There's LOTS of things you learn about yourself by keeping a diary, especially one like mine, for instance, teenage me chose to record for future posterity that I just casually dropped my guts after falling asleep, whilst at the drive in, WITH my Mum, my little brother and my roomie, inside a small hatchback, IT'S A LOT TO PROCESS for me, how you feeling about it? This is a revelation I'd never have to relive if I hadn't kept this diary, I would have been lost to the wind, with all the other non eventful and totally forgotten bottom burps I've delivered so far. Thankfully I also recorded actual interesting information, like the arrival of my Mum Anne, and my little brother Tom. In 1989 they actually willingly climbed onto a bus to endure a journey all the way from Adelaide to Karratha, just so they could spend two weeks with me as I celebrated my 20th birthday, hectic AF. Once they get to town, we’ll do some touristy things together, watch a lot of television, and my depression kicks in again without any explains, but my mum will fix it with an early birthday surprise that turns my frown, into a less self absorbed resting bitch face probably. Obviously it would be stupid to work through all of those diary entries without my Mum and little brother, especially because they were actually there to endure some of it, luckily I managed to convince them both to a Group FaceTime to get this episode, and the next one done with their added thoughts and memories. Spoiler alert, none of us remember much, maybe it's a family trait. Speaking of family traits, that reference to my tummy shame in a confined vehicle, that also inspires a rather deep question from my brother Tom, and some equally flippant comments from my mother, so prepare for an insight into how the Wasley family works, or at the very least you'll learn how gassy we are. 

<div>There's LOTS of things you learn about yourself by keeping a diary, especially one like mine, for instance, teenage me chose to record for future posterity that I just casually dropped my guts after falling asleep, whilst at the drive in, WITH my Mum, my little brother and my roomie, inside a small hatchback, IT'S A LOT TO PROCESS for me, how you feeling about it? This is a revelation I'd never have to relive if I hadn't kept this diary, I would have been lost to the wind, with all the other non eventful and totally forgotten bottom burps I've delivered so far. Thankfully I also recorded actual interesting information, like the arrival of my Mum Anne, and my little brother Tom. In 1989 they actually willingly climbed onto a bus to endure a journey all the way from Adelaide to Karratha, just so they could spend two weeks with me as I celebrated my 20th birthday, hectic AF. Once they get to town, we’ll do some touristy things together, watch a lot of television, and my depression kicks in again without any explains, but my mum will fix it with an early birthday surprise that turns my frown, into a less self absorbed resting bitch face probably. Obviously it would be stupid to work through all of those diary entries without my Mum and little brother, especially because they were actually there to endure some of it, luckily I managed to convince them both to a Group FaceTime to get this episode, and the next one done with their added thoughts and memories. Spoiler alert, none of us remember much, maybe it's a family trait. Speaking of family traits, that reference to my tummy shame in a confined vehicle, that also inspires a rather deep question from my brother Tom, and some equally flippant comments from my mother, so prepare for an insight into how the Wasley family works, or at the very least you'll learn how gassy we are. </div>

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

19 in 89

There's LOTS of things you learn about yourself by keeping a diary, especially one like mine, for instance, teenage me chose to record...

Advertisement