If there’s one photo which sums up my recent move into my first apartment, this is it:
*Landlord note, the poster is not actually on the wall.
Kind regards,
David M. Green
Hawthorn’s newest resident
Category: photos
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Home? This must be the place.
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From the ashes of MTR
The dream is over.
When I applied for my 76th job for the year in May 2011 – a “talent bank” advert for Melbourne Talk Radio – I had little hope it would turn into anything more than an unread email, and no idea it would actually turn into a full time position as the panel-operator & audio producer for The Steve Vizard Show, plus the guy who manages the station’s social media accounts and podcasts.
And that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 6 months. It’s essentially been my life.
Since moving from casual weekends to The Steve Vizard Show at the start of October, I never missed a shift. I panelled a total of #99 3-hour live talk radio shows and racked up 505 hours on the buttons.
I can panel that show in my sleep.
Working at MTR has been the most incredible experience of my life. And I don’t say that lightly.
Hey, I would have been content if all I got out of this job was my first ever dedicated office phone line…
I could finally put something in the (W) section of a standard application form!
But MTR was obviously so much more to me than that.
The people I had the great pleasure to work with every single day are some of the most talented and hard-working individuals I’ve ever met. In any industry.
But it broke our hearts on Friday when the talk station went into administration and shut down, switching back over to easy listening.
It’s a loss for Melbourne. It’s a loss for the Australian media landscape.
Speaking now as an employee of no radio station, I can say without bias that the Melbourne radio market is easily big enough to support a second commercial talkback station. Just look at Sydney. And in terms of advertising dollars, Sydney has the smaller market.
Talk is the future of radio. The future of music is the mp3 player.
It can be done. It should be done. And I predict that eventually, someone with vision will come along and give 3AW a proper run for their vast piles of money.
Other commentators will postulate why MTR failed. And there are many theories. But let me just say, we all had a hell of a good time. Towards the end, it was essentially 15 people running an entire Melbourne radio station!
As Steve Price told us at a farewell dinner on Monday, it was a two-year long party. And I’m glad I was along for the ride for 9 months.
For an accurate summary of the events that lead to MTR’s demise, see Michael Bodey’s article in The Australian.
In true comic style however, I chose to sign a 12-month lease on February 29 for an apartment in Hawthorn just 5 minutes from the former MTR studios in Richmond.
48 hours later, I lost my job.
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?!
Is it too much to ask for JUST A WEEK of convenience?!!?
I’m moving house on Saturday. So this really is the start of a new chapter in the life of DMG.
I’ve lived in this wonderful share house in Coburg for two years. Team Bell Street rescued me from the horrid squalor of three weeks in Altona. However, I feel it’s time to take the next step and get my own space.
As I’ve already made this decision, this puts me in a tricky position. I will need to find another job reasonably quickly, or risk the embarrassment of being bailed out by my Mother.
But that’s show biz, kid. Highest of highs. Lowest of lows.
One day you’re the most important guy who ever lived. The next, you’re some schmoe working in a box factory.
Of course, if you’re reading this and thinking your box factory could use a little more David M. Green, by all means send me an email. We have the technology.
On the plus side, this does give me more time to dedicate to my upcoming TV game show 31 Questions. It would have been a slightly wasted opportunity, had I not been able to put 100% into what will be the largest creative project I’ve yet undertaken.
I will be on television later this year, with or without a job. Like some sort of radio phoenix, rising from the ashes of MTR.
I’ll leave you with a brief look at just a fraction of what I had the great privilege of doing at Melbourne Talk Radio these past 9 months. Enjoy.
[display_podcast]
Kind regards,
David M. Green
Off the buttons. For now. -
Adelaide in colour
I’ve just returned from a 2 week chillaxment in Adelaide. Always a pleasure to visit my home town. Great to see the family and old friends, and boy, there’s nothing like that first glass of Adelaide water.
The last 2 weeks in Adelaide were probably the best weather I’ve ever experienced. Bright blue skies and sunshine every single day. There’s a certain brightness and freshness that you don’t often get in Melbourne. No offense.
I was back for Christmas. And the winner of “best present ever” goes to my thoughtful sister Hannah, who actually read the article I wrote on gifts for mX the other week. She got me this:
Instead of something useless that’s just going to take up the limited space I have in my room in Melbourne, she made a donation to charity, which provided a piglet to a poor family in Laos. This is fantastic.
This is what Christmas should be about. Giving things to people who really need it. I can’t remember the last time I reacted to a Christmas present with a genuine smile. Best present ever.
Was also good to catch up with my brother Luke C. Green. He, along with my other sister Alice, have a rare degenerative condition called “hereditary spastic paraplegia”. But Luke’s making the most of it. His reduced mobility gives him an excuse to do what he really loves: play computer games.
The whole thing is very hard on my parents. I really don’t know how they do it.
And I was very, very happy to see Katie, the family Cardigan Corgi. She’s had some problems with her hips the last couple of years. Since I moved it’s apparently become worse. She doesn’t tend to move around the house much any more. But when I arrived she ran out to greet me. A rare honour these days, so I’m told.
Caught up too with the talented Li’l Lisa Pellegrino. We go way back to those unsupervised days at Radio Adelaide 101.5FM circa 2007. In 2009 she moved to Darwin to do breakfast on Mix 104.9FM. She recently made the move to 105.7 ABC Darwin. Plus she also helped get me a job at the Palace Nova Cinema in Adelaide, so I still feel I owe her. She’s definitely one to watch.
I notice the Adelaide Advertiser hasn’t changed. Just as appalling as ever. And they’re persisting with the same poorly designed reader poll graph, which I have previously mocked on this website:
2 responses? Honestly, why don’t they just make it up? And the arrow points towards NO! This is the worst kind of ergonomics. When will they learn? The city really needs a second daily local newspaper.
I spent a lot of time listening to my vast collection of 80s new wave records, which I dearly miss. Resolution for this year is to get them all over to Melbourne so I can enjoy them all the time. I may have made that resolution last year…
In the space of 2 weeks, I managed to listen to all of these:
How many albums can you name on my vinyl floor?
Hilariously, when I put this photo on Facebook, the facial recognition system picked up Peter Gabriel (line 9, position 1), Phil Collins from The Face Album (line 4, position 2) and that guy from Wang Chung (line 7, position 2).
And probably most excitingly, I caught up with Radio’s Alex Williamson, Nick Godfrey and Tim Wray to shoot some more of our somewhat popular Internet sitcom Too Easy.
Expect 4 new episodes coming to your computer screens and mobile devices later this month! And we reckon these are the funniest ones so far…
Here are some behind the scenes snaps to wet your appetite…
Get ready for the return of Ricky T! Played by the talented Jack Ellis, who’s just been accepted into NIDA in Sydney!
Some great memories there. Can’t wait to share them with you when Alex cuts the episodes together.
I always enjoy being back in Adelaide. However, having said that… I think I would be a little depressed if I were to move back there permanently. For now, I’ve got to be in Melbourne to keep on with the career.
Alex said it best I think. Adelaide’s comfortable. But sometimes, you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone.
Kind regards,
David M. Green
Stay classy, Adelaide. -
2011. A year of sweet success.
What started out as a pretty crappy year for me, really picked up about half way through, and ended on a high.
Since finishing journalism at RMIT Uni last year, I literally applied for 75 jobs between October 2010 and May 2011, to no success. It was extremely demoralising. Even more so because I’m a genius, and most people don’t seem to have the time to notice. Also, I’m terrible in job interviews.
But it just so happened I was at the right place at the right time with MTR. I started as a Melbourne Talk Radio panel operator in June. And in October I started working full time on The Steve Vizard Show. It’s turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. Great people. Lots of laughs. A few tears. And some great radio. Very much looking forward to continuing in 2012.
This is why I moved to Melbourne.
Something that’s gone a little less successfully, was my Channel 31 TV game show “31 Questions”. After actually being canceled in February, we managed to get un-canceled in May and we shot a second pilot on June 29. It went very well and certainly one of the highlights of my year:
We had a spanner thrown in the works when some clown at RMIT University decided they wanted to make it as difficult as possible for people to use their television studio. And for the last 6 months we’ve been waiting for the go ahead to present the pilot to Channel 31 (which might I add, has already been filmed. It’s sitting on a DVD ready to go). We’ve neither been approved nor rejected. And we’re hoping (yet again) we’ll get to make a 13-episode series in early 2012.
And if we get a “no”, then we’ll obviously be looking at other options, because this is what we want to do. We want to make TV. It’s incredible how many people are out there trying to tear you down. But I can assure you I will never give up. NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!
I’ve made a few other TV appearances this year. To save you time, here are a selection of hilarious highlights:
It’s been a year of highs and lows. But I think the high highs make the low lows worth it. And I do believe that for the eighth year in a row, this has been the best year of my life.
Professionally. Creatively. Socially.
And I’m still loving Melbourne.
I’m now looking forward to heading back to Adelaide for Christmas and the New Year. See the family, old friends and shoot some more Too Easy!
But I’ll be back in Melbourne for 2012. I have a feeling next year is going to be something special.
So have yourselves a merry little Christmas and all that crap. See you on the other side.
Kind regards,
David M. Green -
The idiots. They walk among us…
People are idiots. Evidence as follows:
Fine coffee. Appalling punctuation.
Every week I see menus with shocking spelling. Now would be the time your usual bad-grammar-blogger would mock the “Chinglish” found at Asian restaurants, but hey, how about a little class?
Let’s make fun of Italians!
Spot the mistakes:
Assuming you ignore the capital letters, did you spot all of these:
These are printed menus, by the way… What a joke!
I was at a Williamstown ice-creamery recently. Take a gander at their Licorice Licks:
It’s the flavour that demands followers!
Now for some numerical idiocy:
That 8 looks a little top-heavy…
And finally, ha-ha-have a look at this sign:
Wait a minute… let’s have a closer look…
Yes, who could forget one of Melbourne’s favourite beach-side suburbs… Bondi.
WHAA!?!
Unless by “made” they mean “post-produced”, I’m pretty sure Bondi Vet is made in Sydney.
Maybe they mean the SIGN was made in Melbourne?
People, aye? No freaking idea.
Kind regards,
David M. Green
Sure, everyone makes mistakes, but JESUS!