Category - Radio

In light of the massive raids and arrests yesterday over child pornography, I feel that it is very timely to be looking at protecting our kids while they’re on the internet.

During my morning programme on Sonshine FM this morning I’ll be talking with Simon Johnson, the author of a new book titled Keep your Kids Safe on the Internet.

On his website, Simon says In 2002, I left a corporate IT job and a six figure salary to spend time with my wife Anna prior the birth of my daughter, Amelie. Like most parents we spent considerable time planning for the arrival of our daughter – but I couldn’t prepare for how it changed me.



Amelie’s’ birth put my life into perspective. After she arrived, I had no desire to return to full-time corporate life. I wanted to do something more meaningful and positive – something with impact! While I didn’t immediately know what that was, I was open to ideas.



I had been using the Internet to send friends and family some pictures of my daughter. At the time I was receiving an average of 100 inappropriate, spam e-mail messages a day! While fixing my spam problem, it occurred to me how I wouldn’t like my daughter to receive this junk. I thought, “Well if I can protect companies from Internet threats like spam, then why can’t I protect my own daughter?” I then had a look around for software, books, reviews – anything I could find on the topic of protecting children online. Unfortunately, everything I looked at was either outdated or completely useless.

The book is very helpful. It looks at the various threats such as predators in chat rooms, viruses, spam, adware, hackers and rates several software packages.

The companion website is also very helpful. There is a lot of free information on the site as well as forums where you can ask specific questions about keeping your kids, and your computer, safe.

For those in Perth or those who would like to listen on-line via the website I’ll be talking to Simon sometime between 10:00am and 11:00am this morning.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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We went to see the new Walt Disney Pictures release Home on the Range this morning.

Sonshine FM had a preview screening so we had a large cinema at Greater Union Innaloo packed with our listeners from across the metro area.

It was a great animated movie and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It’s been described by some reviewers as one of the greatest Disney animated movies ever.

It features the voice talents of Roseanne Bar, Judi Dench, Jennifer Tilly, Cuba Gooding Jnr., Randy Quaid, Steve Buscemi and many others.

I imagine it’s already had its run in the US because it’s already on DVD there.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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One of the very pleasant parts of my job is being able to talk to a range of people and to find out a little more about them and their passions.

It was a real delight this morning to spend 15 minutes on the phone to Marcia Hines.

She was wonderfully friendly and a very easy person to interview.

We discussed Australian Idol for a short time but then focussed on her new album, Hinesight – Songs from the Journey.

I took a listen to the CD before interviewing Marcia and enjoyed her interpretation of some great songs. To say it is a covers album would cheapen the effort. Yes, you will find 13 songs that will mostly be familiar to you, but as I remarked to Marcia, each song sounds like a Marcia Hines song. She has an amazing ability to make each song her own.

She has recorded a wide range of songs from Sam Cook’s You Send Me to Donald Fagen’s IGY. There’s a wonderful version of James Taylor’s Shower the People with added vocals from Belinda Emmett, and Ian Moss joins Marcia on the Dragon classic Sunshine.

However, the stand out track for me is her recording of When I Fall in Love. It has a wonderfully rich arrangement and her vocals are to die for. The story behind her recording of the song is touching.

If you want to hear the interview you can use the media player below.

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I’m several weeks into my new job at Sonshine FM.

After all the madness of our annual Radiothon fund raiser things are settling down and my profile has been added to the Sonshine FM website.

If you want to find out a little more about who I am you can go here and read the details.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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Have you had a chance to listen to Radiothon on 98.5 Sonshine FM yet?

If you have tried listening on-line in the past week or so without success, you may like to try again. The server was down but is now up and running. Just go to the website and click on listen live.

As mentioned, you can also follow the Radiothon 2004 links to see the video stream. (Let’s know if you see me buzzing around in your computer.)

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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