Comrades, i hope everyones having a good holiday. I’m up in Bundy in a shitty little internet cafe posting this blog. the bloke at the counter is charging me by the minute so i’m gonna try bang this it out quickly. The internship at the NewsMail is excellent, everyone there is young and fresh and amazing. So far they’ve got me out on a few jobs just covering school fates and things like that. But on tuesday i got my big break when i interviewed this little Eli kid from triple J’s Eli Radio. I don’t know if any of you listen to triple j but he has a regular gig on Breakfast with Dools and he is hilarious so check him out. This week dools moved to the morning show so he’s been phoning in every morning. After we arranged the interview with Eli he was pretty wrapped and was telling the whole nation how he was going to be on page three in his local paper. Then we interviewed him that arvo and he was great (i even got a few quotes from dools in Sydney). But the big breakthrough came on wednesday morning when Eli used his segment on Eli Radio to proclaim to the nation “Joe is from the NewsMail and he is a GREAT reporter.” That, comrades, is about as big as it gets for intern journalist in the small town of Bundaberg. But i did it. And it didn’t stop there on Friday the article came out (he got page six not page three)
Eli used his segment to read quotes to the rest of Australia. So from my small office in Bundaberg i have somehow broke through every barrier and my work has been broadcasted to a national audience. The rest of the week never quite lived up to the Eli hype, but it was great. I’ve had a few stories published and i have been learning heaps of stuff and meating loads of cool people and i might have to drop a bombshell to y’all in the coming days but until then have fun.
From casual caller to star
Bundaberg News-Mail 22.06.2007
By Joe Flynn
ELI Marsland may be well on his way to becoming a radio superstar, but his friends are less than impressed.
The 14-year-old has been hosting a short segment on Scott Dooleys Breakfast on Triple J for more than a year now, but he cannot get his friends to listen.
“Everyone just says, Eli who? Triple what?” he said.
“I’ve been trying to get them to listen to the show, but I do not think anyone is up at that time.”
But Dools, otherwise known as the work-experience-kid, sees big things for his teenage off-sider.
“I think this kid could be somewhere between Princess Diana and Vesna from Big Brother (2005),” he said.
“He’s going to be massive.”
Eli’s segment, Eli Radio, usually runs on Sunday mornings on Doolys program, but has been on every morning this week because of a schedule change.
The segment started last year when Dooley fielded a call from the teenager while working on Triple Js Drive Time program.
“Eli rung up and said ‘Give me something to do Dools, I am bored’,” Dools said.
“At first I thought it would just be a bit of a break for me but it has really taken off.”
In the Eli Radio segment each week Eli announces the weather, picks a song and gives listeners his thoughts of the week.
“I am trying to make my thoughts of the week more articulate and philosophical, so Dools will stop giving it to me,” Eli said.
“Dools said that the Thoughts of the Week section gets the highest ratings of the whole show.
“But thats just because he gives it to me for saying something stupid.”
Eli said that he would like to host his own program like Breakfast with Dools or the Drive Time show one day, but for now he has revenge on his mind.
“Next time I go down to Sydney I am going to get a fresh cream pie, with heaps of cream on it, and throw it Dools’ face,” he said.
“Just for a bit of payback.”
Before Eli Radio can go anywhere he said that his segment needs a theme song.
“I was thinking of maybe having Rebel Radio but changing it a bit to Eli Radio,” Eli said.
So if anyone has suggestions send a 30-second clip to [email protected]