In our first RadioRoots: Voices That Shaped The Airwaves interview, we sit down with a true radio veteran, Stephen Keogh, Programme Controller at Tipp FM, whose journey began with a homemade demo tape and a dream. From being handed his first break as The Boy Wonder to coaching the next generation, his career is a testament to adaptability, passion, and the enduring magic of live radio. Stephen shares the lessons that only time can teach and discusses why preparation is everything, how technology has changed the game (for better and worse), and why the most important skill in radio is simply being yourself.
RadioRoots: Voices That Shaped The Airwaves, is a celebration of the expertise and experience of those who have spent decades shaping the airwaves with their talent, dedication, and passion. This series honours the wisdom and experience of those who have been in the industry for years, demonstrating that everyone, regardless of age, has a valuable contribution to make in the workforce.
What drew you to the world of radio and how did you get started in the industry?
I’d say it was just the show-bizzy element to it all. Being a jock on the radio. I remember our family were into horses and I wasn’t really, so I was either going to be a jockey, which wasn’t for me, or a disc jockey.
So that was the route I went down. I left college and I went into a radio station basically just being the gopher. I worked in the old Q102 in Dublin and it was the one that Bill Cunningham arrived in after Sunshine.
He was the American consultant who turned the station around. And I remember I gave him a tape. Of course, I made it at home in the bedroom.
I called myself Sandy Beach and I was awful. It was terrible, but he saw something in it. And I was in his office.
It was a Thursday. I’m pretty sure it was a Thursday because he listened and he said, you start on Monday. And I nearly fell off the seat.
I said, that’s amazing. Thank you so much, Bill. And I said, what will I call myself? Because I’m Stephen.
I didn’t even know if he knew my real name. I called myself Sandy Beach on the tape. And he said, no.
He said, hell no, you’re the Boy Wonder. So that was it. I was the Boy Wonder.
I was on the radio. Didn’t matter that I was useless. I was on the radio.
And you know what? I still get the same buzz now. Every day on a live show that I did back then.
What’s a moment in your career that stands out as especially meaningful or transformative?
I think it was more people that I met. I mean, obviously what I said there about Bill Cunningham who gave me the break.
Well, that started it. I do remember meeting Tom Hardy when I arrived in Today FM. Now, I was pretty raw even though I’d worked in radio for a long time up to that point.
But you do pick up a lot of bad habits and that was the first time I was properly coached. And Tom was a great PD. So he kind of gave me the do’s and the don’ts and he got rid of a lot of bad habits that I might’ve had.
Or I know some will say I still have them. But I think it’s just good to know the rules. And sometimes you can break the rules.
If you know the rules, not that there’s rules, but if you know some of the guidelines, it’s okay. In fact, it’s encouraged to veer away from them, but just bring yourself back from time to time just to sort of put a bit of format on it. So Tom did that for me.
There was other programmers along the way as well. Mark Story would have been a big influence. Got to know Mark through Learning Waves who do amazing work.
And then in 104, Dave Kelly. Dave saying, keep a tight buddy is something that I’ll always remember. And it’s one of those things that I live by.
If I can say something in 30 seconds, I’m so annoyed with myself if I take a minute to say it. And I’d be the same in terms of being a PD now and encouraging presenters to say it. Don’t skimp on the information, but just don’t waffle.
Don’t say what you don’t need to say. If you can say it in 30 seconds, don’t take 45 seconds to say it. So it would have been characters along the way that would have brought those elements to my presenting and now coaching and being a programme director.
And I’m annoyed with myself now. I could have done that link in 30 seconds couldn’t I?
Radio has changed so much over the years – what’s the one thing you wish hadn’t changed, and one thing you’re glad has?
Radios changed so much over the years. What’s the one thing you wish hadn’t changed? And one thing that you’re glad has changed.
That’s a tough one. I think the same thing is for both because that’s technology. It’s made it so much easier and there’s good and there’s bad in that.
Like being a jock or a programme director or a music scheduler, it’s just so much easier. It’s just, you know, I remember that the old days in terms of rotating music, we used to have singles and we used to have a little record box and you used to play the A-listed song at the first disc and take it out and put it and put the needle on the record and play it and then you’d then put that record back in its sleeve and you’d put it at the end and that was your rotations, your A-list. And of course, just on that, on playing music on air, you didn’t have your countdown clock so you had to listen to the beat of the song as it was spinning around on the turntable beside you and you had to hit the vocals and when you hit the vocals, you pull down the mic and you’re, yes, I did it.
I still get that buzz, but as I say, it’s much easier now. As a PD, you can access radio stations from everywhere. So again, technology has helped.
There are so many tools you can use, you can use to your advantage because of technology. I’m in the studio in Tipperary, in Tipp FM but I could be on a beach, I could be jumping into the water right now or maybe I could be on an airplane about to do a skydive because radio is all about imagination. Oh, that was fun though, wasn’t it? I’ve never done a skydive. So, there’s the good and technology is great, but has it become too easy in a way? Yes, but use that to your advantage. So much easier to do a radio show now because you just have to concentrate on what you’re saying, what you’re doing, you’re hitting the next button essentially.
So, use the spare time. Don’t go off and have a cup of tea and let auto track take over. Use the time wisely and as I say, embrace the technology and make it yours.
What’s a piece of advice or perspective that only years of experience in radio have taught you?
Right, a piece of advice or perspective that only years of experience in radio have taught you. Well, the one thing I would stick by and it’s the same and never mind about technology taking over, it’s to just be prepared for your show. Don’t just turn up and do your show.
You have to have a plan. So just be 100% prepared and never settle for, and go the extra mile as I did there a minute ago. You see, I could have just answered the last question and not jumped out of a plane but because I jumped out of a plane, you will remember me on this IRS podcast because I jumped out of a plane.
So you make it memorable. You know, if I was to give one piece of advice, don’t settle for mediocre. Just make it memorable.
Be prepared because you can’t jump out of a plane unless you’re prepared for that or you have a backup plan. Make sure your parachute is there because things do change during a radio show. So always, as I say, have a plan and be as prepared as you can, but be ready for the challenges that might emerge within the course of a show and just on the changes through the years as well and the years of experience.
I mean, you have to be yourself now. I think before we used to be a bit, hey, how you doing? Yeah, yes, yes indeedy. Not all of us, but some of us were.
I wasn’t, not me, but just be yourself. I mean, you cannot be anyone else but yourself. You’re not going to fool the people for too long if you’re not yourself.
So be genuine, be yourself and that is the number one thing you must do as a radio presenter.
Can you share a moment where your experience helped you navigate a challenge others might not have anticipated?
Now, share a moment your experience helped you navigate a challenge others might not have anticipated. I can’t think of one moment, but I do remember getting stuck in the bathroom while the news was on. I’d taken a break and then there was dead air after the news and our reader had to come in and kick the door in and get me out of there. I’m a DJ, get me out of here. There’s a TV show on that.
So no, that was one moment. I remember then recently I did this Run 21, we called it. It was a challenge where I ran 21 kilometres around a car park for charity and the GPS on my watch went haywire because it was a really narrow track.
It was 250 metres, but it wasn’t circular, it was kind of oval shaped and whatever way the GPS worked it thought that I was kind of skipping from one side of the track to the other side of the track without completing the circuit and I remember looking at the map afterwards and it was all like squiggles everywhere. So essentially, I ran about 35 kilometres. I was only running and I was wrecked and I had to keep going.
I was live on air, the whole thing was live on air and I couldn’t understand. I thought the fact that I was trying to speak on air and run which was my biggest challenge, but I thought that was just slowing me down. So it took me way longer.
I overran into the next show which in a sense added to the whole event, and I got there in the end but it was certainly not anticipated and I kind of felt like I’d bitten off more than I could chew, but it all ended grand in the end.
Is there a listener interaction or on-air moment that’s left a lasting impression on you?
A listener interaction or on air moment that left a lasting impression on me. I’m going to answer this one as a listener and not as a presenter.
There’s the moment when you’re in the car and you can’t get out and I love those moments when you’re listening to something on the radio and maybe you pull up in the garage, you’re pulling in to get fuel and there might even be a queue of cars behind you but you can’t get out of the car because you want to hear what the end of the story is and it was one of those moments during Covid when a caller called into this radio station here, Tipp FM and it was a man called Tom and he told the story about how he had brought his wife to the hospital and she had Covid and he had to say goodbye to her on the trolley as she was brought into the hospital. He wasn’t allowed in due to the restrictions and he waved goodbye to her through the glass window and he never saw her again alive and it just was one of those stories where, as I say, you had that moment where you stood still while I sat still in the car and I knew that there was thousands of people around the county and we knew and we got that reaction straight away afterwards to the interview and I remember it well as a listener and I know thousands around the county in Tipperary did the very same and it’s just that connection that radio has and it’s just unbeatable, it really is.
What do you think keeps people passionate about radio, even with the rise of podcasts and streaming?
So the one thing that keeps me passionate about radio even with the rise of podcasts and streaming, well there you go, there’s an example, that keeps me passionate.
The connection that the listener has to the radio station, it’s live, it’s that live content, it’s those human interest stories, it’s the live sport. My goodness, you can’t beat it. I mean, the passion.
Our commentators here are just incredible and when they, when Tipp are, you know, losing by a point or two points and then they score a goal in the last minute or it might be a county senior hurling final or it might be, you know, a local club game. But the passion and I know people just listening and I, as a listener as well, going back to being a listener, I would rather listen to a big sporting event on the radio than actually watching it. I just get more from it.
You can picture the scene, you are just fully in that moment and that’s what radio has, I think, over podcasts and, you know, live radio, local radio in particular. I’m not knocking podcasts and, of course, we podcast everything we do. So, I’m not doing that but I’m just saying that it’s that live element and that moment that I mentioned earlier where I was listening to Tom telling his story in the car and I couldn’t get out and that’s what radio has, that live human element and it’s hard to match that anywhere else.
If you could go back in time, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self starting out in radio?
Now, if I could go back in time, one piece of advice you’d give your younger self starting out in radio, well, that reminds me of my favourite country song from Brad Paisley, Letter to Me. If I could write a letter to me, he writes a letter back to himself at 17. So, I would say, I would say, learn everything, multitask.
I mean, don’t just go for one area within the business. So, try and learn as much and, again, learning waves. Do all the courses.
There’s so many brilliant courses now that I wish they were there when I was starting out but they weren’t and I’m not complaining about that but I’m just saying now they’re there, do them, learn as much as you can and use learning waves to your advantage. And the other one, just on what you should do if I could give advice to my younger self and, again, it’s easier now because of social media, is make connections and keep those connections and keep knocking on the door and use LinkedIn, which is brilliant. So, make connections, get to know everybody in the business.
Send them an email, you’re more likely and I know speaking with, as a programming, from the programming side, if somebody sends me a demo of themselves working but they’ve previously sent me an email, or they’ve connected on LinkedIn, I’m more likely to listen longer to that demo and they’re more likely to get that foot in the door. So, make those connections.
That’s my phone buzzing there, that’s my skydiving instructor about my lesson later.
What do you think today’s radio professionals can learn from the “old-school” way of doing things?
So, what do you think today’s radio professionals can learn from old school ways of doing things? The old school ways, when it was harder because we didn’t have the technology, the one thing you still have to do is be prepared. We had to do it then and it’s the difference between a good show and a great show, if you’re prepared beforehand. So, you can access all the information now so much easier than you used to be able to do so.
But one bit of advice I would give to you is get that information before you arrive in the studio. There’s a lot of lazy radio going on where people just do it on the spur of the moment. They’re on air and they’ve got Wikipedia in front of them or Google and that’s not good enough.
Be as prepared as you can and that’s the old school way, that’s the way we used to do it and that’s the way you should still do it even though you have all the tools which make it a lot easier. Don’t just rely on listener texts or voice notes, have a backup. If you don’t, if it’s a light day for texts or voice notes just have the prep and if you throw away 50% of your prep after your show, that’s a win because it means you’ve had the content, you didn’t need it.
So, get yourself prepared before you go into the studio.
What’s one thing you hope the future radio professionals take away from your story and career?
And the final question is your hope for the future radio professionals to take away from my story, my story, my career.
Well, there you go. Skydiving is great I could have been a jockey, I could have won the derby, you know. Have fun is just the main thing, just enjoy it because it is the best business and I’ve heard so many people say it, you know, if you work in radio you don’t really work a day in your life. Well, it’s not true because I work a lot and I enjoy every moment of it and that’s what’s important, and it’s not like it’s not work and it’s not like we don’t want to get paid and it’s not like we don’t want more money, of course we do, but it is such an exciting industry to work in, it really is.
So, enjoy it, go for it. I’d say yeah, absolutely and the bit of advice there is to try and learn as much as you can. Don’t pigeonhole yourself, do as much as you can and you never know where it will bring you.
So, thanks very much for listening and thanks to IRS+ for all the great work you guys do for all your radio stations.
Stephen Keogh, Programme Controller, Tipp FM