RetroRadio – Paul Potts

November 22, 2018
by Rodney Olsen
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RetroRadio is a series of posts of radio interviews from my time working at 98five Sonshine FM covering everything from issues of spirituality to chats with visiting musicians and celebrities.

Hopefully, the interviews spark a few memories and a few thoughts.

This week Paul Potts is starting a Christmas tour of Denmark and Norway with several sold out shows. He has certainly come a long way since the days of being a mobile phone salesman.

Paul first sang opera in 1999 in a karaoke competition, dressed as Luciano Pavarotti.

In the following years, he dabbled in amateur opera but it was in June 2007 when his audition for Britain’s Got Talent was broadcast that he began his truly extraordinary journey towards winning the first season of the competition.

He then became known around the world as the mobile phone salesman with the incredible voice. Millions of people around the world have since watched that first audition that blew the audience and the judges away.

I spoke to Paul back in April 2009. While working in radio my job allowed me the opportunity to speak to many well-known people from all around the world.

I’d have to say that my chat with Paul would rank among my favourite interviews because he seemed like such an ordinary and very likeable guy. He certainly has an amazing voice but he remains genuine and down to earth.

Just click the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post to hear our conversation.

I spoke to Paul about suffering at the hands of bullies in his younger years, comparisons between his story and that of Susan Boyle, the unlikely star of the 2009 season of Britain’s Got Talent and about the career path he thought of following when he was just six.

I hope you’ll take the time to listen to the interview and enjoy spending some time with the remarkable Paul Potts.



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RetroRadio – Brandi Carlile

November 15, 2018
by Rodney Olsen
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RetroRadio is a series of posts of radio interviews from my time working at 98five Sonshine FM covering everything from issues of spirituality to chats with visiting musicians and celebrities.

Hopefully, the interviews spark a few memories and a few thoughts.

Brandi Carlile released her sixth studio album, By the Way, I Forgive You, in February this year. She recently teamed up with U.K. singer-songwriter Sam Smith for a duet version of her song Party of One.

Rodney_Brandi.jpgDuring the last week, she had the honour of singing my favourite Joni Mitchell song, A Case of You, with Kris Kristofferson at Joni’s 75th birthday celebration. She’s an extremely talented and highly respected artist.

All the way back in March 2008, I had the opportunity to chat with Brandi when she visited Perth to Support Maroon 5.

If you haven’t heard much of Brandi, here’s the song that first captured me, The Story.

At the time we sat down to talk, Brandi’s music had gained a wider audience through the television series, Grey’s Anatomy.

I interviewed so many people over my years of working in radio but my time with Brandi certainly stands out as one of my highlights. She’s extremely talented and it was wonderful to be able to chat with her.

You can listen to the interview using the media player below.

[Note: All RetroRadio interviews on RodneyOlsen.net are a snapshot of the time they were recorded. We all grow and change and so the opinions and thoughts of those in the interviews at the time of recording may or may not necessarily be the same as they are today.]



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RetroRadio – Grumpy Old Women

November 8, 2018
by Rodney Olsen
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I realised last weekend that my blog has been around for fifteen years. That’s a long time to be sharing thoughts with the world.

Back in the day, there was a fair bit of traffic here and quite a lot of interaction. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others changed the face of blogging but some of us are still plugging away with personal blogs, even though my posting isn’t exactly what you’d call regular.

As I looked back over more than three and a half thousand posts, starting on the 3rd of November 2003, one of the things I realised is that I’ve recorded and posted hundreds of radio interviews. They all came from my time at 98five Sonshine FM and cover everything from issues of spirituality to chats with visiting musicians and celebrities.

Over the coming weeks, I’m going to re-post some of those interviews. Hopefully, they’ll spark a few memories and a few thoughts.

I’ll start off with a chat from back in May 2007

I know that they don’t look very grumpy … but they are.

I had the opportunity to chat to Linda Robson and Jenny Éclair who were in Perth for Grumpy Old Women Live.

We chatted about the hit BBC television program that launched the show and I asked them what makes them grumpy about Australia.

They were very complimentary about our land down under and couldn’t find too much to complain about here ….. until Jenny remembered seeing some of our morning television.

She didn’t mind the programs but she found it a bit odd when it came to a very long advertisement about a ladder. I suggested that it’s a very good ladder but she wasn’t convinced.

Jenny Éclair is a comedian, actress, novelist and radio presenter. Although I’d never seen any of her work before the Grumpy Old Women TV show, I immediately warmed to her in that program and so I was thrilled that she was able to drop into our studios.

Linda Robson is perhaps best known for her role as Tracey Stubbs in the BBC series Birds of a Feather.

If you’d like to hear what the Grumpy Old Women had to say just click the play button on the audio player below.

[Note: All RetroRadio interviews on RodneyOlsen.net are a snapshot of the time they were recorded. We all grow and change and so the opinions and thoughts of those in the interviews at the time of recording may or may not necessarily be the same as they are today.]



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RIP Chuck Missler

May 1, 2018
by Rodney Olsen
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Charles W. Missler died today at the age of 83, less than a month from his 84th birthday. He was known to the world as Chuck Missler and he had a long and varied life.

Chuck Missler used to pack venues across the world when he spoke. People were eager to hear his insights on what was happening in the world.

After a distinguished military career and more than thirty successful years in the business world, Chuck Missler decided to pursue his life-long love of teaching the Bible on a full-time basis.

He founded Koinonia House, an organisation devoted to encouraging people to study the Bible. In April 2016, Missler retired from his position as president of Koinonia House.

Just a year ago in May 2017, he retired from active participation in international ministry conferences.

He spent many years studying the links between the scriptures and current day events.

Back in 2009, he joined me in the studio at 98.5 Sonshine FM to talk about his views on Scripture and how words written thousands of years ago are relevant for the 21st century. His main emphasis was on knowing what’s really going on in the world. Where are we headed today? What part do we need to play in this rapidly changing world?

You can hear what he had to say by clicking the play button on the audio player below.



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My Life Change Still Changing Lives

November 27, 2017
by Rodney Olsen
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Sometimes it feels like I’ve been doing this forever, and other times it feels like it all began yesterday.

The truth is, it was four years ago today that I began my job at Compassion Australia. I broadcast my final shift at 98five Sonshine FM on Tuesday the 26th of November, 2013. The very next day, Wednesday the 27th or November, 2013, I started working at Compassion.

Do You Miss It?

There aren’t too many weeks that goes past without someone asking me if I miss working radio. It was such a big part of my life for so many years you can’t blame people for wondering.

I started working in radio on the 8th of May, 1988. That’s almost 30 years ago. It was my full time job for almost twenty of those years and something I did part time for most of the years in between. Towards the end of November 2013 I took the leap from working in radio to working for Compassion Australia as a Relationship Manager.

Even after all these years, nothing beats the excitement of being live on air, knowing that anything could happen. Being able to communicate to thousands of people through such an ‘immediate’ medium is both challenging and rewarding. And let’s be honest, when it’s all working as it should, it’s a lot of fun. It can also be an opportunity to communicate important, even life changing truths.

Well maybe ‘almost nothing’ beats working in radio.

When you have the chance to play a part in releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name and seeing that difference that can make, I can easily say I don’t miss radio. Yes, there are times that I hear of someone interesting heading to Perth there’s a moment where I wish I could interview them, but overall, what I’m doing now is what I want to keep doing for a long time.

I work for Compassion because I am convinced that there is no more effective organisation serving the world’s poor. I have seen no other method of working with those in poverty that even comes close to the way that Compassion is working.

That doesn’t mean that Compassion is the total solution to poverty in this world. There are many amazing agencies doing incredible work around the world and we need them all if we are to end the scourge of extreme poverty.

I’ve seen Compassion’s work first hand in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Thailand and the Philippines. Every time I visit another church that is partnering with Compassion I am amazed at the change it is making in the lives of the most vulnerable members of our world, children living in extreme poverty.

If you’d like to make a difference in the lives of children who desperately need your support, you can sponsor a child today.

I can assure you that your money will be well spent in releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

In September next year I’ll begin cycling from Perth to Newcastle to raise funds for Highly Vulnerable Children through Compassion. You can support my ride and make a difference for children by following this link.



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