Our Last Christmas In Hume House.

It's true, we are on the verge of vacating what has been the home of Dublin's Hit Music Station FM104 since March 1997! Some are sad at the thoughts of leaving the building that has housed the station for the best period of it's 19 year history, some are absolutely delighted to be getting out of the place and into a fresh new building. I'm in the middle to be honest. I have a lot of memories from the Hume House period, some nice and some not so nice. And of course there have been some really funny stories from a company that is never dull or boring to work for.

This morning a story came back to me as I was looking at the bags of wine we always get from management every christmas. As always we are grateful for anything we get but there was one year that we weren't so grateful! Gather round you sad anoraks for a weh ehh story from the walls of the 3rd floor of Hume House, Ballsbridge Dublin 4....

Back in christmas 1999 a rumour began to spread through FM104 that a rival radio station had given each of their staff 1,000 punts of a christmas bonus. Now christmas bonuses are a serious bone of contention within Irish companies - some give, some don't. Back then, for whatever reason, we didn't get a christmas bonus. It didn't bother me to be honest but I can't deny that when I heard that those w*****s in **FM were getting a grand in cash for their bonus, I was a little bit pissed off. As you would be.

It seemed that I wasn't alone in my anger, many of the on air staff felt the same way and we wondered why that when we were the number 1 station in Dublin, the same gratitude wasn't being extended to us? So the rebel came out in us and we decided to take drastic action in order to demonstrate our indignation to management ; we were going to refuse to accept the wine that mangement had put aside for us!!! What upstarts we were!:)

I should add at this point that I was not the ringleader in this plot, nor was I the one who came up with the idea. The ringleader, who no longer works for the company shall remain nameless throughout this story. And as much as I would dearly love to embarrass him, I won't.

So the 'ringleader' gathered the troops and put his idea to us all and we all agreed to go along with it. Our CEO was incensed by this action and regarded it as a personal insult to him - and believe me, you didn't want to get on the wrong side of him! Mr. Hanrahan stormed down to the prep room where we all gather to prepare for our shows and confronted Adrian Kennedy as to why he was refusing to accept his wine. Adrian was upfront and honest as to why he and the rest of us refused to take the wine, leaving Dermot Hanrahan even more angry than he already was. "Sure I'm not the only one" replied Adrian to Dermot and he proceeded to list the names of us who were boycotting Mr. H's gesture, including the name of the 'ringleader'. "Oh on the contrary" was DH's reply to Adrian as he produced a christmas card from his shirt pocket which contained a letter addressed to himself thanking him for his gift of wine and thanking him for all he had done for him throughout the year! Yes, this was the same guy who had cadjoled us into refusing the wine!!!

Upon hearing this we all waved a white flag and duly collected our wine from Dermot's office. The wine was lovely but it didn't wash away the bitter taste in my mouth and the anger at how downright deceitful and sneaky the 'ringleader' was. Unfortunately this business brings out the worst in people sometimes and my relationship with said (or unsaid as the case here is) was never the same afterwards. Oh well.

I'll be posting some more funnies and perhaps some more disturbing stories from the walls of Hume House in the coming weeks - if the boss doesn't put a stop to it in the meantime!:)

Andy

Hallelujah My B****x!

So another X Factor cover and another debate about the sacrilige of murdering a classic song - yaaaaawn!!!

I threw my hands in the air when I heard that this years winner would be releasing Leonard Cohen's haunting 'Hallelujah', covered in the 90's by the late and much revered Jeff Buckley - two artists that both fall under the 'credible artist' bracket. You know, the type of performer that Hot Press journos decide are acceptable to write on your schoolbag or your facebook profile. Do kids still write their favourite bands in black marker on their schoolbags?

The reason I was in despair when I heard about the 'Hallelujah' cover? I knew for weeks that I would have to endure the constant arguments and debates about how it is against the greater good for an artist - and in particular an X Factor competitor - to cover such a hallowed song. And what makes it worse is that not only do we have to listen to the insults being thrown at Alexandra Burke and Simon (the anti-christ) Cowell, now we have to listen to the "who's version was better, Cohen or Buckley" argument - with each armchair expert trying to outsmart each other with their smug critique!

And quite frankly, I am bored with this crap!

I consider myself a music fan - I include pop music in this. Hell I even like some of Westlifes' stuff! So shoot me! Music is music to me, I don't and never have subscribed to labels. Maybe that's because of the industry that I work in and I have to play all types of music to my audience, both on the radio and in the clubs. If it's a good song then I truly believe that it should be heard by the widest amount of people possible. And Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' is a beauitiful love song about love in both the spiritual and the physical sense. And now the people at large have heard it well who knows. maybe it will encourage tham to go out and buy The Essential Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley's excellent 'Grace' album.

Rant over!:)

andyp@fm104.ie

Monday At Liffey Valley!

Paulina & Friend In Lifestyle Sports

Keith In Tommy Hilfiger

Jenny In Ladybird

Ivy In New Look

Deborah In Sunglass Hut

Darren In Office

Daniel In Schuh

Bags More! It's The Square Tallaght!!!

Trevor And Fellow Workers In River Island

Kasia In The Watch Shop

Elaine In The Body Shop

David And Ray In Mr.Elf Shoe Repairs

Ciara In Peter Marks. Nice Hair!

Anne Marie And Elaine In Budget Travel

What A Cute Kid! Could It Be Will Smith's Little Fella?:)

The All New 02 - Savage!!!

Bugs On The Road

Sherema Working In Portobello College

Michael - One Of The Vets' From The Charlemont Clinic

Mark & John From Harcourt Print

Margaret Working In Richmond Street South

Lisa The Law Student From Portobello College. If Anyone Is Gonna Sue You For Sexual Harassment Paddy, It's Her!:)

Emma From Portobello College

Christy From Christy Burkes' Portobello

13 Years Ago Today....

This day 13 years ago, I became an FM104 jock! I may have the worst short term memory in the world but I remember that day very clearly.

A few days previous to December 5th 1995, a friend who was working in FM104 sales hinted that management at FM104 might be interested in me joining the company. I agreed to put a demo together but didn't think much of it since back then none of the 'legal' stations seemed interested in taking in any of the eager pirate radio DJ's. But what's the harm in trying I thought and in I trotted to the stations old headquarters in Ballast House on the corner of Westmoreland Street.

I handed the demo in for the attention of the Deputy Programe Director, Dave Kelly, and headed home to present the drivetime show on Hot 107. Which, just happened to broadcast from the garden shed in my dad's back garden.

Next morning my phone rings and it's the afforementioned Dave Kelly on the line - "do you fancy popping in for a chat, Andy", asks Dave. Absolutely! I said. So I jumped on to the 123 bus and wondered what exactly Dave meant by a 'chat'.... I would soon find out.

Tara at FM104 reception asked me to wait for Dave and duly he came out to greet me. I have to admit I was nervous as hell but Dave's trademark firm handshake immediately put me at ease and as we continued to his office while Guns 'n' Roses 'Appetite For Destruction' album played in the background, we had a 'chat'. I later worked out the reason why Dave was playing Axl and the crew so loudly - so as prying ears wouldn't pick up on our conversation. Those 'prying ears' would have had the news out to radio land that Andy Preston was about to join FM104 faster than the average Sky News reporter!

As Dave and I chatted I began to feel even more at ease in his company. He's a very amiable guy and I'm very glad that my first big radio break was in his hands. He has never failed to support me through thick and thin down through the years and I hope I have managed to deliver what he expects of me. The first thing I noticed about Dave was his passion for FM104 - The Radio Station. Dave, who a few years later progressed to being our programme director and remains so, loves the product - that product being FM104. He genuinly cares about the radio station and doesn't view it as a stepping stone to greater things. He's happy with his lot and if given the chance, he'll stick at what he is doing until the last gasp of breath leaves his body. It's his radio station, not the shareholders and he's bloody right!

And, if you don't share his vision for FM104 well let me tell you that you won't last long with the company. Perhaps that's why I have lasted 13 years, because I get what it is all about.

End result of our meeting that day, I was to become the new sunday morning breakfast show host between 6 and 9 - my first proper job in radio! It came at a price though, my beloved Hot 107 would have to go. I was caretaking the radio station for it's owner Gary Cruise, and when I told him that I was going to work for FM104 he was genuinely happy for me, but what would become of the radio station. As it happened another station owner agreed to purchase the station from Gary and it moved to a different location.

I made my first broadcast for FM104 on sunday December 17th not realising that 13 years later I would still be a part of the crew. When I joined I was the youngest on air jock, now I'm one of the oldest!:)

It struck me this morning as I jumped into the car to make my way to the station that I never complain about having to get up out of bed in the morning to come to work - in fact I don't even class it as a job, for me it's a labour of love. I'm lucky to have experienced more highs than low's during my time here and I thank my lucky stars every day for the wonderful position that I have been blessed with.

I guess you never know what's around the corner in radio but if it all ended tomorrow I couldn't complain, I've had 13 successful years at the number 1 radio station in the city - not bad going:)

Thanks Dave for the opportunity and thank you for listening!

Andy

(Don't) Turn Up The Bass!

Kanye West blew up a studio mixing desk after playing his new album too loudly, according to Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley.

Rice-Oxley blogged on Keane's website that the band were in the studio with West when the incident happened.

The blog said: "What a strange week in the life of Keane. Exactly a week ago I was sitting on the Eurostar in a half-sleep, having just played the last gig of our European tour in Paris, and then I spent the entire night in the studio with Kanye West. He played us the whole of his new album, which sounded truly awesome - the bass was so fat that eventually the mixing desk blew up."

Rice-Oxley also said that West had praised him on his lyrics to 'Spiralling', the opening track on Keane's new album 'Perfect Symmetry'. Rice-Oxley also revealed that the rapper had reworked one of Keane's songs.

He wrote: "I was especially pleased when he picked out a line from 'Spiralling' ("When we fall in love, we're just falling in love with ourselves") as being a personal favourite, as it's my favourite line I've ever written. Hurrah.

"Then Kanye did some work on one of our tracks, and after that I sat in a corner and watched him do his thing on a song for Jamie Foxx. The whole thing was a real privilege and I learned a lot. I wish I had Kanye's energy...and his dress sense!"