game to bits – hilarious and fun, am stuck on Resistance 2 – killing alien scum in America, and getting stuck-in (online) in Farcry 2 – going to deepest Africa, meeting interesting people, and then killing them … I’m not much of a gamer to be honest – and I haven’t even touched Little Big Planet or Need For Speed: Undercover yet, 2 days after buying them as I’ve also been busy with…
• College assignments - they’re piling up! I just got my ‘Practical Skills’ (Studio Operations) one finished and I’ve to finish my ‘Broadcast Voice’ one (bit of paperwork to do) but just got ‘Media Law’ and ‘Marketing’ assignments today and have a group assignment for ‘Radio Management’ (applying for a broadcasting license from the B.C.I.) to get stuck into A.S.A.P.!
• Speaking of college, I got confirmation from Newstalk that I’ll be with them for work experience at the end of the month, working on the Tom Dunne Show – so I’m very much looking forward to that… should be a good experience working on a busy national station!

I’m pretty certain that’s all my news for now… right now I’m downloading the Windows 7 Beta… and I’m not really sure why… It’s thundering along at around the 300kB/s mark though, which is nice