The title of this episode doesn't bode well, but I figure if you're this far in, you're hardly going to give up with ONLY 3 more episodes left to go...right? Also if you've been following this podcast from the beginning, you'll already be well across the fact that teenage me was really shit at recording anything of any great interest in my diary, but that hasn't stopped me and my besties from having fun. This time around I've pulled in my bestie Donna (aka My Doona, yes I also created that nickname for her...duh) who's been a buddy of mine ever since we worked together at 96fm in Perth during the early 90's. Together we'll cover off teenage me on the hunt in Karratha for Christmas presents to purchase and pack off for mailing to my parents in Adelaide. Who leaves Xmas postage this late you ask, apparently I do, but in my younger selves defence, Australia Post were pretty efficient in the 80's, unless they were spilling oil on Country Road suits that is. Obviously there’s also gifts I gotta give myself, because of course I do, way to be self absorbed mate. I also get kidnapped, which sounds very dramatic, but most certainly isn't. I stupidly wear black clothing in 40 plus heat and nearly pass out, plus I get a bike, get depressed, get jealous, get in a visit to Indoor Cricket AND sn under 18's disco and we wrap up with me getting my groove on under the table at a Chinese restaurant, whilst also experiencing Karaoke (not what I call it in the diary) for the very first time. That kind of blows my mind, who knew the technology to amplify drunk idiots, as they sung along to popular tunes, was already in use in 1989, and all the way up in Karratha as well. Thank goodness this teenage drunk idiot managed to actually write down something interesting. Not so dull after all huh, so plug in and get around the low key excitement I've now instilled in you. 

<p>The title of this episode doesn't bode well, but I figure if you're this far in, you're hardly going to give up with ONLY 3 more episodes left to go...right? Also if you've been following this podcast from the beginning, you'll already be well across the fact that teenage me was really shit at recording anything of any great interest in my diary, but that hasn't stopped me and my besties from having fun. This time around I've pulled in my bestie Donna (aka My Doona, yes I also created that nickname for her...duh) who's been a buddy of mine ever since we worked together at 96fm in Perth during the early 90's. Together we'll cover off teenage me on the hunt in Karratha for Christmas presents to purchase and pack off for mailing to my parents in Adelaide. Who leaves Xmas postage this late you ask, apparently I do, but in my younger selves defence, Australia Post were pretty efficient in the 80's, unless they were spilling oil on Country Road suits that is. Obviously there&rsquo;s also gifts I gotta give myself, because of course I do, way to be self absorbed mate. I also get kidnapped, which sounds very dramatic, but most certainly isn't. I stupidly wear black clothing in 40 plus heat and nearly pass out, plus I get a bike, get depressed, get jealous, get in a visit to Indoor Cricket AND sn under 18's disco and we wrap up with me getting my groove on under the table at a Chinese restaurant, whilst also experiencing Karaoke (not what I call it in the diary) for the very first time. That kind of blows my mind, who knew the technology to amplify drunk idiots, as they sung along to popular tunes, was already in use in 1989, and all the way up in Karratha as well. Thank goodness this teenage drunk idiot managed to actually write down something interesting. Not so dull after all huh, so plug in and get around the low key excitement I've now instilled in you.&nbsp;</p>

My name is Benjamin Wasley, you may remember me from my work as Giggling Ben on Hamish and Andy, or even Bad Boy Ben with the Vixen back in the 90's, but way before any of that, when I was 19, I moved from the seclusion of my bedroom at my parents house in Adelaide, all the way to the isolated Western Australian mining town of Karratha, to start work as a radio announcer for the very first time at a little radio station called 6KA. My Godmother gave me a diary to record every momentous occasion and now, 30+ years later, I'm going to find out how weird, arrogant, lame, self absorbed and closeted the teenage version of me was. To hold my hand while we revisit the end of the 80's and work our way through 365 days worth of embarrassing diary entries, I'll be joined by the people who've know me the longest, so we can have a giggle at the teenage version of me, and compare it with who I am now, and also revisit the world as it was at the end of the 80's, compared to how we're living right now.

Inside the Diary of a (Wannabe) Radio Announcer

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