Radiothon 2007 … the story so far

August 30, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
6 Comments

98.5 Sonshine FM‘s Radiothon has been keeping me rather busy since Friday of last week.

It’s an eight day event raising money for our new Broadcast and CareLine Complex in Como.

The excitement has continued to build along with the tally of donations. Listeners and supporters have been exceptionally generous and I’m looking forward to the final two days. We’re in the home stretch and if last year is anything to go by it’s about to get very busy.


We’ve had a number of guests visiting us so far including West Coast Eagle Mark Seaby who is a strong supporter of the radio station and our involvement in the community.


Tod Johnston is a local musician and television personality who lends a hand whenever he can. We had a ‘studio audience’ yesterday and he had them in stitches with his humour.

Tod also sang a song live on air and then convinced Channel 7 personalities Rick Ardon and Monica Kos to join him in singing ‘Thank you Very Much for Your Kind Donation’, a song normally reserved for Channel 7’s annual Telethon.

The photo shows Tod with me and breakfast announcer, Arthur Muhl.


The final of the three photos here is of fellow announcer Tim Long with Swan Districts Football Club CEO, Peter Taliangis, West Coast Eagles legend Chris Lewis and myself.

Chris played a major role in the 1992 and 1994 West Coast Eagles Premierships. During 2007 he has served as the senior coach of Swan Districts.

It’s been great chatting to a range of local personalities, having lots of fun, and seeking support from listeners.

We’ve had six long days so far and it’s about to get even busier.

I’ll have more photos and stories to share soon.

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Can you tip a winner?

August 27, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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So it has come to this.

The AFL season has been pretty exciting this year and with one round still left to play there are only five of the sixteen clubs who can’t play finals football. The final make up of the top eight won’t be completely decided until the end of next weekend’s final round of games.

In the same way, The Journey Football Tipping Competition is a long way from being over with the final winner set to be decided after the final round.

I reckon the winner could be any of six people out of the seventeen who participated in the competition.

With one round to go Mark Edwards and Shawna are on top of the tipping ladder with 103 correct tips each. I’m amazed to be tied with Andrew on 102 correct tips. In the middle of the season I was so far down the ladder I thought there was no way of coming back. There are also two people tied together on 101 correct tips. Scott Sladen and Geoff are two tips away from the lead but with some good tipping this week either of them could leap from the rest of us to snatch the lead.

I wonder who will grab the inaugural The Journey Football Tipping Competition.

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Thumbs Up! Edition Four

August 27, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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Time for Edition Four of Thumbs Up!

Great to see a few more posts this week. Just as I imagined it’s taking a few weeks to get into the rhythm of the weekly editions with some people posting weekly and others contributing every second or third week.

Thanks to everyone who has taken part this time around.

If this is the first you’ve heard of Thumbs Up! and you’re scratching your head wondering what it’s about you can read the details here.

I’ve never been to Queensland but I’ve cycled through many other places in Australia so I know just what Deano’s talking about in his post God’s Own Country at one of my daily reads, My Jarrol Spot.

Something wonderful happened with Thumbs Up! this week. I’ve been reading Cindy Swanson’s posts for years so it was great to have her getting into the Thumbs Up! groove with Thumbs Up! Accentuating the Positive posted at her excellent blog Notes in the Key of Life. She said some wonderful things about Grams from Talk to Grams.

Grams then continued to accentuate the positive by sending us to Shortybears Place with her own wonderful Thumbs Up! post.

Denise at Shortybears Place then sent a big Thumbs Up to Donetta who she says was a real angel to her during recovery from surgery. She tells a bit more of the story in her post Thumbs Up My Turn.

Donetta from A Life Uncommon is thankful for the Thumbs Up! she received from Denise. She says, “What a nice day to get a hug. There are those days when all you can do is keep focus.” Check out her post A Gift from Denise.

Isn’t that incredible? It’s wonderful to see people getting involved by accentuating the positive and great to see a chain begin like that.

Getting away from it all this week is Barbra Sundquist presenting a post about a recent Women’s Retreat at Women’s Retreat Ideas.

Shannon is giving a big Thumbs Up! to Chi Alpha Campus Ministries as he highlights their great influence at his blog Divulgence. Thanks Shannon. Great post.

Romi’s back again highlighting A Leader of Human Rights Education at Romi’s Journal. It’s a wonderful post that’s well worth reading.

Don’t believe everything you hear about ‘young people these days. Apple’s post, Today’s Youth, posted at The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree, gives us an insight into the lives of a couple of young people making a difference.

I don’t think I’ve left anyone out but if you did post a submission this week and you can’t see it here, please email me so that I can add your post. If you missed out on being a part of Thumbs Up! this week, get posting now and submit for next week.

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Colourful Friends

August 23, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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I haven’t seen the movie yet but a couple of nights ago we were at the cinema to see a preview screening of Ratatouille and these guys were there wanting to hang out together.

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Radiothon is set to begin

August 23, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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98.5 Sonshine FM’s Radiothon starts early tomorrow morning and runs for 8 days. Money raised this year will go towards building a new broadcast complex in Como to replace the aging facility in Morley.

That means that blogging may be a little thin on the ground over the next week. On the other hand I may have lots of stuff to blog and I could have a lot more to say than usual. I guess we won’t know until it all happens.

The studios, at 9 Boag Road, Morley, will be open for free tours from ten to four this Saturday afternoon. If you’re in the Perth area I’d love to catch up with you and show you around the building. Please drop in and say hello.

As well as the free tours on the weekend, there are still a few places left for the delicious, free morning teas I mentioned in a previous post.

Thanks to Miss Maud and Five Senses, we’re inviting 20 listeners each day to join me and my morning programme guests for morning tea each day next week. Monday and Thursday are full and Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday are filling fast.

The morning teas will run from 10:00 a.m. to around 11:30 a.m. and should be a lot of fun. It’d be great to catch up and it’s a wonderful opportunity for me to show off my workplace.

If you’d like to be part of the fun simply click here to email me and tell me which day you can join me. If you’re one of the first 20 replies for each day you’ll enjoy a delicious, free morning tea at our Morley studios thanks to Miss Maud, Five Senses Coffee and 98.5 Sonshine FM.

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