Please stop watching this crap!



The fury over 'Celebrity Big Brother' is continuing with 30,000 complaints received from viewers so far. Channel 4 are probably rubbing their hands in glee though, with 5.7 million people tuning in to the show last night.
I detest such reality shows and have never ever watched 'Big Brother'. Why would I want to waste my time watching these nobodies living their lives on my screen?! I'm too busy living my own life!
Unless you've been living on another planet, you will by now have heard that Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has been the victim of incessant bullying in the Big Brother House at the hands of Jade Goody and her cohorts Jo and Danielle.
I saw last night's show purely because I was at someone else's house and they had it on. It makes for vile viewing... and that's just Jade. I've never understood the fascination with this particular individual.. what has she ever done apart from live a media fuelled life of reality shows, having babies and public spats with boyfriends? From last night's show I now know as well that she and her mates are as common as muck, have so many chips on the their shoulders that they could fry them and feed the whole household, are immature, ignorant and cheap. Jo O'Meara (whom I once interviewed and found to be rather dull) should realise the pitfalls. While former beauty queen Danielle will no doubt trade on her looks and celebrity boyfriends to keep herself in the limelight in the future, Jo has to rely just on her singing voice.. and with her solo material so far failing to set the world alight, she should realise that her nasty behaviour doesn't do her any favours. Unless of course her ambitions now go no further than being Jade's PA...
Shilba appears to be quite an intelligent person and a really classy lady to boot. She, from another country and culture, has mastered the English language beautifully while I would need an interpreter to decipher what Danielle (an English native) is saying!
On nights out, spot the difference in demeanour between Shilpa and Jade below. It kind of sums it all up really!


And let's not forget the specimen that launched her "career" on Big Brother 3, below. uughhhhh!
She had the cheek to call Shilpa fake when she has two mounds of silicon in front of her and enough liposuction to lose weight which she of course attributes to her fitness video, which she has probably made a fortune on!


Maybe if people stopped watching such shows we would be spared future "jades" being unleashed on us in the future.... please! Jade and her posse won't survive without you...Do the decent thing and switch off that virtual life support!

Official opening of Sheraton Fota Island Spa.

Last Friday I was back at the Sheraton Fota Island Gold Resort and Spa (scene of the RedFM Christmas party) - this time it was for the opening of the hotel's luxury spa. Hundreds of guests attended, including Lord Mayor Michael Ahern and his wife Eileen - and also former Lord Mayor Deirdre Clune, with her husband Conor.
The spa is fab, quite simply - and the party was hugely enjoyable - although I was chatting so furiously I missed out on all the canapes!
However, I didn't pass up on the chance to get a little pampering - and here I am getting a dramatic nail polish from Jeanette Busuttin from Malta. She used to work as a beauty therapist on cruise ships but it seems the opportunity to work at this spa was enough to lure her back to "terra firma"!
The hotel is a five star establishment ... and now you know where to go for some five star spa treatments too!

Farewll to Chorus' Local Channel.



Last night I went to a party at Beamish to say farewell to the Local Channel. This was the TV station run by Chorus (formerly known as Cork Multichannel and Irish Multichannel) - which recently closed down.
I had worked there at one stage, getting my first taste of television action, hosting an entertainment series called 'Urban Bite', followed by a Heineken Groove Weekender special and a live telethon quiz and auction. Happy Days!
The local channel was a great spring-board for lots of people, many of whom gathered at Beamish last night. It was great to see all the old faces, yet sad to think that the channel is no more. An end of an era certainly.
Joining me above are two fine camera-men, Paschal and Barry, with whom I worked in the past. Barry edited my TV show at the time but went on to be my camera-man when I presented 'Streetwise' at RTE. Paschal left to join Forefront Productions after nine months in the channel and is now setting up on his own. Going from strength to strength, in other words.
Below is Barry again, along with sports presenter/commentator Trevor Welch, who went on to TV3 and of course 'The Big Red Bench' on RedFM at the weekends. He too, had his television debut on The Local Channel.


....And in the middle this time is my mate John, who after roughly a year and a half at the station, joined RTE, where he still reigns supreme in technical support.
It was a very enjoyable evening, even if we were celebrating the passing of something... And of course we also raised our glasses to those who couldn't be present but who also made highly significant contributions to this unique brand of Cork television down through the years.

RedFM's 'Brake the Cycle' Launch.


On Monday evening at the RedFM Headquarters (well, the only quarters we have really!), we launched our new road safety awareness campaign called 'Brake The Cycle'. That's me pictured above with Victor under a graffiti-style piece of art-work related to the campaign.
There was a great turn-out of support which was great to see. Minister Micheal Martin made a speech, while the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress also came along, as did a representative from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) and other dignitaries and politicians.
The office space was transformed into well, something other than an office basically... desks dissappeared and were replaced with bar tables covered in crisp white table cloths, while a catering company did the round with tasty nibbles. That's the fun stuff... now for the serious side.... In 2006 36 people died on Cork roads. The average age of those who died is 34. So with the families of those 36 people having their lives shattered by tragedy last year, we are saying let's 'Brake The Cycle' (and yes, 'Brake' is spelled that way on purpose!)
There will be a number of phases to the campaign, starting with three adverts which you may have heard already - they all end with the message 'Drive like an idiot, Die like an idiot', a sad unfortunate truth in a lot of cases.
Because most of those who are dying on are roads are so young we felt that as a youth station, we should be doing something to address the matter. We hope that our target audience will take in the message and change their behaviour. It's not cool or clever to be speeding, racing or drink driving. It's just bloody stupid and highly un-cool.


From the newsroom, Louise and Paul....

I am an honorary sports girl for this pic with Alan Bennett of Cork CityFC! It was great to have a young role-model like Alan attend our launch. Viv and Erica are the real sports girls, however. I will not be challenging them in a sports quiz anytime soon!

Colm from sport with Kevin from news and Eimear from 'Cork Talks Back' in between.

Fiona, our financial controller with Grace, our marketing manager, who worked hard to get the launch ready.

Our patrollers Claire, Debbie and Louise, who are out in traffic more often than any of us!

Richie, Caroline and Dave Mac at the launch.

Doesn't Philip scrub up well???

Happy New Year!!!


Christmas came and went very quickly. I had four days off work and they were very precious. I had a lovely time with my family and didn't do much but eat and drink and play with my lovely nieces... and if I was left there for longer I would have continued in the exact same vein! But work beckoned... and normality started to return. I think by tomorrow I will actually know what day of the week it is again!
Upon returning to Cork, I went to see the Frank and Walters play in the Savoy on Friday night. A great gig - as is to be expected from them. The loyalty and enthusiasm of their fans is also overwhelming... I love that "We are, we are, we are The Frank and Walters" chant!
And so came New Years Eve... not a night I like normally. I think there's way too much hype surrounding it. On top of that I think it can be a very sad, lonely night for some, particularly if the year to which we're saying goodbye was a bad one. So I usually like to stay away from it. I think of it as a melee of crowded pubs, scarce taxis and lots of drunken idiots everywhere.. not to mention extortionate prices for most venues. I was horrified to find ordinary pubs to whom we give our custom all year long, charging €10 in on New Year's Eve. Personally I would boycott such places.
Anyway this year I was delighted to receive an invitation to go to the New Year's Eve ball at the Clarion Hotel (pictured there above). If you're going to go out on New Year's Eve, you may as well go somewhere special! Top marks to the Clarion's staff for service and quality... our six course meal was simply delicious, complemented with fine wine and champagne. I got up to dance rather too soon afterwards... it would have been wiser to let the food digest... but the music from the Groove Orchestra was too tempting! Once on the dance-floor, I rarely left... the band were great fun (followed by a DJ) and the crowd were nice and friendly.
So I rang in the New Year in style - hope 2007 will be a memorable year for us all. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!