Have recently been working on improving the webcam output from Near FM with an objective to make it suitable for rebroadcast on DCTV.

We used to have a basic cheap webcam mounted on the ceiling in studio and we’d put that stream up on YouTube. The issue with this was that we’d have to strip out the audio from the feed in order to avoid getting copyright strikes on YouTube, also YouTube would not allow you to embed that video feed on your website.

Continue reading “Using OBS to set up an in studio Webcam”

31 Days is a challenge each October were you try and watch 31 horror movies over the 31 days in October. I’ve been doing it for the past few years with varying success, life has a tendency to get in the way so it can be heard to keep up.

This will be my 5th year doing it and I keep a log of each movie on my Letterboxd Account

A lot of people seem to plan out what movies they’re going to do over the month beforehand but I just see where the vibe takes me each day.

Continue reading “31 Days of Horror Challenge”

It’s been a while since I’ve made an update here, mostly due to issues with web hosting company. But I’ve moved everything over to a new server now. Obviously, I’ve been working on a lot of things since the last update in September 2021, so I’ll start updating the site by writing about what I’ve been up to and working on.

Sunday Night Movie Club

One thing I did during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns was start a little cult movie club where every Sunday night a bunch of us watch two cult movies. It’s been a lot of fun and we’ve kept it up and running to this day and we’re almost at 400 movies. The full list of movies can be seen on my Letterboxd account here: https://letterboxd.com/monkeyfudge/list/sunday-night-cult-movies/by/reverse/

Continue reading “Cult Movies”

I was recently back at the radio station and finally got to see the Torc Award that was given to us for best radio drama 2020 in the Celtic Media Festival.

The audio drama that won was ‘Petals’ It was written by Gillian Greer with script consultancy by Lisa Tierney-Keogh. It was directed by Jeda de Brí and starred Kate Gilmore.

The second series of audio drama from women writers started broadcasting in 2020, but unfortunately production was halted due to Covid-19.

The first 4 audio dramas are available now. 2 more have been recorded remotely and currently I’m currently hard at work on post production for them. A final episode is still to be recorded.

We’ve secured funding for a third series and the scripts are currently being finalised and we hope to go into production on them early in 2022.

“All Honey” by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth

All honey is a dark, modern day farce about a group of friends forced to face each other’s deadly sins. The play takes place in the apartment of Ru and Luke, a couple in their early 30’s, who are throwing a housewarming party. However, their guests seem more interested in whispering in the box room than joining the festivities. Infidelities, secrets and an uninvited guest mean that Ru & Luke will have to clean up more than red wine stains and glitter. This piece is strongly concerned with people indulging in their sexual desires and letting their egos take over. All honey is about seeing your closest friends for the depraved individuals they really are.

Featuring: Finbarr Doyle, Clodagh Mooney Duggan, Maeve O Mahoney, Keith Jordan and Ashleigh Dorrel

Directed by Jeda de Brí

“Benched” by Siobhan Callaghan

Karen, a young homeless woman down and out on her luck meets Isabelle, a student from Oxford on a park bench in Dublin. When two women from polar opposite worlds collide in search of the same thing they find they have more in common than they think.

Director: Olivia Songer

Isabelle: Niamh Mcallister
Karen: Siobhan Callaghan

“Kipper” by Gemma Doorly

Tormented by an unjust past and reeling from past experiences Kerry seduces drunken Sam at a wedding. It seems like an innocent one night stand but Kerry has other ideas which will implicate Sam in a serious allegation. Will the police believe her story?

Directed by Nicola Murphy

Cast – Ciara O’Callaghan, Mike Sheehan, Fiana Toibin, Kwaku Fortune

“Allie Down the Boghole” by Megan McDonnell

The story follows Allie, a young girl in rural Ireland who is something of a latch-key child. She is, more often than not, left alone by her noticeably absent Mam and joined by her one friend, Jo, who keeps her company and tries to get Allie out of her comfort zone. Through Allie and Jo we meet the sometimes strange characters of the village and we discover the darker undertones of this isolated life. Mam’s presence is always looming in the background and there is a growing sense of unease which turns quite sinister as Allie grows closer to finding out certain truths about her life.

NOTE: Contains scenes some listeners may find distressing.

Directed by Jeda de Brí

Cast: Megan McDonnel & Bláithín Mac Gabhann

The Celtic Media Festival is an annual 3 day event that promotes the languages and cultures of the Celtic Nations and Regions in media. It combines a major conference of seminars and master classes with  presentation of  coveted prizes in an international competition across all the main content genres in TV, radio, film and digital media. This year due to the COVID-19 outbreak the awards were held online.

The Torc Award for Best Radio Drama

“Hugely ambitious, hugely captivating and hugely original. The prospect of an hour long monologue in the form of prose didn’t seem particularly compelling on paper but on radio it was fantastic. The winner unfurled itself like a book, we were brought on a humorous, sad day long story that was a joy to listen to and that was tough to listen to.

This years winner of the Celtic Media Festival’s Radio Drama Category was one of the best things I’ve heard on radio in a long, long time.”


Rónán Mac Con Iomaire

Petals is the story of one girl and her journey towards the night of a lifetime along with the trail of lust, longing and loss she finds on the way. Written entirely in verse, Petals takes a vibrant look at what it means to be sexually awakened in a city where school nuns shame, school boys leer; where less is more, no means yes and the beer-soaked nightclub is sanctuary.

Last year it was featured as part of the series of new audio drama from women writers I worked on. It was written by Gillian Greer with script consultancy by Lisa Tierney-Keogh. It was directed by Jeda de Brí and starred Kate Gilmore.

Petals was supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland Sound and Vision scheme with the television licence fee.

Listen to Petals

The full anthology series is available online here: https://soundcloud.com/nearfm/sets/audio-drama-2019

And you can hear the first 3 plays from series two here:
https://soundcloud.com/nearfm/sets/audio-drama-2020