There's always something happening and it's usually quite loud on our Otago Access Radio show, Funky Monkey Underground (FMU).
The youth of our city often don't realise how much is really going on in Dunedin, and if we don't tell them, well, who will?Not just that, but we get to take our stupid conversations from around town and broadcast them over the city's airwaves.
We also get to play our music, any song we like, for hours on end.
What could be better, other than buying a whole tub of ice cream for us to share after the show?
Everyone hears the show on alternate Tuesdays at 4pm on 105.4FM or online under Funky Monkey Underground at oar.org.nz/podcastsBut that's just the end product.
People have wondered how such a work of art can be made, where such genius comes from, and what happens behind the scenes of this brilliant show.
Well wonder no more!Today, I reveal the answers to every question that's ever entered your head about Funky Monkey Underground.
So maybe there are just five listeners, and maybe they're us, but I'm sure that if you listened to the show you'd be wondering these things, so I'm going to run you through the whole process.
It all starts with a plan. Solid planning makes a solid show.
To us, solid planning is rushed writing of about six bullet points in the 2-3 minutes before the show, despite the fact that we get half an hour of planning time in the studio.
Sometimes we even meet up at school lunchtimes!But we never really get around to planning our radio show before the bell rings.
Next, there is the most vital, pivotal part of planning; arguing about where everyone will sit in the studio.
It's only fair that I get the seat by the audio jack so I can plug my phone in, right?But no. Someone else always wants the comfy chair!One thing we really do care about is what comes next - music.
Which songs will we play? How many? The Kooks or The Strokes?
Is it right to interrupt songs in the middle of the second verse with advertising for our own show because ''nobody listens to second verses, anyway''.
Then comes the actual talking.
Now, I'm going to let you readers in on a bit of an FMU secret, but you mustn't tell anyone as it would ruin our successful career and everything we've worked for in the past year-and-a-bit.
Our show is actually pre-recorded! Gasp!We couldn't do without this as there are always borderline offensive things that need to be edited out by our wonderful producer Domi.
We all argue for hours on who says what, when they say it, and the whole what, why, where, when, and how of good reporting and everything else in between.
Now that I think about it, no-one's all that bothered about that either.
When it comes down to it, producing a regular radio show is just a lot of fun, really.
So now I come to the wild and far-fetched conclusion that FMU is not only a brilliant radio show that connects the youth of Dunedin with each other and the city itself, but also an allegory for life, in the sense that it's all just fun.
By Louis Freeman, Year 10, Logan Park High School
