Dave Moore – Broadcasting From Home: "It feels like our radio show has never been more important"

Opinion
15 Apr 20

As people turn to radio during the lockdown for company and a sense of community, a selection of the country's top DJs tell us how they've kept the show on the road whilst broadcasting from a variety of novel spots around their homes.

My broadcasting from home set-up is remarkable in it’s simplicity. We just use a sound card and a microphone through a computer and, hey presto, we’re on-air! Of course, there are tech team members back in Marconi House who are spitting tea on a couple of million euros worth of equipment that actually gets us on-air, and it’s definitely not that simple!

One of the biggest challenges was not seeing Dermot. We've worked together every day for the last 18 years. Not seeing his face and not being able to read the 10,000 visual cues we give to each other on a daily basis is a little strange. We just decided after one go that we should probably be together! Since then, we’ve been in studio – two metres apart, constantly disinfecting everything and each other. Also, our production team is split so that one person is in with us, and the others are at home.

The response to us just being there, and being normal, and going through this with the listeners is the main takeaway for me. It feels like our radio show has never been more important. As a source of information, sure, but mostly as a welcome and entertaining distraction from the bleakness of everything that’s going on.

This is going to be hard on every business and the repercussions will be felt long after we return to whatever version of normal we end up with. I think it will have positives too, though. Radio is a trusted medium in Ireland, and getting your news and facts from reliable, journalistic sources has never been so important. Radio has proven itself essential in this period. Commercially, it’s exceptionally difficult, but in some senses, it’s never been more important.

I want people to know that we're all in this together. Today FM is there to help, to broadcast, to entertain and, also, to listen. The Dermot & Dave Show's audience already knows they can have our airwaves whenever they want, but it’s even more obvious and necessary now. We play Bingo every day. Listen to the show and mark off 16 events throughout the three hours and win an iPad. It’s such a simple game but it has really resonated with the listeners. They’re actively engaged. They’re listening with purpose as well as having us on in the background. We love it.

Listen to Dermot & Dave weekdays from 9am-12pm, on Today FM.