Yes, before there was the Social Network, there was me, thousands of kilometres from home in the rural mining town of Karratha, bitching and moaning about all of the things, hence the Bitching Network for the name of this episode. Much of it seems to be directed at those that work above me, in particular my boss Neville and my roomie and fellow announcer Mark. I can't apologise to Mark enough for the sassy entries I wrote about him, it's clearly teenage immaturity at its peak and probably inspired by jealousy of his position and connection to the blokes of the office, which he naturally had because he'd worked there well before I arrived and already had established friendships with them. Also I was a moody little flog, so no wonder I wasn't getting along with those in power, I'm impressed they endured my bitching and moaning for so long. To help me through this episode, and monitor my sulking throughout, my bestie Michelle (aka Mish Mash...ya huh that nickname is another Benjamin creation too) joins me to talk how we survived the HR free period of the 90's whilst working at 96FM in Perth. This weeks worth of diary entries covers off me doing a fuckery load of work, which no doubt I'll be bitching about. Then there's all that jealousy I mentioned before, which begins with me having to deal with accepting that my co-worker and radio announcing roomie Dave moving on from Karratha, then there's the digs at Mark to work through, so expect even more sass from this little princess. I also become an editing guru, but it’s got nothing to do with radio, I’m bored over and over again, plus I’m even more keen to move on to my next radio station. There’s also another disaster for me to comment on, and the ultimate in 80’s banking technology comes into my life thanks to a touch tone telephone. So get prepped for some quality 80's reminiscing and some truly loose stories from behind the scenes of radio, from back when it was a little bit more hectic and gung-ho.

<p>Yes, before there was the Social Network, there was me, thousands of kilometres from home in the rural mining town of Karratha, bitching and moaning about all of the things, hence the Bitching Network for the name of this episode. Much of it seems to be directed at those that work above me, in particular my boss Neville and my roomie and fellow announcer Mark. I can't apologise to Mark enough for the sassy entries I wrote about him, it's clearly teenage immaturity at its peak and probably inspired by jealousy of his position and connection to the blokes of the office, which he naturally had because he'd worked there well before I arrived and already had established friendships with them. Also I was a moody little flog, so no wonder I wasn't getting along with those in power, I'm impressed they endured my bitching and moaning for so long. To help me through this episode, and monitor my sulking throughout, my bestie Michelle (aka Mish Mash...ya huh that nickname is another Benjamin creation too) joins me to talk how we survived the HR free period of the 90's whilst working at 96FM in Perth. This weeks worth of diary entries covers off me doing a fuckery load of work, which no doubt I'll be bitching about. Then there's all that jealousy I mentioned before, which begins with me having to deal with accepting that my co-worker and radio announcing roomie Dave moving on from Karratha, then there's the digs at Mark to work through, so expect even more sass from this little princess. I also become an editing guru, but it&rsquo;s got nothing to do with radio, I&rsquo;m bored over and over again, plus I&rsquo;m even more keen to move on to my next radio station. There&rsquo;s also another disaster for me to comment on, and the ultimate in 80&rsquo;s banking technology comes into my life thanks to a touch tone telephone. So get prepped for some quality 80's reminiscing and some truly loose stories from behind the scenes of radio, from back when it was a little bit more hectic and gung-ho.</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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